Public Housing Sites

The United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of Knox Hill Dwellings in Washington, DC in 1942. The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) acted as manager of the development. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the original structures still exist. There appear to be many homes in the vicinity of Knox Terrace SE, and these may have some relation to the original Knox Hill Dwellings. Nearby, the DC Housing Authority manages “Knox Hill,” a housing development for seniors and disabled residents, but this facility looks quite different from the original structures. The USHA was created by the United...

La Salle Place is a 210 unit low income housing project that was one of 50 slum clearance and low income housing projects nationwide. It covers over 14 acres, cost $1,200,000 and was built on empty land. It was built for unskilled workers of nearby tobacco and motor factories of Louisville. The buildings were designed to be oriented away from the industries to the north toward the prevailing winds from the southwest. The facility is heated by a central unit. Each came with electric light, refrigeration, gas for cooking, and a rear-yard garden. E. T. Hutchings was the chief architect, The...

Lafitte project was constructed 1940-1941 and included 896 units. It was the fifth of six local housing units constructed in New Orleans following the Housing Act of 1937. The project was bounded by Lafitte Avenue, Orleans Avenue, North Claiborne and Avenue, and North Dorgenois Street. Architects were Sol Rosenthal, Jack J. H. Kessels, and Ernest W. Jones. R. P. Farnsworth and Company were the contractors for the $4,000,000 project. The units were built in a traditional New Orleans style townhouse with metal balconies and porch columns and railings. The project was originally slated for demolition in 1995 but postponed. It...

"A slum area of 22 1/2 acres in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was cleared for the construction of the low-rent development known as Lakeview Terrace Apartments. The site was purchased at a cost of $521,593, the equivalent of 69 cents a square foot. The development consists of 2- and 3-story apartment buildings and 2- and 3-story row houses which cove about 26 percent of the site area and contain an average of 104 rooms per acre. Included in the project are 118 garages. All structures are fireproof. There are 2,311 rooms divided into 620 apartments of which 44 percent are 3-room,...

Lamar Terrace was the second low-cost housing project for white families in Memphis. It contained 478 units, and cost $2,500,000. It was demolished in 2005.

The Langston Terrace Dwellings, a large-scale public housing project, was built under the New Deal from 1935 to 1938.  It was the first U.S. Government-funded public housing project in Washington DC and only the second in the nation.  Initial funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA); later the U.S. Housing Authority stepped in to complete the job. The International Style complex was designed by prominent African-American architect Hilyard Robinson, a native Washingtonian. With its handsome art and style, it embodied Robinson's belief in the ability of fine buildings and art to inspire and uplift residents. Construction began in 1935, with African...

Lauderdale Courts was one of the first public housing projects undertaken under the New Deal, and one of the few housing developments originated under the New Deal that is still standing. The Market Street slums were cleared in order to build the apartments near downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The one, two, and three story group homes contained 66 buildings, 449 units, and held one-through-five-bedroom apartments. The project was one architecturally designed to "promote a sense of community" through a central mall/courtyard which connected apartments to the open shared space. One of the most famous tenants was Elvis Presley, who lived there from...

The Laurel Homes Historic District is an example of a project completed from the Federal Housing Act. They were built in 1933 and were one of the first examples of  integrated housing in the United States. They were the second largest PWA housing project in the United States. As of today only three of the original buildings remain as the rest were razed.

Located on 26 acres, containing 60 buildings and 500 apartments, and with a cost of $1,446,043, the facility was constructed for occupancy by African Americans. In 1942, $1,500,000 was expended to add 100 2-story units encompassing an additional 15 acres to house African American war workers.

"Liberty Square (colloquially referred to as the Pork & Beans) is a 753-unit Miami-Dade public housing apartment complex in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is bordered at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/North 62nd Street to the south, North 67th Street to the north, State Road 933 (West 12th Avenue) to the east, and West 15th Avenue to the west. Constructed as a part of the New Deal by the Public Works Administration and opening in 1937, it was the first public housing project for blacks in the Southern United States." The project was integrated in the 1960s....

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Lily Ponds Houses in Washington, DC, in 1943. It consisted of 500 living units and was built for national defense workers. In 2006, researcher Joe Lapp described the Lily Ponds Houses in a history brochure about the surrounding Kenilworth neighborhood: “The Alley Dwelling Authority noticed a large plot of unused farmland (once the David Miller farm) in the Kenilworth area, right next to the new national park, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. In 1943 they built the Lily Ponds Houses, a complex of one-story red tile and cement...

Lincoln Gardens was the second Federal Housing Project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Designed to replace eleven acres of housing in poor repair, the Lincoln Gardens' sixteen new apartment buildings opened on July 1 1938 to provide housing for African-Americans with moderate incomes. While most of the apartment buildings were eventually razed, the last building now houses the Evansville African American Museum.

