• Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Poor Frescoes - Washington DC
    The New Deal is responsible for a magnificent array of artworks that embellish the Department of Justice building. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned artists to create 68 murals between 1936 and 1941 for $68,000, or one percent of the building cost.  The building’s murals depict scenes of daily life from American history and allegories on the role of justice in American society. Henry Varnum Poor painted a complex, 12-panel fresco mural, "Justice Department Bureaus and Divisions," in 1936. The first set of panels around the doorways of rooms 5111 and 5114 depict the ac­tivities of the Bureau of Prisons and the...
  • Kennedy Department of Justice: Robinson Murals - Washington DC
    The New Deal is responsible for a magnificent array of artworks that embellish the Department of Justice building. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned artists to create 68 murals between 1936 and 1941 for $68,000, or one percent of the building cost.  The building’s murals depict scenes of daily life from American history and allegories on the role of justice in American society. Boardman Robinson painted an enormous set of 18 tempera murals "Great Events and Figures of Law" in 1938, covering roughly 1000 square feet of canvas. The murals surround the stairway leading to The Great Hall on the 2d...
  • Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Bisttram Mural - Washington DC
    The New Deal is responsible for a magnificent array of artworks that embellish the Department of Justice building. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned artists to create 68 murals between 1936 and 1941 for $68,000, or one percent of the building cost.  The building's murals depict scenes of daily life from American history and allegories on the role of justice in American society. Emil Bisttram painted an oil on canvas mural, "Contemporary Justice and Woman" (1939). "This intricate oil-on-canvas mural shows a figure of Justice cutting the chains of tradition, which is represented by an old crouching shrew that had bound women....
  • Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Jennewein Sculptural Elements - Washington DC
    While the overall  design of the Department of Justice building conforms with the dominant Neoclassical theme of the Federal Triangle, it is distinguished by Art Deco architectural elements and the use of aluminum details.  The entrances feature 20-foot-high aluminum doors and interior stair railings, grilles, and trim are done in cast aluminum. Sculptor C. Paul Jennewein was selected by the architects  to create a unified design concept for the building's exterior and interior spaces, designing 57 sculptural elements from monument statues and bas-reliefs on the exterior to interior Art Deco torcheres and light fixtures.  (GSA) The dating of Jennewein's work is uncertain,...
  • Juniper Valley Park - Middle Village NY
    This large park in the Middle Village neighborhood of Queens provides a wealth of leisure and recreational attractions to local residents. Before it became a park, "it was used variously as a farm, a cemetery, a source for peat moss, the property of a racketeer, and a garbage dump...In the early 1930s the City of New York acquired the bog to settle a $225,000 claim in back taxes against the estate of the infamous Arnold Rothstein (1882-1928), who had been accused of fixing the 1919 World Series" (nycgovparks). The WPA greatly transformed the park, first in 1936 and again in...
  • State University of New York Maritime College - Bronx NY
    The SUNY Maritime College is located on the Throgs Neck Peninsula in the Bronx. Researcher Frank da Cruz has compiled a brief history from multiple sources: "It started as the New York Nautical School in 1874 on a succession of ships moored at various locations in New York City's harbor and waterways. In 1929, it was renamed New York State Merchant Marine Academy, got a new ship, and moved to Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Throgs Neck peninsula had been home to US Army Fort Schuyler since just before the Civil War. The fort itself is the dark grey pentagon in photo, constructed...
  • Private Norton Playground - Brooklyn NY
    Private First Class Thomas Norton Memorial Playground, located on Nostrand Avenue south of Kings Highway, was acquired by the Parks Department in 1940 and completed by the WPA in 1941. The press release announcing the playground's opening described the WPA's work: "The half-acre area has been intensively developed in units designed for various age groups. The kindergarten section contains a sand pit, slides, swings and see-saws together with seating accommodations for mothers and guardians of children. Adjoining this is a space devoted to older children equipped with swings, slides and exercise unit. The central area contains a shower basin and a...
  • Van Cortlandt Stadium - Bronx NY
    The NY Parks Department website explains: "Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Van Cortlandt Stadium opened on September 22, 1939. New York City, under the direction of Moses and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947), was able to secure a great deal of WPA funding. Park construction was one of the many projects undertaken by the WPA, an unprecedented federal program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) as a component of the New Deal. Mayor La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Moses conducted the opening ceremonies with an exhibition football game between Manhattan College and Fordham University." The 1939 press release...
  • Watson Gleason Playground - Bronx NY
    The 3.3-acre Watson Gleason Playground, located in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, was constructed with WPA labor. New York City's Parks Department writes: "In 1938 the City of New York acquired the entire block bounded by Watson, Noble, Gleason, and Rosedale Avenues. Designed by the Parks Department and built with labor provided by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the playground opened one-and-one-half years later. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses presided at the dedication ceremony, which featured Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Borough President James J. Lyons, Acting WPA Administrator Major Edmond H. Leary, and President Roderick Stephens of the Bronx Borough of Trade. The...
  • Daniel M. O'Connell Playground - St. Albans NY
    NYC Parks explains: "O’Connell Playground opened on July 15, 1934, and is one of nine playgrounds that were built by Parks through the War Memorial Fund. The Fund was established in 1921 with $250,000 collected by the Police Department. In 1934, the fund remained untouched and had grown in value to $350,000. Seeking additional open spaces for children, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obtained a legal ruling that permitted the fund to be spent on several playground developments. The properties were intended to honor the memories of individual soldiers who had given their lives in combat. The Fund was transferred to Parks on...