Sculptures Sites

The exterior of the National Archives is graced by sculptures, bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The building above ground was completed under the New Deal by the Treasury Department Office of Procurement, including the sculptures. Congress originally approved a new home for the National Archives in 1928, but construction did not start until late 1931. The foundation was laid and the cornerstone placed by President Herbert Hoover during his last weeks in office. Construction above ground began under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 and the exterior was completed in late 1935; an addition with more stacks was finished in 1937. The architect of the...

Beniamino Bufano's brown granite sculptures of a seal and a frog were completed in 1942 with the help of Federal Art Project (FAP) funds. They sit  on the bayside exterior porch of the visitors center.

William Zorach was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the statue “Benjamin Franklin.” The statue was made out of marble, and Zorach was paid $8,000 for the job. This artwork was created for the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department—today’s Clinton Federal Building—and now resides in the National Postal Museum (and the museum itself served as the main post office—not to be confused with the headquarters building—for Washington, DC from 1914-1986). The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then...

Erwin Springweiler’s bronze statue, “Great Anteater,” was mounted at the National Zoo in 1938.  It stands in front of the Small Mammal House. Springweiler was able to work from a live anteater at the zoo and from skeletons and furs at the American Museum of Natural History.  The statue is six feet long and three feet high. It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The anteater statue was unveiled at the zoo on March 25, 1938, with a formal presentation to Dr. William M. Mann, director of the Zoo, and a speech by T. Edward Rowan, superintendent of painting and sculpture...

Heinz Warneke created a red granite sculpture for the National Zoo, entitled "Tumbling Bears," in 1938.  It sits at the bottom of a hill near the Large Cat area.  A plaque on the sculpture calls it Tumbling Bears, but it is also known as the "Wrestling Bear Cubs" and "Wrestling Bears." Though the date at the base of the sculpture reads "1935," it seems that this work was not finished until 1938.  The Evening Star (1938) reported that the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture submitted to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts "a sculptural group by Heinz Warneke of East Haddam,...

Created for the Sandia Prep School in Albuquerque. It has moved back and forth between NMTU and Sandia a couple of times, but now seems permanently situated here. This may not in fact have been a government-funded piece. Medium: sandstone New Mexico School of Mines is now known as New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

This sculpture was completed with FAP funds in 1936. The original ceramic tile has been lost.

The historic Old Chelsea Station post office houses examples of New Deal artwork: two sculptures, titled "Deer" and "Bears," by Paul Fiene, housed just inside the public entrance on 18th Street. Made of "cast stone with silver leaf finish," the works were commissioned by  the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1938.

An 18-foot art deco sculpture, "Santa Monica" by Eugene Morahan, is located in Palisades Park at the foot of Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, CA. It was created in 1934 with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).

Peace and Harvest, 1938-1939 Artist: Mary Andersen Clark Each statue is approximately 8 ft. tall (male figure “Peace”, female figure “Harvest”) These statues were designed by Ms. Clark as part of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project of Illinois. These statues have been moved several times, and originally did not have the bases they are placed on. Their original location was on the grounds of the Peoria Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, which closed in 1975.

Formerly known as Stuyvesant Square, the park in which this statue sits was renamed Cooper Square after Peter Cooper, a 19th century industrialist and philanthropist. As the NYC Parks site documents: “Following Cooper’s death in 1883, Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), the preeminent 19th century sculptor and one of the earliest alumni of Cooper Union (class of 1864), was commissioned to design a monument in honor of the great visionary. Saint-Gaudens collaborated with the renowned architect Stanford White (1853–1906) who created the piece’s marble and granite canopy… In 1935, coinciding with reconstruction of the park, the newly created Parks Monuments Crew, with funding from...

The black granite sculpture "Python," which can be found to the right-front of the entrance to the Philadelphia Zoo's Reptile House, was created by Aaron Ben-Shmuel and was completed and dedicated in 1940. "The sculpture is approximately 18 inches x 31 inches x 34 inches with the base being approximately 12 inches in height."

In 1934, Roger Noble Burnham sculpted a bronze bust for Phineas Banning High School in Los Angeles, CA, of former principal W. I. Travers. The portrait bust is listed as missing by the Los Angeles Public Library. Burnham also contributed to the Astronomer's Monument (1934), a Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in Griffith Park (Los Angeles, CA). A different artist was responsible for each of the six astronomers depicted; Burnham sculpted the William Herschel figure.

The cast stone sculpture "The Letter," by James Hansen, was completed in 1941 with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. The sculpture can be found in the front of the historic former post office in Burlingame. This building and its artwork has been incorporated into a new adaptive reuse project at 220 Park Rd.

The historic New Deal post office in Canton, North Carolina is privately owned. This terra cotta sculpture "Paper," created by Sam Bell, was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It still hangs in the building lobby today.

This wooden sculpture  "Prayer of Thanksgiving" by K. George Katrina was completed in 1946. Katrina was one of two artists to win a Federal Works Agency competition to produce art for the post office in 1941. The statues were moved out of the original post office in 2011 before it was privatized. They may now be located in the East York post office. Confirmation is needed.

This large wooden sculpture "Singing Thanksgiving" by Carl L. Schmitz was completed in 1946. Schmitz was one of two artists to win a Federal Works Agency competition to produce art for the post office in 1941. The statues were moved out of the original post office in 2011 before it was privatized. They may now be located in the East York post office. Confirmation is needed.

