Hospitals and Clinics Sites

The PWA built the power facilities at the State Infirmary Hospital. The power plant has since been substantially expanded, but it is unclear if the original building remains. Note that in the above photograph, the passageway at the right was not built by the PWA.

Built by the PWA in 1936 as the main building of its institution, the Virks Building is one of the largest buildings in this part of the city. It features a large portico, overlooking West Road. It was designed by Ambrose J. Murphy of Providence, more well known for his ecclesiastical designs. The building is currently vacant, with a proposal to convert it into offices.

A long, low, Classical Revival building, originally built to houses the nurses employed by the Sanatorium. Architecturally, it is defined by the slightly projecting central pavilion ornamented with pilasters and a pediment. Like the Sanatorium's main building, Wallum Lake House, the Nurses' Building was a PWA project. The architects of the building were Walter F. Fontaine & Sons, of Woonsocket. The Sanatorium is now the Zambarano Unit of Eleanor Slater Hospital. Built to house tuberculosis patients, it is now occupied by long-term cases requiring intensive care.

The Wallum Lake House was the Sanatorium's main building. It is a large, 3-story brick building, in the Colonial Revival style. The State Sanatorium was originally used as a place for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. It was designed by the Providence architectural firm of Howe & Church during the mid-1930s. This building replaced the Sanatorium's original building, which had opened in 1905. When it opened, Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in Rhode Island. The hospital became the Zambarano Unit of Eleanor Slater Hospital in 1994. It is now used primarily to care for long-term patients requiring intensive care. The Bridgemen's...

Excerpt from the National Archives and Records Administration, Neg. 17975-D: "Rikers Island Penitentiary. Description of work done by WPA. Erection of four single family residences; two single family residences; 5400 linear feet chain-like fence. Fence around entire institution, fence around baseball field; one concrete coping wall; piping in tunnel to the new proposed buildings. Erection of new hay and feed barn in wagon sheds on Riker's Island. Project No. 665-97-3-22. Social rehabilitation of Prison Inmates, Department of Correction, 2 Rikers Island."   Excerpt from the (1939) WPA Guide to New York City, Federal Writers Project: “The island is now entirely given over to the city's...

The Roanoke Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital Historic District, currently known as the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center, is located at 1970 Roanoke Boulevard, Salem, Virginia, within Roanoke County. The city boundary of Salem and Roanoke extends through the medical center’s property, but the majority of the property is located within the Salem, Virginia, city limits. The hospital was originally referred to as the Roanoke VA Hospital. The PWA provided $1,300,000 for the construction of numerous buildings at the site. The neuropsychiatric facility was dedicated on October 19, 1934, with approximately 25,000 attending the ceremony. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Brigadier...

During the early days of the New Deal, Public Works Administration (PWA) funding helped to complete a new Robert Packer Hospital facility after a devastating fire: "... the hospital received a Public Works Administration loan of up to $420,000 to complete the new hospital." The following is part of a story that ran in The Towanda Daily Review upon the opening of the new hospital building: The Times-Tribune: “This new building which is opened to the public today is the consummation of the dream friends of Packer Hospital have had for many years necessitated by, and subsequently constructed after, the serious fire of May...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Robert W. Speer Memorial Children's Hospital in Denver CO. The building was completed in 1939. Today, the building is part of the Denver General Hospital. A cornerstone on the building reads, “Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Project No. Colo. 1349 - F”

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a Tuberculosis Hospital in Roney’s Point, Ohio County, in the vicinity of Wheeling. The 40-bed hospital opened in 1936. The cost was $188,000 which was covered in part by the PWA, the county, and the Anti-Tuberculosis League. The facility is currently abandoned. Project W. Va.-4047.

Roosevelt Care Center in Edison, New Jersey was originally known as the Middlesex County Tuberculosis Hospital. The building was constructed with PWA funds. NJ.com states: "Today, that building is on the National Register of Historic Places. For many years, Roosevelt served as the Middlesex County tuberculosis hospital. In the 1950s, it was converted to a long-term-care facility, and rehabilitation and recreation programs were added. An annex building on the other side of Parsonage Road was completed in 1964, and a major addition to the main building opened in 1982." The structure was reconditioned and converted into affordable senior housing. It opened in April...

The former Rosebank Quarantine Station in Staten Island, New York was expanded during the F.D.R. era. "Building 1," and "Building 3," each completed in 1935, were constructed by Caye Construction Co. In 1939 additional work was completed: an addition to the "Junior Medical Quarters" / "Building B," and "M. O. C. Residence" / "Building C". The facility occupied a sizable section of shorefront property east of Bay Street. Most of the New Deal-era / Quarantine facilities are no longer extant. "For about a century, beginning in 1873, Rosebank was once home to a Quarantine Hospital.  The facility was located on Bay Street and Nautilus Street...

Between 1934 and 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a school and arts & crafts building at the former Ruth Home in El Monte, CA. According to a New Deal official's scrapbook, "the work consisted of the construction of a frame and stucco school building, all of which is complete except for the installation of plumbing and lighting fixtures, tile roof, miscellaneous painting and other interior finishing. While there was still some $1600.00 for labor remaining unexpended, the Applicant ran out of money for materials. The project was officially closed April 19th, 1935, because of the inability on the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at was then known as the Saint Lawrence State Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York. Among the improvements were "painting 31,100 square yards of surface and construction of 10,000 square yards of concrete floors and verandas. An open canal was built, window guards were reinforced and interior and exterior repairs were made to the Flower and other buildings."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial improvement work at San Francisco Hospital during the Great Depression. The WPA: Repaired training nurses home, administration building, pathological, emergency and receiving buildings, general rehabilitation.--Healy, p. 71.

The WPA made "alterations and construct new addition to the Santa Cruz County Hospital and improve grounds" in 1942. Exact location and current status of this hospital unknown.

Seaview Hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium constructed "between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal facility for the treatment of tuberculosis of its date in the United States" (wikipedia). The children's hospital pictured here was constructed by the PWA. The hospital was eventually abandoned and spent many years in a state of ruin. In recent years some of the facilities have been restored as the Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center. As far as the Living New Deal has been able to ascertain, however, this building remains in ruins.

Seaview Hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium constructed "between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal facility for the treatment of tuberculosis of its date in the United States" (wikipedia). In addition to the nurses' residence and children's hospital, New Deal agencies did other work on the site, including completing new roads, like the one pictured here. The hospital was eventually abandoned and spent many years in a state of ruin, but in recent years many of the facilities have been restored as the Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center.

Seaview Hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium constructed "between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal facility for the treatment of tuberculosis of its date in the United States" (wikipedia). The nurses' residence pictured here was constructed by the PWA. The hospital was eventually abandoned and spent many years in a state of ruin. Many of the facilities were eventually restored as  the Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and the nurses' residence was turned into a senior housing facility known as Park Lane at Sea View. However, the Living New Deal recently received word that the facilities have fallen into ruin.  

The Department of Health medical center at 62 Second Place in Brooklyn was constructed with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. This was one of three infant health stations in Brooklyn dedicated by Mayor La Guardia on May 10, 1939. The buildings cost about $50,000 each, with the WPA paying 60% and the city paying 40% of the costs. The building continues to serve health purposes, though the operations are now privately owned.

The Public Works Administration completed this services building for the St. Louis City Hospital Complex in 1940. The red brick building is vacant at the present, but is currently for sale. Surrounding buildings have been successfully repurposed and this building has the same potential with solid construction and architecture consistent with the surrounding buildings. "St. Louis City Hospital was the city's primary public hospital. For most of the 20th Century, it operated out of this multi-level, multiple-building complex, whose earliest structures dated from 1906. By the time it reached its developmental apex in 1970, it included 12 buildings total (7 of...

"The New Mexico Veterans' Center (formerly Carrie Tingley Hospital) was partially funded with WPA funds in 1937. The buildings were left vacant in 1981 when the Hospital moved to Albuquerque. In 1983 the Veterans' Administration and the New Mexico Legislature provided funds for renovation of the buildings and the establishment of the New Mexico Veterans' Center. The Sierra County Court House and the Community Center are two other WPA buildings in T or C. " -Phyllis Eileen Banks

The Department of Health medical center at 8658 16th Ave. in Brooklyn was constructed with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. This was one of three infant health stations in Brooklyn dedicated by Mayor La Guardia on May 10, 1939. The buildings cost about $50,000 each, with the WPA paying 60% and the city paying 40% of the costs. Google Street View imagery of the site suggests that the building is presently vacant.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Slossfield Community Center. Constructed between 1936 and 1939, the complex consists of several buildings that included a health and maternity clinic, an education building, and a recreation center. The Art Deco structures were designed by architect E. B. Van Keuren. The Health Center opened on July 1, 1939 and was one of many community healthcare facilities built by the WPA throughout Alabama. The center provided publicly-funded care for low-income patients who had no access to private healthcare. The Slossfield Community Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 29,...

The PWA contributed 45% of costs to a new hospital building in 1937. According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, construction of this building hinged on approval of the PWA funds.

These retaining walls are adjacent to the first hospital on the property and to the Oak Knoll (tuberculosis) Sanatorium, built 1939. In 1997, its name changed to Norton Psychiatric.

Originally known as Sonoma State Home, Eldridge, all the structures and streets of this place later became Sonoma State Hospital (now Sonoma Valley Hospital). Various WPA projects were undertaken here.

"This project was undertaken to replace about 60 frame buildings which had been constructed at Mont Alto since 1907 and which were obsolete as well as fire hazards. Four new fireproof structures had already been built by the State with the assistance of the P.W.A. This program included the main hospital, the nurses' home, a women's-help dormitory, a garage, a kitchen and dining-hall building, the children's hospital, alterations and additions to the powerhouse, the steam distribution system, sewers, and the sewage disposal plant. The main hospital is six stories and a basement in height with a partial seventh story. It...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of a new clinic, part of the State Hospital for Mental Diseases (also known as the Spencer State Hospital for Mental Diseases) in Spencer, Roane County. The addition was built in 1937 and was a five-bed facility. The State Hospital for Mental Diseases closed in July 1989 and demolished in 2005. The condition of the structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration built the St. Thomas hospital in Colby KS in 1941. According to Kansas Historical Society, "St. Thomas Hospital was constructed in 1941 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal program that funded the construction of 130 new hospitals nationwide and improvements to 1,670 more. There were only two new hospitals in Kansas constructed with WPA funds, one in Colby and the other in Oswego. The three-story Colby hospital was designed by Kansas City architect Joseph Radotinsky in the Georgian Revival style utilizing brick salvaged from the old high school on the same site. The facility was expanded...

State Charity Hospital Improvements in Jackson MS was built with federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funds in 1935. $18,000 was allotted for the Charity hospital project. N. W. Overstreet was the architect for main building and nurses home renovations in 1934-1935. The hospital was constructed in 1912, closed in 1955, and demolished prior to 1962.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) continued work at this facility from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). WPA project No. 65-3-2140, Approval Date 10-25-35, $1.045, "Paint Int. State Industr. Home. ERA" (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) Excerpt from Oakland Wiki: "The Industrial Home for the Adult Blind (sometimes the Industrial Home of Mechanical Trades for the Adult Blind) was established in 1885 at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Thirty-sixth Street, on the eastern half of the former Peter Thomson estate. The Home went through a number of changes, and then became the State-operated Orientation Center for the Blind in 1951. In...

The State Narcotic Hospital Spadra was a once separate program within the grounds of what is known today as the Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, CA. No records exist since the unincorporated area known as Spadra was annexed into the City of Pomona. 3 different New Deal relief agencies were involved in reconstruction efforts at this mental health facility. WPA #1E B20 810, CWA SLF #61, & SERA#S1 B1 174. Records at the Pasadena Museum of History describe New Deal work at the site: "This (WPA) project was opened January 11, 1935 and was suspended May 2, 1935 at the request of...

The PWA built this cottage at the State Training School, later known as the Stockley Center, which housed the developmentally disabled.

The PWA conducted unspecified work at the State Welfare Old Age Infirmary, now the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill. The state legislature appropriated $50,000 to the infirmary in 1935, potentially as matching funds for PWA work. From Delaware: A Guide to the First State: "The State Welfare Home ..., a prominent group of brick buildings in neo-Colonial style, was opened in 1933 to take the place of the almshouses in the three counties of Delaware. Planned to permit the addition of more buildings, the plant cost $590,000 as developed up to 1937. In 1936 there were 372 "guests" averaging 61...

No-longer-extant, the Suffolk County Tuberculosis Sanatorium is now the site of Suffolk County Community College in Selden. Suffolk County News reported that, between 1935 and 1936, the WPA undertook many projects in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, including landscaping the grounds of the Suffolk County Sanitorium.

Prior to the building of the Summit County Hospital, operations were done on kitchen tables, in a room over the mercantile, or on a portable operating table. Thus, the county’s doctors were motivated to work with the Summit County Commissioners to build a hospital in Summit County using PWA funds ($51,830, PWA Utah 1216-F). The building was started in December 1938 and completed one year later. It was a brick structure, 124 feet by 42 feet, containing 14 beds, surgery, delivery room, x-ray department, nursery, kitchen, etc., and had modern equipment throughout. An Open House was held January 7, 1940, for...

This brick Romanesque architecture building overlooking the city was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) on the property of the long-closed County Hospital. This is a former Tubercular Hospital. According to a WPA job card, the project scope was to "Construct a tubercular hospital building and do other work incidental thereto, on the County Hospital grounds in San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. In addition to projects specifically approved. County owned property." WPA Proj. No. 165-03-2104, February 6, 1937, Total sponsor and Federal funds $80,491, Months to complete 27, average employed 108. "Construct a new unit to the Tuberculosis Hospital,...

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. Improvements at what was then the Sunnycrest Sanatorium in Dubuque (Project 469) are included among the many WPA projects described in the collection. The facility now serves as Sunnycrest Manor, a senior living center.

The Sweetwater Hospital in Nolan County, eventually renamed Simmons Memorial Hospital, was the first official hospital in Sweetwater, Texas. The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the SweetWater Memorial Hospital in 1936. Sweetwater Hospital was an L-shaped one-story brick hospital, which cost around $85,000 in bond issues. The PWA funded the construction of  a hospital with the most "modern practices'' and hospital designs. The vicinity could accommodate up to 34 patients, which was enough for the small town, and included medical rooms, maternity wards, operating rooms, and air conditioning. However, the city needed to solicit bids in January for...

The PWA built several facilities for the Territorial Hospital complex. Initially, the hospital accommodated patients from the Oahu Insane Asylum, founded by King Kamehameha IV in 1866 on the Iolani Palace grounds in Honolulu.1 The Territorial Hospital expanded and later became the Hawaii State Hospital.4 "On January 6, 1930 the Oahu Asylum closed and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was over-crowded, Overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. It was not yet been possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations so that adequate...