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  • City Hall: Macdonald-Wright Murals - Santa Monica CA
    Two large petrachrome murals by Stanton Macdonald-Wright flank the entrance to Santa Monica City Hall. Each one is two-stories high and wraps around a corner of the lobby. The murals would have been funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), since Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the FAP's Southern California division from 1935 to 1943. Macdonald-Wright pioneered the petrachrome method, whereby a mural is painted with a liquid mixture of materials including crushed tile, marble and granite. The mural on the south side of the lobby is entitled "Recreation in Santa Monica" and represents popular spectator sports of the time, such as...
  • King Harbor Breakwater - Redondo Beach CA
    In 1939 the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a 2300-foot long, L-shaped breakwater in jutting out from the coast at Redondo Beach, California.  It was constructed of rocks ferried over on barges from Catalina Island. The Redondo Beach breakwater was supposed to be the first segment of a small boat harbor, but it was not until the 1950s when more government funding became available that the old PWA breakwater was extended south to become the present-day King Harbor.
  • Downtown Post Office and Federal Building - Long Beach CA
    The old downtown post office and federal building in Long Beach, CA, was built in large part under the New Deal, contrary to the date and name on the cornerstone. The building was planned and started under the Hoover Administration and the cornerstone laid in late 1932, but before construction was far along, the Long Beach earthquake hit in March 1933. There is some dispute over whether the quake did major damage to the unfinished structure.  Certainly, everything had to be checked out and some damaged material removed before construction could resume.  The building opened in September 1934. The design is Classical...
  • Alice Whitney Park Dam (demolished) - St. Cloud MN
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Alice Whitney Park Dam on the Sauk River in St. Cloud MN in 1938.  WPA workers also built steps going down the riverbank to the dam and a path along the river.  The dam was  meant to provide a swimming hole for park users. The dam was about 4 feet tall and provided a walking path to get across the river, connecting Whitney Park and Sauk River Park.  All of the stone and wood was cut by WPA workers.  The dam’s purpose was to raise the water level of the Sauk River to create a...
  • Swing Landscape Mural - Bloomington IN
    The Works Progress Administration commissioned the modernist mural in 1937 for the PWA-funded Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn, New York. Only five of the murals planned for the International Style development were ever installed. Rediscovered in the 1980's after being painted over, the five installed murals were restored and are now on loan to the Brooklyn Museum. Swing Landscape was never installed at the Williamsburg Houses and has been at the IU Art Museum (now the Sidney and Lois Eskanazi Museum of Art) since 1942. A seventh mural, Sixth Avenue El, by Francis Criss also was never installed at Williamsburg...
  • Hocking Hills State Park: Nature Program Cabin, Old Man's Cave Unit - Logan OH
    Originally the first aid cabin of the Civilian Conservation Corps camp, then a ranger station. Presently (January 2023) a venue for nature programs at the Hocking Hills State Park Visitor Center.
  • Hocking Hills State Park: Hiking Trails and Old Man's Cave Unit - Logan OH
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) ran two camps at Hocking Hills State Park in Logan OH. The CCC built Hiking Trails and Old Man's Cave Unit.
  • Post Office Relief - Ford City PA
    The Post Office in Ford City houses a New Deal artwork titled "Glass Making" by Josephine Mather. The ivory colored bas relief was made using Carrara structural glass.
  • United States Post Office - Zeeland MI
    Anchoring downtown Zeeland, the new one-story 60 by 70 foot post office was built for $68,000. Construction was completed in just seven months, tapping into a pool of unemployed workers available during the New Deal Era. Although the population of Zeeland at that time did not justify such a large post office, Zeeland was then home to 60 hatcheries, shipping up to 13 million live chicks and turkey poults to farmers per year, by rail and through the postal service. The post office opened on December 2, 1935.
  • CCC Camp S-82, Company 1139 - Townsend MA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the CCC Camp S-82, Company 1139, in Townsend, MA, starting on August 1st, 1935. Camp S-82 was located near an old granite quarry off Old Turnpike Road and the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks, currently still in place. According to Shary Page Berg (1999), "Much of the area that became Townsend State Forest was burned in a 1927 forest fire and subsequently logged, leaving the land in poor condition when acquired by the state in 1934. Camp S-82 (Company 1139) was established in fall 1935 and closed in 1940. Projects at Townsend included the construction of...
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