• Charity Hospital (derelict) - New Orleans LA
    Charity Hospital was constructed between 1936 and 1940 in central New Orleans, about a mile north of the downtown by today's Interstate 10.   Charity Hospital was one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. For decades it served one of the country's largest populations of uninsured citizens. At the time it was built, Charity Hospital was the second-largest hospital in the United States. The cornerstone lists the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (later called the Public Works Administration) as the building funder. The architects were Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth, who were also...
  • Post Office Mural - Conyers GA
    This oil-on-canvas mural, "The Ploughman," was painted by Elizabeth Terrell in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It was one of the 48-state post office mural competition winners. At some point, it was moved to the new post office.
  • National Mall: Reconstruction - Washington DC
    The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC.  Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939, the PWA had expended $1,050,000 on the reconstruction work.  As one newspaper put it, “...the mile long park connecting the Capitol with Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial probably would still be in an early stage of development but for the allocation of PWA funds to finish the project."  In 1901, the McMillan Commission, composed of eminent architects and landscape architects, was created to rethink...
  • City Hall Mural - Littleton CO
    "North Platte Country against the Mountains" was painted by John H. Fraser in 1940 for the Littleton post office, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Art. It currently hangs in the City Hall.  "When the post office underwent renovations in 1962, the mural was removed, rolled up and stuck in a corner in the post office. It was discovered in the 70s, restored and installed in 1985 in the Littleton City Hall." ( Jimmy Emerson, here)
  • Painted Desert Inn: Construction - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
    The delightful Painted Desert Inn was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working under the National Park Service (NPS), with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  They completely rebuilt a private inn called the Stone Tree House, which had been constructed in the 1910s, which was purchased and added to the Petrified Forest National Monument in 1936 (the monument had been designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and  was elevated to Petrified Forest National Park in 1962). The design of the Desert Inn by the NPS's Lyle Bennett is Pueblo Revival style, which was popular in the Southwest...
  • City Hall - San Leandro CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided about half the funds for construction of the original city hall in San Leandro CA – which had only recently incorporated as a city in 1933.  City Hall was built in 1938-39 and dedicated on June 22, 1939. Available sources disagree on the cost of construction and PWA funding. In late 1938, the Daily Pacific Builder reported that construction was to begin on the San Leandro City Hall the following month for a cost of $105,877.  By contrast, a 1940 city brochure declared that, "In August of 1938, the voters bonded the city for $185,000 for...
  • Sierra Madre Channel and Bridges - Sierra Madre CA
    After New Deal workers constructed the nearby Sierra Madre Dam, CCC workers also built a series of concrete bridges and the flow channel that leads from the dam through the town of Sierra Madre. The work was completed around 1940. The bridges and channel sections pictured here are identified by address.
  • Montclair Park: Recreation Center - Oakland CA
    The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   The Recreation Center is a fine Mission Revival building at the north end of the park, built in 1939-40 by the WPA. The park also includes a duck pond, extensive rock walls and stairs, large lawns and trees, tennis courts, a baseball field, picnic area, children's play area, and more.   The City of Oakland Recreation Department put in $90,000 for the park and...
  • William Penn Park - Whittier CA
    The beautiful and well-used William Penn Park in Whittier, California was built by the WPA. Some WPA stamps from 1940 remain in the sidewalks.    
  • Eureka High School Industrial Arts Building - Eureka CA
    The Industrial Arts (Education) building at Eureka High School was funded in part by the Public Works Administration (PWA).  PWA provided 45% of the money for a set of construction projects by the Eureka Public School District, including this building. A school bond measure provided the balance of the funds. The funding was apparently secured in late 1938, the structure erected in 1939 and the official opening took place with little fanfare in early 1940. The style of the two-story building is Streamline Moderne, with a curved wall made of glass bricks to the left of the entrance and streamline horizontal bars...