Glendale Community College – Glendale CA

City:
Glendale, CA

Site Type:
Colleges and Universities, Education and Health

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1936

Completed:
1937

Designer:
George M. Lindsey

Quality of Information:
Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Partially Extant

Description

Glendale Community College (formerly Junior College) relocated to its present campus in 1937. Several of the campus’ original buildings—including the surviving John A. Davitt Administration Building—were constructed between 1936 and 1937 with the support of a bond election and funds matched equally by a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant.

“The initial campus would consist of four buildings: a 24,000 square-foot Administration Building, a 12,000 square-foot Science Building and men’s and women’s locker rooms, together totaling 6,960 square feet. This plant would have 32 classrooms and laboratories. Space would be set aside for a student-funded student union, auditorium, liberal arts and classroom buildings. […] Construction of the new campus ran a little over budget and a bit behind schedule, which wasn’t bad since planning for these federally-subsidized Depression-era projects tended to be wildly optimistic. The proposed $355,000 price tag grew to $398,000, with the extra costs being split between the federal government and the school district. While some of the federal money paid for outside contractors, much of the federally-subsidized help consisted of laborers from the county relief rolls. Among other things, these workers built retaining walls, excavated the athletic fields, graded the lawns, cleared brush, planted shrubbery, installed sprinklers and built a sidewalk in front of the college” (see Eberts, “Part 4: Glendale Junior College: The First Decade, 1927-37”).

The laborers who graded, landscaped, and developed the grounds did so under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with $276,850 in federal funding (and $327,932 total).

Source notes

Donald H. Connolly and G. I. Farman, "Report of Accomplishment of the Operations Division," Works Progress Administration, Southern California, January 1, 1939.

Mike Eberts, "Part 4: Glendale Junior College: The First Decade, 1927-37" (accessed Mar. 20, 2023).

"About GCC," Glendale Community College (accessed Mar. 20, 2023).

Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on August 21, 2008.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald.

Location Info


1500 N Verdugo Rd
Glendale, CA 91208
Los Angeles County

Coordinates: 34.1664, -118.2282

Site Details

Federal CostLocal CostTotal Cost
$475,850 $250,082 $725,932

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One comment on “Glendale Community College – Glendale CA

  1. Greg Dahlen

    The auditorium at GCC has a tower. Anyone know what it’s for?

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Contribute to this Site

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One comment on “Glendale Community College – Glendale CA

  1. Greg Dahlen

    The auditorium at GCC has a tower. Anyone know what it’s for?

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

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