San Antonio's Board of Commissioners created the San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) on June 17, 1937. On September 1, 1937, President Roosevelt signed the United States Housing Act of 1937. This created the United States Housing Authority (USHA) and provided $500 million for subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) like SAHA to improve living conditions for low-income families. SAHA made applications to the USHA for funds and the USHA agreed to provide financing for five projects; Alazan Courts, Apache Courts, Lincoln Heights Courts, Wheatley Courts and Victoria Courts. San Antonio enforced segregation in...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Lincoln Height Dwellings in Washington, DC, 1943-1946. Today, the DC Housing Authority manages “Lincoln Heights,” which is probably located on the same area as the original Lincoln Heights Dwellings. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the original structures still exist. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally...

Littlepage was the first low income development built in West Virginia. Littlepage Terrace was the second WPA public housing project for low income residents authorized in West Virginia and was designated Project No. WVA 1-2; however, delays acquiring the land for Washington Manor (WVA 1-1) resulted it the completion of Littlepage Terrace first. Littlepage Manor and property were bought in 1938. Construction began in 1940, with the housing project opening later that year. The eight building complex for white housing. The project was demolished in the first decade of the 2000s and replaced with modern low income housing after the completion of...

The $3.2 million Lockefield Gardens, a public housing project, was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The project was completed in 1938, abandoned during the mid-1970s and "redeveloped in the 1980s with new apartment buildings and rehabilitated units." "Due to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, the Public Works Administration started funding fifty low-cost public housing projects in twenty states from what were previously slum areas. Indianapolis was chosen to have one of these renovations; it would be the first major public housing within Indiana's capital city. This land originally had 363 residences, of which only one was seen as "habitable"....

Omaha's Logan Fontenelle Housing Project was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. Located from 20th to 24th Streets, and from Paul Street north, the project was demolished in 1995. PWA Docket No. H-2001

"The Public Works Administration funded the construction of buildings for Federal, State, and local government. Portland was granted 45 percent of the cost of a new boiler house, heating plant, laundry, and additional housing for the nurses at the city home and hospital." The City Home and hospital refers to todays Barron Center "The origins of today’s Barron Center date back to the early 1800s when the City of Portland established an “Alms House” on Portland Street. Its purpose was for the care of the City’s poor, elderly and mentally disabled. By 1870 the Alms House was replaced with the Greely...

“The P. W. A. made an allotment of funds for the erection of low-rent housing in the Virgin Islands sufficient to allow for the development of three such projects. (...) Bassin Triangle erected on a vacant site of 5 acres at Christiansted, St. Croix Island. The site cost $2,000 and was improved with 1-story row houses which provide 54 rooms divided into 30 family-dwelling units. The structures cover about 5 percent of the area of the site and average 10 rooms per acre."

The Magnolia Housing Project was one of the first two planned for New Orleans. The original 740 units in one, two, and three story buildings included one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The chief architect was Moise H. Goldstein, with supportive architects Thomas Harlee, Frederick Parham, N. Courtlandt Curtis, Richard Koch, and Charles Armstrong. Construction was completed by R. P. Farnsworth Company. Jens-Braae-Jensen, structural engineer, Frank Chisholm, mechanical engineer, Orloff Henry, electrical engineer, William Wiedorn, landscape architect, and Frank Hugh Waddill, civil engineer were also part of the construction and design crew. Magnolia was completed in 1941 for $2,478,980. The...

"Marley Homes at Frederiksted, St. Croix Island. An undeveloped plot of 17 acres dedicated by the municipality is the site of this development. A series of 1-story row houses provide 70 rooms arranged in 38 family-dwelling units. The structures cover 2 ½ percent of the site area." “By arrangement with the United States Housing Authority, the administration of the three low-cost housing projects erected in the Virgin Islands by the PWA Housing Division has been turned over to the government of the Virgin Islands. This arrangement has made it unnecessary to establish an expensive management organization and has therefore permitted the...

Boston's Old Harbor Housing Project was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project during the Great Depression. "Built in 1936, and opened on May 1, 1938, the Old Harbor Village was the first public housing development in New England and it remains one of the largest. It comprises more than 1,000 apartments in 22 three-story buildings and 152 row houses. The complex was renamed after the mother of John W. McCormack, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who championed housing and human rights." (Wikipedia) "One of the largest of the low-rent housing projects fully financed with P.W.A....

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Meade and Grant Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 107 living units was built for African American national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA’s 10-year report (see source list below) indicates that the Meade and Grant Street Houses...

