Civic Facilities Sites

"Distinguished by its decorative brickwork, turrets, and battlemented parapets, the Shorewood Department of Public Works Administration Building was constructed in 1936 with funding from the federal government’s Works Progress Administration."

A two-story International Style building, intended to house the city's Department of Public Works, built by the WPA in 1936.

A money-saving, efficiency-increasing Department of Purchase warehouse in Long Island City was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is still in use by the city, presently by the Board of Education. The New York Times reported in 1938: The new  six-story warehouse "will occupy a plot, 270 by 426 feet, on the northwest corner of Forty-fourth Drive and Vernon Boulevard. It will be built by WPA labor, the city supplying the materials. Its estimated cost is $2,000,000."

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration built a "low art moderne warehouse for the New York City Department of Purchase, directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and opposite Pete’s Downtown. Approved by the New York City Art Commission, it was designed by Michael J. Mongiello as a long, sleek piece of streamlining with strip windows and orange brick. The roof was specially designed to resist damage from debris falling from the bridge." The building took 18 months to construct, with $635,000 in Federal funds. The Warehouse was built in the Fulton Ferry district at the Brooklyn Bridge. The 1939 W.P.A. Guide to New York City,...

"This is a modern fire station which includes not only all the necessary facilities for the fighting but also provisions for training, recreation, housing of personnel, and maintenance of all equipment. The building is located in the business district of the city at the intersection of two important streets which are not, however, arteries of excessive traffic. In addition to the building illustrated, the project includes a shop building and a drill tower. The headquarters building is rectangular in plan, 128 by 117 feet. The apparatus room provides space for five units of rolling stock besides space for...

According to the Washington Post, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for additions to the District Jail, first built in 1876.  In 1938, four new cell blocks, two connecting wings, a new powerhouse, and a new laundry facility were proposed. In 1940, the Post listed unspecified "remodeling operations" as part of the work on the jail. According to The Hill Is Home (blog), by 1983 the jail had been razed and its functions performed by the new jail just to the south, at 19th and D streets SE. The site of the former jail is now the St.Coletta of Greater Washington...

Building B of the District of Columbia court complex was built in 1940 to house the district's Juvenile Court, with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA).   It was part of a sweeping renovation of downtown DC in the late 1920s and 1930s, including the Judiciary Square area, with many new federal buildings built or completed under the New Deal. Building B of the court complex is visible in the aerial photograph behind the older,  columned Court of Appeals building in the center.   It has a pale green roof and sits just east of the open square. DC court building...

In 1938, the Washington Post reported funding allocations for work at the District Training School for the Feeble Minded, which opened in 1925: "About 70 men will be employed on the construction of the hospital and administration building at the District Training School for Feeble Minded at Laurel, Md." The site was later known as the infamous Forest Haven Asylum, which closed in 1991 amid scandal over patient abuse and neglect. The sprawling facility still stands, and is a popular place for photographers and "ghost hunters." Unfortunately, few if any photos exist of the years when the facility was...

One of Memphis' first two public housing ventures was Dixie Homes, built for African American residents, after the Memphis Housing Authority was established in 1935. "Memphis became the second city in the nation, following New York, to establish a local housing authority" following the establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in 1934. Consisting of 633 units, the project cost $3,400,000 for both facilities--the first was constructed for whites in keeping with the South's segregation policies. Dixie Homes was constructed following demolition of the Quimby Bayou swamp area slums, and was designed in the two-story, commons area block-style meant to encourage...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a community center for the Dixie Pine community in 1936. Dixie Pine had 1000 residents and no public building for social activity. The center hosted many dances for the Camp Shelby soldiers through the WPA Recreation Project. The center was in use occasionally as a polling location for elections in 1977 when it was destroyed by fire.

This fireproof structure replaced makeshift quarters previously occupied and that had been subjected to much criticism. Here the impounded animals could be kept in comfort until humanly destroyed or claimed (from Jessen). The local Civil Works Administration contributed $2206.10 against a total project estimate of $4627.30. The building has since been demolished.

The federal Public Works Administration provided a grant toward the construction of the Domestic Relations Court Building located at the northeast corner of Lexington Ave. and 22nd St. Built in 1939-1940, the building now houses Baruch College's Administrative Center and features a striking set of exterior reliefs above the first floor. The facility has also been referred to the "Second Children’s Court". GothamCenter: "The Children’s Court’s new home, built in 1912, was the first of two courthouses to be located on East 22nd Street between Lexington Avenue and Park Avenue South, a quiet residential block near Gramercy Park.  The second “Gramercy Park courthouse” was...

