- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Public Housing, Civic Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Alley Dwelling Authority (DC only), Housing Programs
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1941
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings in Washington, DC between 1938 and 1941.
The Ellen Wilson Dwellings were demolished in 1996, and the area appears to have transitioned away from public housing.
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.
Source notes
Report of the National Capital Housing Authority, For the Ten-Year Period 1934-1944, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945, available on Hathitrust (accessed July 14, 2020).
“The Past Is Demolished at Ellen Wilson Dwellings,” Washington Post, July 25, 1996 (accessed July 25, 2020).
“Removing the public from public housing: Public–private redevelopment of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings in Washington, DC,” Sociology in My Neighborhood: DC Ward Six (blog of Dr. Johanna Bockman, George Mason University), May 23, 2018 (accessed July 25, 2020).
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on July 28, 2020.
Contribute to this Site
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.
Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site
Join the Conversation