Date added: March 22, 2015; Modified: February 20, 2024
The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC by some of the finest American artists of the time. Millard Sheets produced a four-panel, oil-on-canvas mural, “The… read more
Date added: December 5, 2011; Modified: July 27, 2023
The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building was originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Department. It was then known as the New Post Office because an older Post Office headquarters stood across 12th Street (now a private hotel)…. read more
Date added: March 15, 2023; Modified: March 15, 2023
Harry W. Scheuch completed two murals for the PWAP titled “Workers on the Cathedral of Learning” and “Finishing the Cathedral of Learning” that were transferred from U.S. Department of Labor to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. According to the Smithsonian:… read more
Date added: February 26, 2020; Modified: May 24, 2022
In Spring 1939, the DC government used funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to award contracts for the Outfall Relief Sewer project, a large sewer line to run from the Poplar Point Pumping Station to a point near the… read more
Date added: March 5, 2015; Modified: May 24, 2022
On August 22, 1933, Public Works Administration (PWA) chief Harold Ickes announced a grant of $1,759,500 for various DC sewer projects. These included an extension of the Northeast Boundary Sewer “intended to eliminate a pollution nuisance in Kingman Lake in… read more
Date added: February 26, 2020; Modified: May 24, 2022
In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) allotted $47,870 for the Macomb Street Divorcement Sewers project. Two new sewer lines were installed in the area of Macomb Street and 38th Street NW, running southwest in the direction of Massachusetts Avenue… read more
Date added: February 4, 2020; Modified: May 24, 2022
The doors at the main (west) entrance and side (south) entrances to the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress are magnificent cast bronze works by sculptor Lee Lawrie. Lawrie was probably America’s foremost architectural sculptor of the time,… read more
Date added: October 6, 2020; Modified: May 18, 2022
Alexander Stirling Calder was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the sculpture “Continental Post Rider, 1775-1789.” The sculpture was made out of an aluminum alloy, and Calder was paid $3,000 for the job. When… read more
Date added: February 26, 2022; Modified: May 17, 2022
Camp NA-1 was located in the National Arboretum, Washington, DC, and was home to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1360, an all African-American unit. Many of the enrollees in Company 1360 were young men from the city itself. Company 1360… read more
Date added: April 18, 2021; Modified: May 17, 2022
Commercial Pier No. 5 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment program for the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area. Construction of the pier began in 1940, by the Penker Construction Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was completed in… read more
Date added: May 19, 2021; Modified: May 17, 2022
In the early years of the New Deal, 1934-1935, Congress funded the construction of the Woodrow Wilson High School through one or more appropriations of around $1 million to the DC Commissioners. At the time, funding and control of the local… read more
Date added: June 25, 2013; Modified: May 17, 2022
In 1937, the District of Columbia government contracted with the Fred Drew Co. to reconstruct the Municipal Fish Market Pier (also called Pier No. 1). The cost of the project was $20,000 (about $366,000 in 2020 dollars) and funds were… read more
Date added: June 10, 2020; Modified: May 17, 2022
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Concord Avenue N, from North Capitol Street to Third Street. This was a WPA curb and gutter project: “This constitutes the first step in the development of this roadway to connect North… read more
Date added: March 16, 2015; Modified: May 16, 2022
Originally known as the Blue Plains Home for the Aged and Infirm, this facility was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the early 1940s. The facility was originally built in 1906 at the district’s southernmost tip. According to… read more
Date added: January 10, 2020; Modified: May 16, 2022
Two major improvements were made to the U.S. Treasury Department building in 1933-34, using funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and under the supervision of the newly created Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. The first major improvement… read more