The Federal Works Agency built defense housing units in Fairfield CT. Pictured is a model unit with asbestos shingle and brick veneer construction. The Federal Works Agency planned to build more than 5,000 units across Connecticut.

The 96-unit public housing was constructed for African-Americans during the Great Depression. It was demolished following damage from a tornado in 2003.

"In the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, more than 300,000 migrants from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas flocked to California, driven by poverty and the hope for new opportunities. This flood of migrants, collectively known as the Okies, included a wide cross-section of people—young and old, men and women, rural and urban... In 1935, the Resettlement Administration (RA), and later the FSA, began to establish migratory labor camps to house the destitute migrants. Many migrants living in cars, tents, and shacks along “ditchbank” settlements (Figure 1) were attracted to the sanitary, newly constructed camps located along a 600-mile-long...

The New Deal's Resettlement Administration (RA) built permanent housing units for migrant farm workers in Farmersville CA in 1938.  The exact location is unknown.  It is unlikely that these buildings survive.

This building was constructed beginning in 1938 with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Monroe Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 90 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced...

Mountain View Village was begun as a white housing complex, one of four low rent housing projects. Contracts were awarded in January 1940.

"The Multnomah County Poor Farm in Troutdale was built in 1911 to replace Multnomah County's first home for the destitute, the Hillside Farm in Portland's West Hills. The latter institution, which housed the poor, ill, and disabled, was inspected in the fall of 1910 by a coalition of members from Portland charitable organizations who declared the crumbling building and its deplorable conditions to be disgraceful. That spurred Multnomah County Commissioners to hasten work on a progressive new institution at Troutdale intended to help the poor become self-sufficient through farming. This "back to the land" concept in social welfare was based on...

The municipal lodging house provided cheap shelter for the indigent and homeless of Washington D.C. It was built in the early 1920s, replacing an earlier lodging house. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) records in the National Archives indicate that in 1936 WPA labor was used to repair a municipal lodging at 310 Third Street, NW.   The lodging house has been demolished, no doubt taken out in the construction of Interstate 395.  It probably stood at the current site of the Frances Perkins (Department of Labor) Building, above the I-395 tunnel.  

Neighborhood Gardens is part of the first round of federally backed public housing in America. Only 7 projects were completed in this earliest phase, including Harlem River Houses in New York City and Techwood Homes in Atlanta. The program provided loans to limited dividend corporations to clear slums and build low-rent housing projects. The program proved slow and unwieldy, and was replaced by the PWA's direct-subsidy program in 1935, out of which 52 projects were completed. These programs were discontinued with the passage of the 1937 Housing Act that established the US Housing Authority. However, most historians agree that the...

Newtowne Court is a 294 units apartment complex located in the town of Cambridge, MA. There are eight three-story walk-up buildings; most entrances serve six to nine apartments. Includes 6 units for households with vision impairments. This was one of 50 slum clearance or low income housing development projects financed by the Public Works Administration. The cost was $2,500,000.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Nichols Avenue Houses in Washington, DC, in 1943. These houses were called “Standard Temporary Dwellings Units,” or “TDU’s.” They were built for African American national defense workers, and were intended to be taken down after the war. It is unlikely that any part of the Nichols Avenue Houses still remains. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the O’Brien Court Parking Lot in Washington, DC, ca. 1935-1938. The lot was located in the block bounded by E, F, 20th and 21st streets NW, on the E Street frontage. Then, in 1943, the ADA and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) created the O’Brien Court Houses on the same site. These houses were called “Standard Temporary Dwellings Units,” or “TDU’s.” They were built for African American national defense workers, and were intended to be taken down after the war. It does not appear that any remnant of the homes or parking lot...

The Farm Security Administration build this camp in 1939 to house black farm workers from the Caribbean. While there is still housing here, this is no longer a camp.

The heart of today's Greenbelt, Maryland – popularly known as "Old Greenbelt" – is a large, planned community laid out and constructed during the New Deal. It features community facilities such as a school, theater and community center, a large number and variety of housing, basic infrastructure of roads, water and sewers, and extensive landscaping and an attached forest.  Almost all of the original facilities are still intact. Greenbelt was one of four greenbelt towns initiated by Rex Tugwell, head of the Resettlement Administration (RA). Greendale, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, and Greenhills, Ohio, near Cincinnati, are other surviving greenbelt towns; a fourth,...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers renovated houses on Oread Place in Worcester, Mass. in 1937. WPA Bulletin: Worcester — Taken by legal process through the Land Court for failure of owners to pay real estate taxes, three brick blocks at 19-23-25 Oread Place are being repaired by WPA— will be used to house welfare and soldier's relief recipients.

The Farm Security Administration build this camp for white farm workers about 1939. While there is still housing there, the camp no longer exist.