Completion Year: 1937

Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, CA was rebuilt following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The architectural firm of Marsh, Smith and Powell designed the Streamline Moderne Science and Liberal Arts Buildings, as well as a modernistic facade for the school's original 1904 auditorium, which was converted into a library. Construction between 1935 and 1937 totaled $377,301 and was partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1935, contractors Sarver & Zoss built the two-story Science Building of reinforced concrete designed to resist earthquake damage. The building features a recessed entrance and elegant curved corners with staircases. It originally contained...

Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, CA was rebuilt following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The architectural firm of Allison and Allison, which had designed the original campus in 1914, led the redevelopment effort (LACC Historic Resources Survey Report, p. 6). Four of the six structures built between 1935 and 1938 were partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). In fact, LA City College was featured in the 1939 book Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration. The first PWA-funded construction on campus occurred early in 1935, when...

CK McClatchy Senior High School in Sacramento CA was built in 1937 with aid from the Public Works Administration (PWA) of the New Deal.  The school was designed by the local architectural firm of Starks and Flanders, which designed other landmark buildings in downtown Sacramento, including the Elks Temple, the U.S. Post Office, and the Courthouse. Ground was broken on May 20 and the school dedicated on September 19, 1937.  The school bears the name of C.K. McClatchy, the late editor and owner of The Sacramento Bee and a powerful figure in Sacramento and Central Valley politics during his life. The school included...

Woodrow Wilson High School, originally built in 1924, was rehabilitated by W. Horace Austin following the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake with $27,000 in Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. In 1937, the Works Project Administration (WPA) reconstructed the gym building. The 1933 earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a major improvement of the sewer system of Newport Beach, California, including a sewage treatment plant and several miles of sewer lines. It was completed in 1937. "This treatment plant is one unit of a project which also included three pumping stations and several miles of sewers. The plant comprises the two concrete Imhoff tanks, the gas tank, and one pumping station..."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided almost $20,000 in funding and labor to install some 4500 feet of water mains and 72 fire hydrants in Porterville CA.   How much of this work remains in place is unknown.

The Beach Chalet at the western end of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco contains several New Deal artworks. Lucian Labaudt painted a set of monochrome frescoes around the stairwell and in the corridor to the restrooms on the south side of the ground floor.  The stairwell is surrounded on all sides and on the ceiling by soaring gulls and sea birds. The frescoes were done in 1937 under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project (FAP). Labaudt also painted the immense mural around the entrance hall.  

The Beach Chalet contains several New Deal artworks.  Include decorative mosaics by Primo Caredio, done in 1937.  They are located in the South Staircase and over the north and east doorways of the large first-floor lobby. All the Beach Chalet artworks were done by unemployed artists hired by the Federal Art Project (FAP), a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 

Funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), artist John Palo-Kangas created a 7-foot-high cast stone sculpture titled "The Viking" for Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, CA, in 1937. As of 2018, the sculpture was "set upon a rectangular concrete basin which has been capped. The backdrop for the sculpture is composed of patterned blocks with a stylized wave design." These blocks "also appear in the foyer of Barnum Hall and around the main entrance of the History Building" (HRG Report, p. 24). As a result of Santa Monica High School's 2021 modernization project—when several historic structures were demolished—"The Viking"...

Two oil on canvas murals, entitled "Farm Landscape" and "Point Loma," were painted by Charles Reiffel on a commission from the WPA Federal Art Project in 1937. They were originally installed at Memorial Junior High School and now hang in the San Diego History Center downstairs at the Casa de Balboa. Each mural measures 10' x 10'. Some contemporary critics called Reiffel "America's Van Gogh" (Balboa Park Beat, October 2012).