"The WPA partially funded the construction of the Old Dona Ana County Courthouse (251 West Amador) a three story white adobe with exposed vigas and wooden balconies." -New Mexico the Off Road

Fieldstone structure built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935 for grange meetings. Also has been used as a city hall and library. Still in use as a grange hall. According to Brian Scott (The Historical Marker Database) "Construction in 1935 by local Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor on land donated by W. Maxie Agnew, the building served originally as the home of the town hall, the grange, and the public library. Since its inception, the fieldstone building has been the meeting hall for the agricultural organization known locally and most commonly as the Donalds Grange."

"One of several small monuments in the vicinity of what is known as the “Battle Pass” in Prospect Park, the Dongan Oak Monument commemorates events which took place in this area during the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. During this significant battle of the Revolutionary War, a large white oak mentioned in 1685 in the patent of Governor Thomas Dongan (1634–1715), was cut down by Colonial soldiers and thrown across the road to impede the advance of the British army."   (www.nycgovparks.org) In the 1930s, the sculpture was restored with federal funding under Karl Gruppe, "chief sculptor of the...

This city hall resides in the heart of downtown Dorris and along Hwy 97. It is a stone structure built in 1935 with funds provided by the WPA. The city hall was built for $20,000. No noticeable plaque was located on the outside of the building. There may be a plaque inside.

The since-demolished Douglass and Harrison Apartments was a housing project in Newark, New Jersey. According to the Federal Writers' Project, "Construction costs (approximately $1,800,000) were reduced through the help of the city and the Civil Works Administration in grading the entire site."

Douglass Auditorium is a two-story native stone building in Duncan, Oklahoma that was constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. It faces east and has five distinct bays, separated by projected stone pilasters with heavy stone caps. On the upper wall of the center bay is a stone panel which reads "19 DOUGLASS 36 / AUDITORIUM". Lower on that wall is an embedded bronze WPA shield showing the year 1936. A community center is located in the adjacent school and we believe this auditorium is used as part of that operation.

When the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was launched in November 1933, the Old Dover Village Cemetery received improvements. According to community notes in the Bangor Daily News, "road grading and widening at the Dover Cemetery, and construction of a new piece of road leading to the Bassett section."

The old Main Post Office for San Diego, now the Downtown Station post office, was constructed with Treasury Department funds and houses Archibald Garner's 1937 sculpture, "Transportation of the Mail," produced under the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) put men to work beginning in 1935 on an improvement project at the city-owned Dubois Avenue Yard. A $125,473 project involved the construction of two extensions to garage buildings at the then-Highway Department facility: one 100' x 50' and the other 63' x 50'. A $84,000 project entailed "building repair and alterations" at the facility. The site (albeit with newer construction) is still in use by New York City's Department of Transportation.

The federal Works Progress Administration undertook a $93,900 project starting in 1935 to modernize and otherwise improve several public (now-former) bath facilities in Brooklyn, NY. The public baths at 42 Duffield Street were constructed in 1905; the building has since been demolished. The facilities identified as part of the WPA project were: 209 Wilson Ave. Municipal Baths, Coney Island Duffield Street Hicks Street Pitkin Ave. Huron St. Montrose Ave.

The WPA constructed this two story brick-faced courthouse in 1939. It features rock accents and columns on the front façade, and multi-colored abstract decorative tiles adorn the entryways and windows. From the University of Missouri Extension Department of Community Development: In 1937 the courthouse was reported in dangerous condition. The dome had sunk several inches; ceiling joists were pulled completely out of the walls, and the Circuit Court room was in danger of collapsing. The Dunklin Democrat claimed it was the worst courthouse in southeast Missouri. The building was razed in 1937. Louis Miller's drawing was found in the cornerstone. For the...

Flat horizontal 2/2 windows, flat alum glass doors, glass block. Birthplace of Edward Rector. Good example of the arch type, has remained virtually unaltered, unusual for a hospital. It was constructed in 1939 by the Public Works Administration (PWA).

A former armory quartering the Durham National Guard, what is now the central civic center in downtown Durham, North Carolina  was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) It was converted to a civic center circa 1954.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a shop building, incinerator plant, and remodeled the bus stop at Durham High School.  It appears that the shop building still stands, if considerably altered.  There is no sign of the incinerator and the bus stop could not be located.

