Public Housing Sites

The historic Outhwaite Homes public housing complex in Cleveland, Ohio was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. "The Outhwaite Homes Estates, along with the Cedar Apartments and Lakeview Terrace, were the first three public housing projects to be completed in Cleveland. The three projects were also among the first in the nation to receive approval and funding from the federal government's newly-created Public Works Administration in 1935. Outhwaite's brick Art Deco buildings, grouped around grassy courtyards, originally contained 557 units."

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Parkside Dwellings in Washington, DC, between 1941 and 1943. This housing project was described being at Kenilworth Avenue and Barnes Lane, N.E., and “near the old Benning race track” (Evening Star, 1942). Today, that location is in the vicinity of Parkside Playground, Thomas Elementary School, Cesar Chavez Public Charter School, and Mayfair Mansions Apartments (the latter sits on the site of the old Benning race track). Barnes Lane is now called Barnes “Street.” It is unknown to the Living New Deal if Parkside Dwellings still...

"Parkside, a low-rent housing development in Detroit, Michigan, was built on an undeveloped 31-acre plot adjacent to Chandler Park. The site cost $170,000, or about 17 cents a square foot. The buildings, which are fireproof, consist of 2- and 3-story apartments and 2-story row houses, which cover 25 percent of the site area and provide an average of 93 rooms to the acre. There are 3,025 rooms, arranged to provide 775 family-dwelling units of which 6 percent are 2-room, 33 percent 3-rooms, 51 percent 4-room, and 10 percent 5-room units. All apartments are supplied with heat, hot and cold water, and...

"During 1935 and 1936 the Federal Government spent $100,000 in WPA  funds for permanent improvements" at the Pennsylvania Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in Erie.

In September 1935, the Public Works Administration (PWA) allotted $41,818 for the construction of faculty homes at Potomac State College (PSC), in Keyser, West Virginia. The allotment consisted of a $23,000 loan and an $18,818 grant. The Tri-State Construction and Building Company of Ashland, Kentucky, won the bid to construct the homes, and broke ground in April 1936. In its April 24, 1936 edition, the PSC student newspaper, The Pasquino, reported that “The homes will be built on the property of the school on the site of the old golf course. Three buildings will be erected on the site. One will...

The Federal Works Agency built prefabricated defense housing at Sheffield. “Construction of 250 units was assigned to the Tennessee Valley Authority for industrial workers in the Muscle Shoals area.” The exact location and status of these buildings is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

"The Prowers Housing Welfare Housing is a complex of five buildings located on the northern edge of Lamar. The complex is located near the railroad tracks in an area that primarily light industrial. The Fairmont Cemetery, with stone walls constructed under a WPA project, is located northeast of the housing complex, on the opposite side on Maple Street. The complex consists of four 128’ x 28’ buildings and one 52’ x 25’ building. The buildings are arranged in an “H” pattern, with the smaller building in the middle. All buildings the buildings are constructed of sandstone. The single-story buildings are topped...

From the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s New York City Guide (1939): “Queensbridge Houses, north of Queensboro Bridge Plaza, between Vernon Boulevard and Twenty-first Street, is the fifth low-rent, government-financed housing project in the city since 1936. Twenty-six brick dwelling structures, six stories high with elevators, a community building, and a children’s center, all arranged around open polygonal courts, will cover less than one quarter of the projects 62.5 acres; the remaining land will be landscaped park and recreation space. When completed late in 1939, the 3,161 apartments will house approximately 11,400 people.” The building was constructed through the WPA under the...

A 250 unit housing project in South Portland Maine. "Under the Lanham Act of 1940, and to the chagrin of the Portland Chamber of commerce, Washington ordered in February of 1942 that the Federal Public Housing Authority of the Federal Works Agency build 550 units of permanent housing in the Portland area. The 250 unit Redbank project grew up near the municipal airport in South Portland. John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II designed Redbank with its modest, wood framed, Colonial Revival-style units as a planned New England community. In the mode of the 1890's British Garden City and WW1...