This 1925 post office contains a set of three limestone reliefs by Marion Walton, funded by the Section of Fine Arts in 1942. The sculptures are titled "Indian," "Campbell's Ledge" and "Mine Elevator."

The post office contains a unique terra-cotta relief sculpture by H. Arnold Newell. Entitled "Post Rider," the piece was funded by the Section of Fine Arts in 1941.

The historic post office building in Arcadia, Florida contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts sculpture by Constance Ortmayer entitled "Arcadia." The sculpture is 3.5' x 4.'

This glazed terra cotta relief entitled "American Oriental Rug Weaving" was created with  Section of Fine Arts support in 1941 by artist Ruth Nickerson. Originally installed in the Leaksville NC post office at 634 Monroe St. In the 1950's, Leaksville and 2 other towns combined to form the city of Eden. The old Leaksville post office station was closed around 1991 and the relief moved to the new Eden post office.

Nat Warner completed the cast stone sculpture, "Rest During Prairie Plowing," in 1940. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is created for, and is still viewable in, the lobby of the Fowler post office.

With Treasury Relief Arts Program funding, Isamu Noguchi produced this cast stone relief entitled "The Letter" for display at the Haddon Heights post office in 1939. Noguchi is best known for his bas-relief "News" on the exterior of 40 Rockefeller Center in New York City. Ironically, then-postmaster of Haddon Heights, Henry McKay, objected to the installation, but it has remained to delight generations of local residents.        

"American Eagle" Medium: Stone

This wood carving "Cotton Pickers" by Julius Struppek was completed with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1941. It is temporarily in storage and not accessible.

The historic post office in Munising, Michigan houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Section of Fine Arts plaster sculpture by Hugo Robus entitled "Chippewa Legend." Some sources call this work "Creation of the Islands."

Bernard J. (Tony) Rosenthal completed a wood carving, entitled "Coal Mining," in 1941 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work is installed in the lobby of the Nokomis, Illinois post office.

The historic Northampton post office building houses an example of New Deal artwork: the cast-stone sculpture entitled "Physical Changes of the Postman through the Ages," by Maurice Glickman, was created with federal Treasury of Fine Arts funds during the Great Depression.

This marble relief sculpture of an eagle at the front entrance to Norwalk's main post office was created by Gaetano Cecere, a New York artist who studied in Europe and whose work can also be seen in the Post Office Department building in Washington, D.C. (NRHP)

This 4′ x 3.5′ carved wooden eagle and grille are on display over the exterior of the post office’s front entrance.

"Communication" Medium: Cast stone

"Transition" Medium: cast stone

James L. Hansen received a Section of Fine Arts contract to complete a sculpture decoration for the new Lisbon, North Dakota post office on March 7, 1942. The terra-cotta relief was titled "Family Group." Mr. Hansen was to receive a sum of $850 for the work; however, his enlistment in the U.S. Navy and his attendant relocation made the artist unable to install the work; as such $50 was deducted from his final payment. According to WPAmurals.com: "This information is from Ms. Elizabeth Anderson from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Lisbon, ND relief was completed in 1943 but was never installed in...

The historic downtown post office in Covington, Kentucky, is home to three sculptures: Carl L. Schmitz's 1940 limestone sculptures, "Horsebreeding" and "Tobacco," and Romuald Kraus's 1942 bronze sculpture, "Justice," all completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The post office contains two 5.5' x 7' cast aluminum sculptures covered with gold foil by Robert I. Russin. "Mail Handler" and "Throwing the Mail" were completed with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1938.

The post office contains two terra cotta sculptures created by Curt Drewes under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1939. The sculptures depict "The Manufacture of Farm Implements" and "Farming by Hand."

The Astoria branch of the Queens Borough Public Library received a series of murals as well as accompanying sculptures under the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s Federal Art Project. "here was no controversy about the playful mural commissioned in 1938 for the children's reading room of the Queens Borough Astoria branch, which celebrated the centennial of its building last year. Painted by Max Spivak (1906-81), an artist little known today, the mural, depicting whimsical circus and opera puppets, was originally done in five parts. But three have been lost, as have all of the original polychromed figures, by the sculptor Eugenie Gershoy,...

The Firemen's Memorial facing Riverside Park on Riverside Drive at 100th Street, 1913. The NY City Parks Department website says: The memorial exemplifies a classical grandeur that characterized several civic monuments built in New York City from the 1890s to World War I, as part of an effort dubbed the City Beautiful Movement, which was meant to improve the standard of urban public design and achieve an uplifting union of art and architecture. This monument has twice undergone extensive restoration, once in the late 1930s, through a W.P.A.-sponsored conservation program, and more recently through a $2 million city-funded capital project completed...

"The Joan of Arc statue on Riverside Drive at 93rd Street, by Anna Vaugh Hyatt Huntington, dedicated in 1915. In 1939, the statue was repatined, its broken sword restored, and its staircase repaired. As noted in references below, this was done by the Parks Department Monuments Restoration Project which was part of the WPA."   (kermitproject.org)

Roosevelt Park contains a WPA sculpture by Waylande Gregory entitled "Light Dispelling Darkness." "Most visitors to Roosevelt Park in Edison, New Jersey will pass by this empty fountain thinking not much of it, their attention focused on the globe perched high at the top. However, many fail to notice the evils dispelling from the center, which make the sculpture all the more interesting and relate a bit of creativity that its maker, artist Waylande Gregory envisioned when he designed it in 1937. “Light Dispelling Darkness” was part of a New Jersey Federal Arts Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA...