Administrative Buildings Sites

A new annex was constructed for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1936-38. The building was authorized by Congress in 1935 for $6.3 million, but the funds flowed through the Public Works Administration (PWA).   The Treasury Department's Procurement Division handled the design through its architecture office, put out the contract and supervised construction, which was carried out by the John McShain Co. (Evening Star, 1936). In its 1936 fiscal year report, the U.S. Treasury noted: “On August 12, 1935, Congress authorized the construction of a new annex to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to be located on a site...

The Omaha World-Herald announced in the June 13, 1933 edition that Nebraska’s sixth Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp was approved in Washington D.C. and that it would be located near Valentine. Officials arrived in September to make arrangements for the establishment of the camp at the Federal Game Preserve, three miles east of town (the present Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge). The camp, as planned in 1933, would consist of seven buildings to provide comfortable quarters for the 200 men and camp officers who would reside there. The camp, designated for soil erosion projects, would house young men in barracks measuring...

In 1939, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed the Centennial Work Center in Medicine Bow National Forest near the small town of Centennial, Wyoming. CCC workers completed three buildings for use by the U.S. Forest Service, including an office, a dwelling, and a garage. Each building is a one-story log structure with a rubble base foundation. Work began in 1938, with crew members from the Mullen Creek CCC Camp (F-36-W) and Ryan Park Side Camp (F-22-W) cutting logs and laying the foundation for the site. Buildings were constructed by 1939,= and the landscaping was completed by CCC workers in 1940. Originally built to...

Sitka, Alaska's City Hall was originally constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. Constructed during the Great Depression, the concrete-construction federal building was completed to replace a wooden frame structure that had burned in 1936. The two-story building was designed in the prevailing Moderne style with simple Art Deco details and was constructed for $168,000. It has been used as Sitka's city hall since 1993.

In March 1936, the U.S. Army leased the Robert Morton Company building and property at 6001 Van Nuys Boulevard, Van Nuys, California, to serve as headquarters for the newly-created Los Angeles District of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The Robert Morton Company had been a producer of pipe organs and closed its business in 1933.  After remodeling the interior, the building was dedicated to its new mission on May 21, 1936. The entire property was described as “one block square with a 222-foot frontage on Van Nuys boulevard, and extending 55 feet west to Vesper Street. There are two main buildings...

The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building was originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Department. It was then known as the New Post Office because an older Post Office headquarters stood across 12th Street (now a private hotel). The foundation of the new Post Office building was poured in 1931, President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone in 1932, and construction was completed in 1934 (the exact dates are uncertain). Hence, it is only partly a New Deal building. The Clinton complex is part of the Federal Triangle development north of the Mall, between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenue, first envisaged...

The Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building was built 1938-40 as the home of the Social Security Administration, one of the major new programs of the New Deal. The building was funded and constructed in conjunction with the Railroad Retirement Board headquarters, now the Mary E. Switzer building.  The two buildings stand across C street from each other.  They were the first federal buildings south of the Mall. As soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935, planning began for a new headquarters building for the Social Security Administration (SSA).  Then, when Congress funded the...

Originally constructed in 1809-1910 and privately owned, the U.S. government purchased what is now the Robert C. McEwen U.S. Custom House, completely renovating it for federal purposes, during the New Deal era. GSA: "The George Hall Corporation, a shipping company, owned the Parish Store from 1880 to 1936. Likely due to needs for additional space, in 1928, the U.S. Customs Service moved back in to leased space in the Parish Store. In 1936, the Hall Corporation sold the building to the U.S. government for $65,000. The building was renamed the U.S. Custom House. ... Listed in the National Register in 1974, the building...

The U.S. Customs facility located just north of Kalanianaole Ave on the west side of Kuhio St. was constructed with federal funds administered by the Public Buildings Administration of the Federal Works Agency. The building, then called the "Customs Warehouse," was dedicated on Aug. 30, 1941.

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed living quarters, roads, fences and a well at the Desert Experimental Range Station in Pine Valley UT. The station was established in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover, who set aside an 87-square-mile area of high desert in the Great Basin.  The CCC improvements made the range station functional. The Desert Experimental Range focuses on cold desert rangeland research. In 1976, it was designated a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the only cold desert reserve in the Western Hemisphere.  It is administered by the US Forest Service. 

The Public Works Administration carried out “repairs and improvements to the quarters of the Director of Police.” The cost of the project was $1,742.89.

In 1933, the Washington Post reported the appropriation of $2,000 for unspecified repairs and $5,000 for removing old chimneys to the former State, War, and Navy Building – now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.    The 1888 building was supplanted by a new War Department building in 1941, which the War Department quickly left to occupy The Pentagon.  That building passed to the State Department and is still part of the Truman State Department complex.

The Washington Post, October 11, 1933, reported on Public Works Administration (PWA) disbursements for federal buildings in the District:  "Five Government buildings will get new window fixtures here at a cost of $77,324. The departments sharing in this grant are Post Office, Interstate Commerce, Labor, Justice and the auditorium which connects the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Labor Buildings. The work is expected to provide 150 men with jobs for three months." The Department of Labor was relocated in 1979 and the Interstate Commerce Commission was dissolved in 1996. The buildings are now part of the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complex...

By the early 1880s, the U.S. Custom House on Post Office Street was inadequate to contain all the federal offices in Galveston. To supplement it, a new United States Courthouse, Post Office, and Custom House was built at the corner of Rosenberg and Church Streets between 1886 and 1891. By the mid-1930s that ponderous Victorian building had also become inadequate, even though a separate Custom House had been built on Galveston’s “Strand” in 1933. Therefore, this six-story federal building, occupying the entire block front on Rosenberg Street, was authorized. Designed by Alfred C. Finn of Houston, it exemplifies the penchant of...

The first federal courthouse in Ketchikan was opened in 1905. By 1913, a federal grand jury requested the government build a new facility. In 1923, a report found the 1905 courthouse "dilapidated beyond reasonable repair and overcrowded past endurance." Finally, a decade later, relief came to Ketchikan in the form of the Work Projects Administration. An initial appropriation of $300,000 was allotted for the project with a supplemental appropriation of $100,000 to cover the $350,000 cost of the building. The plain, box-like exterior, flat roof and lack of ornamentation identify the Federal Building as International Style architecture. The building also represents...

This New Deal post office is now known as the Federal Building: MesaAZ.gov: "The Federal Building was built in 193 by the Federal Government Department of Treasury to become Mesa's first 1st-class post office and one of the finest buildings in the City at its completion.  The significance of the building was substantiated by the arrival of the Postmaster General, James A. Farley, who attended the dedication of the building as the guest of honor at a banquet at the Mezona Hall.  Local postal officials, Democratic leaders, and other community leaders from all parts of Arizona also attended the function.  James...

This federal building, formerly known as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was originally occupied in 1907. According to the General Services Administration, a three-story, 100-foot extension was constructed to the west side of the building during the New Deal. “At the date of the second addition, in 1935, the original two-story courtroom was demolished, its materials salvaged, and a new, larger courtroom was added to the west end of the second floor. The new courtroom is distinguished by oak paneled wainscoting, marble baseboards, acoustic stone walls, and a decorative plastered...

Originally built as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse and now the Federal Building and Courthouse, the building was completed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project with Treasury Department funding in 1935. Construction took approximately one year (~Sept. 1934 to Sept. 1935), and a striking set of New Deal murals resides in the lobby.

This Beaux-Arts building was originally completed as the U.S. Court House and Post Office in 1906. James A. Wetmore supervised a New Deal extension of the building that was completed in 1934. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1976. The building no longer houses postal operations.

What is now known as the C. F. Haynsworth Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse in Greenville, South Carolina was constructed during the Great Depression, completed in 1937 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which formerly housed the main post office in Greenville, presently houses the Federal Station post office.

Then the U.S. Post Office and Court House, what is now the Federal Building at 304 E Broadway Ave. was expanded with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Some landscaping details implemented at that time are still in place, as well. A National Register of Historic Places nomination form discusses the building: The federal government constructed this three-story building ... in 1913. ... Upon completion, the Renaissance Revival-style building housed a Federal Post Office and District Court, one of only four such facilities in North Dakota. A three-story rear wing was added in 1937. The building was nominated to the National...

An extension to the Newport News Federal Building's main structure was built with Treasury Department funds. Construction was completed in 1941. The building, which is still in use, houses New Deal artwork. The original Newport News Federal Building was built in 1904. The building has two entrances. One is on the post office side on 26th street and the other is on the Customs side on 25th street.

Terre Haute's historic U.S. Post Office and Court House was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds and completed in 1935. The building has been remodeled by Indiana State University; currently known as Federal Hall, the building houses the Scott School of Business as well as administrative functions.

Originally started during the Hoover administration and completed in 1933, Cheyenne's Federal Building was expanded with Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. GSA: "The fourth story was added in 1937 by dismantling the buildings parapet wall and elevator penthouse, constructing the new story, and reconstructing the salvaged elements. The buildings structural capacity was designed to accommodate four stories above the original three constructed, a unique forethought towards the buildings potential growth needs. This addition consists of brick masonry exterior walls with buff-colored face brick to match the original building. The fourth story has simple brick detailing including lintels, sills...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was created by Congress in 1914 and the FTC occupied various sites in the District of Columbia during its early years. It finally got a permanent home in 1937-38 under the New Deal, with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Public Buildings Branch of the Treasury Department.  The FTC building stands at the eastern apex of the Federal Triangle, at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, and was originally known as the Apex Building.  The New Deal completed several buildings in the Federal Triangle that had been started in the early 1930s, but...

The Gerald R. Ford House Office Building was constructed during the New Deal as the Federal General Office Building No. 1 (GOB #1).  It was built just behind the new Social Security and Railroad Retirement Board buildings, which were underway at the time. Its original purpose was to house 7000 employees of the U.S. Census Bureau for the census of 1940. Congress appropriated $3.5 million for the building in 1938 and it was constructed in record time in 1939-40 (FWA 1940). It provided one-half million square feet of office space. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal drove an unprecedented increase in federal employees...

Currently known as the United States Department of Agriculture Building, the historic U.S. Forest Service Building in Elkins, West Virginia was constructed with Treasury Deparrment funds. Architectural details: Three-story flat roof facility built to a U-shaped plan. Red brick in common bond with concrete façade and pilasters with caps and block defining the bays and supporting the cornice. Course belt of concrete separating the first and second floors. Concrete lintel and sills with 8/8 windows. Bathrooms have been altered/modernized but still contain original fabric in most of the building (including the bathrooms). The building houses examples of New Deal artwork.

"The Federal Office Building in Laconia, New Hampshire, was designed by Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect for the Public Works Branch of the Treasury Department's Procurement Division. Conceived and built during the Depression era as the United States Forestry Building, the cornerstone for the building was laid in 1939, and the building was dedicated soon after in July 1940. The building, authorized under the New Deal's colossal building program, is designed in a stripped Classical Revival style and is representative of one of several styles preferred by government architects in the 1930s."

The eastern half of the former General Services Administration Regional National Capital Office Building was built under the New Deal in 1933-35.   The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $1,750,000 towards the project and the Treasury Department paid the rest, $850,000. The purpose of the expansion was to add ~400,000 square feet of space for a consolidated home of the Treasury Department's Procurement Division, whose workers had been spread out across several buildings in the District. Originally meant to be an addition to the Procurement Division's building across 8th Street to the west, completed in 1932, the addition was simply integrated into the...

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (USGPO) is a four building complex, which was called the Government Printing Office until the name was changed to the Government Publishing Office in 2014.  Building No. 3 was constructed in 1939-40 by the Treasury Department and the Federal Works Agency.  The funding for Building No. 3 was approved by Congress, c. 1935, along with two other federal building projects in the District (an annex for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and remodeling of a building for the General Accounting Office).  In 1938 a group of buildings at H and North Capitol streets NW was torn down to...

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (USGPO) is a four building complex, which was called the Government Printing Office until the name was changed to the Government Publishing Office in 2014.  The USGPO warehouse, also known as Building #4 of the complex, was constructed in 1936-38 by the Charles H. Tomkins Co. under a $1,042,930 contract with the Procurement Division of the U.S. Treasury.   The Treasury had long been responsible for all government (non-military) buildings and a new Procurement Division was created in 1933 by the incoming Franklin Roosevelt Administration to coordinate all such activities.  The design of the building was done under...

The northern L-shape wing of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 10th Street NW, was constructed in 1934-1935.   The existing IRS building (square and containing four court yards) had been built in 1930, as part of the push to develop the Federal Triangle. According to the General Services Administration, "The second phase of building construction took place between 1934 and 1937 in response to repeal of the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) which dramatically increased the workload of the Division of Distilled Spirits." The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funding of $2,300,000 and construction was overseen by the Treasury Department...

The Department of Justice Building is part of the Federal Triangle, first proposed by the McMillan Commission in its 1901 report on planning Washington DC. The Federal Triangle is a 70-acre area east of the White House, between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues.  The plan called for replacing a 19th century residential and commercial area with monumental buildings in the Beaux Arts style of the early 20th century.   The Federal Triangle plan finally moved forward under the 1926 Public Buildings Act, directed by the Treasury Department (which handled federal buildings until superseded by the Federal Works Agency in 1939 and General...

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Building was originally constructed for the federal Farm Credit Administration, an agency created by the early New Deal to provide credit to farmers in difficulty and to stimulate investment in the farm sector. It was built between 1938 and 194o, hence started by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department (which handled federal buildings at the time) and completed by the Public Buildings Administration in the reorganized Federal Works Administration (most of the same staff transferred over to the new administration in the 1939 federal reorganization). The six-story Moderne-style building was designed by noted Berkeley architect,...

The Mount Shasta Ranger Station was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935 in classic rustic park style.  The original Ranger Station consists of several buildings, including the main office/visitors' center, timber management office, guest house and auxiliary buildings – which remain in pristine condition. The ranger station was the headquarters of the Shasta National Forest (1905) until it was unified with the Trinity National Forest in 1950. It is now one of four management units of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, whose headquarters is in Redding.  A sister station is located in McCloud CA. A relief map of the Shasta-Trinity area hangs...

The National Archives building was substantially completed under the New Deal and the central stacks were added with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1926, Congress approved $8.7 million for a home for the National Archives. The Public Buildings Commission and Commission on Fine Arts had to approve the site and design, which led to much jostling over where it would fit within the larger plans for a "Federal Triangle" in the center of the city.  As a result, the site was moved twice before the architect, John Russell Pope, was officially appointed by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and...

The Sprankle Building (also known by later names of The Pembroke and The Daylight Building) is now a 38- (formally 40) unit condominium in the adaptive reused building. Built in 1927, this building housed the initial offices of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Engineering Staff, Training, and Education programs, and Soil Erosion and Reforestation offices. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Daylight Building in 2009.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) modernized and expanded the administration building at the original Oakland Municipal Airport (now the North Field of Oakland International Airport). The project was sponsored by the Port of Oakland and cost $70,000. The work added 8500 square feet, doubling the floor space of the building in order to house new offices of the Civil Aeronautics Board, including airway traffic control, air carrier section, private flying division, air safety board, airway communications station, and general inspection section, plus an office for the US weather service.  The building also served as passenger terminal for a time. The renovated building...

The Washington Post, September 8, 1933, reported on a Public Works Administration (PWA) disbursement for a number of federal buildings, including $3,121 for roof renovation on the old Post Office Department Building. On October 11, 1933, the paper also reported that: "Five Government buildings will get new window fixtures here at a cost of $77,324. The departments sharing in this grant are Post Office, Interstate Commerce, Labor, Justice and the auditorium which connects the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Labor Buildings. The work is expected to provide 150 men with jobs for three months." The building referred to in these articles is the...

President Franklin Roosevelt created Patuxent Research Refuge (PRR) with Executive Order 7514, December 16, 1936, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace dedicated it on June 3, 1939.  The refuge began with 2,670 acres and has since grown to 12,841 acres. It is “the nation's only national wildlife refuge established to support wildlife research” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). Several New Deal agencies helped to build the extensive facilities at the Patuxent Research Refuge. At the time, wildlife refuges came under the direction of the Bureau of Biological Survey (later merged into the Fish & Wildlife Service).  The Works Progress Administration (WPA)...