"Richard Allen Homes, named after the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a housing project in lower North Philadelphia that was funded by the U.S. Housing Authority under the Housing Act of 1937." ("The USHA reported directly to Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes, who had supervised the PWA. This meant that the new housing program was administered under the same general policies as the old PWA program.")

The brick "restrained Colonial Revival style" (Van West, 2001, p. 148) two-story apartment complex contained 48 units for African-Americans. Constructed at the same time as the Robert E. Lee Homes for whites, both complexes were funded for a total of $607,000. The facility was demolished in 2008 in order to construct new housing.

Brick, two-story "restrained Colonial Revival style" (Van West, 2001, p. 148) housing for whites was completed at the same time as the Riverview Apartments for African-Americans. Both complexes were constructed for a total of $607,000. Robert E. Lee contained 128 units. The facility remains in use.

By the early twentieth century, the area that would become the Robert Mills Manor site consisted of a large assemblage of dilapidated late-19th and early-20th century residences and tenements surrounding the county's jail on the corner of Franklin and Magazine Streets. Conditions at the site had deteriorated to the point where contemporary accounts called it: "the worst disease breeding spot in the lower section of the city. Its existence was a constant police problem and fire hazard. Its crowded poorly lighted, evil smelling tenements depreciated the entire section of the city." In its 1937 report published in the City Year Book,...

The Robert Mills Manor public housing project in Charleston, South Carolina was constructed with New Deal funds, likely under the auspices of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The Library of Congress: "The Robert Mills Manor Remains as Charleston's earliest and most intact example of a locally initiated public low-income housing project. During the 1930s, the Federal government began a subsidy programs for the development of low-income housing and for slum clearance. The City of Charleston quickly took advantage of these programs, developing several large low income projects, the first of which was the Robert Mills Manor. Its associations with prominent local architects...

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) to improve living conditions for low-income families. The Austin City Council established the Austin Housing Authority on December 27, 1937. The housing authority made an application to the USHA for $500,000 to build 186 units of public housing at three sites. Austin’s housing agency became the first in the country to receive funding and to start construction on its USHA...

The first Mississippi county approved for rural housing loans from the United States Housing Authority was Lee County. Loans represented 90% of the construction and 10% was locally supplied for the $790,000 program. "America's first 'economy wall' unit of brick residences have been completed under direction of the rural housing authority on Highway 78, three miles east of Tupelo..." (Housing Work, 1941). D. D. Smith Lumber Company constructed the brick houses, which were the first of the farm houses under New Deal work to be built of brick. The project authorized 300 rural homes to be constructed. The first home...

In response to the foot dragging of Portland city officials on creating affordable housing for the influx of military related industry in a city with a severe lack of modern housing, the Federal Housing Authority of the Federal Works Agency ordered the construction of 550 units, 200 of which were in Sagamore Village. Designed by John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II, it featured Colonial Revival houses with a community center, playground, & school.

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) to improve living conditions for low-income families. The Austin City Council established the Austin Housing Authority on December 27, 1937. The housing authority made an application to the USHA for $500,000 to build 186 units of public housing at three sites. Austin’s housing agency became the first in the country to receive funding and to start construction on its USHA...

The Sitka Pioneers’ Home was built with financial assistance from the PWA, ca. 1935, and served as “a home for aged pioneers” (source note 1).  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 (source note 2) and today it “has a capacity to serve 75 men and women and provides care at three different levels: Level I (independent), Level II (basic assistance), Level III (24-hour care for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders and comprehensive services)” (source note 3). "Alaska became a Territory in 1912 and in August of that year a bill was introduced by Sitka's Representative,...

"Smithfield Court is a low-rental housing developmenterected in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, fully financed with P.W.A. funds. A site of 22 acres on which were located some of the city's worst slum dwellings, was purchased at a cost of $458,600 or 48 cents a square foot. After demolition of the dilapidated dwellings, a group of fireproof structures was erected covering 27 percent of the land area and accommodating an average of 58 rooms to the acre. The development consists of a series of 1- and 2-story row houses and includes a community building. It provides 1,638 rooms divided into...