Built in 1936, Durkeeville was once public housing -- the second public housing project built in Florida under the federal Public Works Administration. This was listed as 239 living units, one and two story group houses, costing $1,000,000. Durkeeville was razed in September 1997. The Durkeeville historical society building houses the 1936 cornerstone of the original public housing project.

The Dyess colony commissary or trading post or the Big Store was where the colonist got their household needs especially the daily consumables.

Constructed in 1935-1936, the Community Center #1 (later renamed the Earl Bell Community Center) was a civil building in Jonesboro. Jonesboro architect, Elmer A. Stuck, designed the building that cost $100,000 (of which $45,000 came from the Public Works Administration, and $55,000 from a bond issue). The Community Center #1 is a single story building with buff brick walls on a continuous concrete foundation. It has a gable roof located in the center, with flat roofs on the east and west sides. With several changes through the years, it still features the art deco architecture. It has numerous Art Deco...

This compact, red-roofed station was built with $30,000 in federal funds.

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...

The courthouse was undertaken in Lake Providence, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The building was erected for a cost of $100, 589 (Leighninger, 2007).

End End Homes was the third public housing project to be completed in Biloxi. Architects Matthes and Landry with John Thomas Collins designed the facility and it was constructed by Currie & Corley. Currie & Corley's bid was $225,576 for the 96 unit facility. Elmer Richards Electric Company secured electrical work for $9,994.50, Patton & Son awarded the plumbing, heating, and sewage contract for $36,990, and Ray V. Pisarich, sewage disposal system for $22,586. The work began Feb. 10, 1941 and was completed later that year. Damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 resulted in demolition and the Cadet Point Senior...

Then constructed as the East Harlem Health and Teaching Center, what is now known as the East Harlem District Health Center was built with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $239,000 loan and $343,700 grant for the project, whose total cost was $1,253,244. Construction occurred between November 1935 and December 1937. PWA Docket No. NY 9049. A March 1935 Parks Department press release discussing the construction of the health center also describes plans to build a playground on the building's roof that would "spare nothing in the way of ingenuity in developing this area into the city's most...

The East Lake Courts public housing complex was undertaken during the Great Depression in Chattanooga, Tennessee with the assistance of funds provided by the United States Housing Authority (USHA). East Lake Courts was constructed in a "restrained Colonial Revival Style" (Van West, p. 138) containing 437 units on 35 acres. The total cost for East Lake (White only) and nearby College Hill Courts (Black only) was $3.8 million. The facility was renovated during the 1990s and remained in use as of September 2014, when plans to demolish or sell were announced.

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds provided funding for the construction of numerous facilities as Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington.

Eau Claire Senior High School was constructed in 1925-1926 to replace an aging structure on Lake and 4th St. The new high school had extensive basement renovation in the summer of 1938 carried out by the National Youth Administration (NYA), part of the Works Progress Administration. The work done to the structure allowed for a 20X60-foot room to be made to show films and slides. A steel backstop was added as well to create an indoor firing range for the High School .22 Rifle Club. The building now serves as the Eau Claire School District administrative offices.

Sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Public Works Administration provided funding for the expansion of the Eddy County Courthouse and jail in 1939. Treasures on New Mexico Trails: "Eddy County Courthouse was begun in 1891, with additions in 1914 and 1939. The 1939 addition was done by the WPA for $185,000." Eddy County History: "Eddy County was named for Charles B. Eddy, a rancher in southeastern New Mexico during the last decades of the 19th century. ... The original courthouse built a few years after the creation of the county was a Victorian structure built for $21,000 with a...

"Edison Courts, is a Miami-Dade 345-unit public housing apartment complex just west of the Little Haiti (Lemon City) neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Edison Courts is bound at the south by North 62nd Street/Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, at North 67th Street to the north, West Second Avenue to the east, and West Fourth Avenue to the west. The 345-unit low rent housing project Edison Courts, completed in 1941 and designed by the firm of Paist and Stewart with associate architects Robert Law Weed, Vladimir Virrick and E.L. Robertson, provided public housing for white people. It was similar in scale and design...

"In 1936, Edmond was allotted $45,000 to build a National Guard Armory. The WPA built this sandstone building, designed by Colonel Bryan Nolan, on the southeast corner of Stephenson Park."