During the Great Depression the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) funded the labor for the construction of what is now known as the Somerset Residential Care Center, in Madison, Maine. When constructed, the facility went by a different name: the "town farm." Town farms were once the means by which rural towns in New England cared for or warehoused (depending on the local conditions) the elderly, the mentally handicapped, disabled, transients, etc. The community notes from April 11, 1935 notes that "Work started Friday forenoon on the two weeks' ERA project, painting and repairing the buildings at the Madison town farm. There...

St. Bernard Projects were constructed 1940 as one of New Orleans' "Big Four" high-density urban public housing projects. Initially comprised of 744 units in 74 buildings constructed on 30.9 acres, the project was bordered by St. Bernard Avenue to Gibson Street and Senate Street to St. Denis Streets. Architects Herbert A. Benson, George Christy, and William Spink designed the buildings "to echo the brick townhouses of the Vieux Carre" (Historic American Buildings Survey, 1933). Similar to other public housing units in New Orleans, they reflected elements of the period including porches and balconies with metalwork and canopies. Unlike other units,...

The Alley Dwelling Authority funded the construction of the St. Mary’s Court Apartments in Washington DC between 1935 and 1938. 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-controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government.

St. Thomas was one of six public housing projects constructed under the Housing Act of 1937. It was constructed 1938-1941 and contained 920 units of two or three story brick buildings. The architect's rendering for the St. Thomas Street project was "planned to provide maximum light, space and air; buildings about a central court, with cool porches" (Slum Clearance, 1938, p. 68). The housing authority began demolition and redevelopment in the late 1990s, but five or the original buildings were saved "for historical purposes" (St. Thomas Development Neighborhood). The buildings are on the corner of Felicity and St. Thomas streets...

Stanley Holmes Village (a.k.a. Stanley Village) is a 420-unit low income housing project on Adriatic Avenue that was built in 1937 and expanded in 1951. Its the oldest public housing complex in New Jersey. Atlantic City was the first municipality in New Jersey to provide public housing to its constituents. The movement to establish public housing was initiated in 1933 with the organization of the Civic Committee for Better Housing – headed by Walter J. Buzby; Mrs. Warren Somers, Commissioner of the State Housing Authority; Naomi Craighead; Robert A. Watson, Manager of the Southern Division of the State Housing Authority; B.J....

Second Half of Final Extended Building Phase (1941-1942). Residential housing for employees of the Stewart Indian Boarding School Staff and Civilian Conservation Corp - Indian Division (CCC-ID) was acute by the late 1930s. Off-site rental units in Carson City and Reno were expensive and hard to find. Stewart Indian Agency Superintendent Don C. Foster made several attempts to gain approval for two new cottages for CCC-ID employees and approval finally came after his offer to redirect CCC-ID funds (earmarked for a Walker River project) to the cause. Five cottages (including two duplexes) were built west of the Indian School in the...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Stoddert Dwellings in Washington, DC in 1942. Today, the DC Housing Authority manages “Stoddert Terrace,” in the same general area (and perhaps the same exact area) as the original Stoddert 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...

Pearl City was an area of Vincennes that was described by the newspapers in the 1930's at the time as an area next to the Wabash River that was filled with hovels made of crates and tin and occupied by barely recognizable humans living in squalid conditions after shell fishing by squaters declined. With labor supplied by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), 20 houses were constructed in a 4 acre area called Sunset Court. From the look of the photograph, the small houses can be compared to the popular tiny houses today. Still, considering that the people who moved...

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allotted $2,000,000 in emergency rural rehabilitation funds to the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). Out of this sum, OIA sent $32,000 (about $607,000 in 2020 dollars) to the Swinomish Indian Reservation for an 18-house homestead community. The community was completed in the late summer of 1936 and helped relocate families away from nearby (and less stable) floating houses. The cluster of homes still exists today and is known as the “Swinomish Model Village.” In a special 1936 edition of Indians at Work (a publication of the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs), Martin J. Sampson,...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Syphax Houses in Washington, DC in 1942. The Syphax Houses were located at 1st and R streets SW, and it does not appear that any of the original homes still exist. Today, the DC Housing Authority operates “Syphax Gardens” at P and Half streets SW, one block northeast from where the original Syphax homes were located. (“Syphax” is the surname of a prominent African American family from Virginia, with family ties to Martha Washington.) The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better...

The Techwood Homes public housing project in Atlanta was a whites-only complex constructed between 1935 and 1936 with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. It has since been demolished. "Techwood Homes was the first public housing project in the United States, opened just before the First Houses. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, it replaced a shantytown known as Tanyard Bottom or Tech Flats. It was completed on August 15, 1936, but was dedicated on November 29 of the previous year by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The apartments included bathtubs and electric ranges in each unit, 189 of which had garages. Central...

The accompanying colored post card shows early trailers, brick road, palm trees and Trailer City office building. Trailer City, a mobile home park, was built in the 1930s with WPA (Works Progress Administration) funds. It was a $200,000 project, the idea of Mayor George Walker. The city of Winter Garden owns the property. Trailer City was highly praised in country-wide publications. Postmark on the back of the card is 1946.

Cairo, Illinois's old (and since-demolished) Marine Hospital was located between 10th and 12th St., Cedar St. and Jefferson Ave.  As part of Federal Project F-26: Improving Facilities for Sheltering Transients, the federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) rehabilitated the hospital in 1933-4 "as a shelter for whites and a two-story structure was put in shape to care for colored transients. The work involved the installation of heating and toilet facilities, painting, plastering, glazing, and general repair."

Triangle Homes for African American families was constructed 1940-1941 by W. J. McGee and Son for a base bid of $325,866. Two-story row houses are still in use in the triangle formed by South Maple Street and South 4th Avenue. A grant in 2018 funds replacement units and construction has been initiated on new facilities across the street from Triangle Homes. It is unknown when the row houses will be demolished.

"The last of three Public Works Administration projects commissioned in Chicago as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Trumbull Park Homes is arguably one of the CHA's most historically significant buildings in its housing portfolio. Built in 1938, the development features a low-density design of two-story rowhouses and three-story apartment buildings spread out across 21-acres."

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Tunlaw Road Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 92 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). According to the web page “Gover Park History,” “The Tunlaw Road Houses were razed in 1954 to make way for construction of 4000 Tunlaw in 1960. “ 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...

The former Tyson School in Versailles, Indiana was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The facility has since been converted to apartments. Partially funded by and named in honor of a community benefactor who grew up in the town of Versailles (and by the way, the one in Indiana, is "Vur-saylz"). James Tyson was one of the founders of the Walgreen drugstore chain and also supported a library and an absolute jewel of an Art Deco inspired church. The Tyson Temple United Methodist Church is a memorial to Mr. Tyson's mother.

The University Homes public housing project in Atlanta was completed in 1938 with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. It has since been demolished. "Built in 1938 on the site of the former Beaver Slide slum. Seen as the African American counterpart to Techwood Homes, the first public housing project in the nation. Architect William Augustus Edwards." (Wikipedia) The exact location of the housing project is unknown to Living New Deal, though we believe the University Homes were constructed southeast of Spelman College and what is now Clark Atlanta University.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the V Street Houses in Washington DC between 1936 and 1938. It appears that the V Street Houses no longer exist. They were described as being constructed “in the square directly west of that containing the Williston Apartments” (National Capital Housing Authority report, 1945). Today, however, that area contains houses and apartments that are part of the larger Kelly Miller housing complex. (Note: It is possible that some of the V Street Houses still exist, in modified form, as part of the Kelly Miller townhomes . More research, and a possible on-site evaluation, would probably...

The Williamson Housing Authority built the Victoria Court Housing Project with aid from the Federal Housing Authority. The development consists of a complex of seven, two-story brick buildings laid in rows of three providing a central court (now a modern playground). The project still retains the clotheslines behind the apartment units, some of which were are still in use. The development encompasses the block bounded by Gum Street, West 5th Street, Willow Street, and West 6th Street in what is now called the West Williamson community of Williamson, Mingo, West Virginia. williamsonha.com: On November 25, 1940, ground was broken in West Williamson and on...