Highland Dwellings
Photo by the Alley Dwelling Authority, ca. 1937-1944. Source: Report of the National Capital Housing Authority, 1934-1944.
Description
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Highland Dwellings in Washington, DC in 1942.
It appears that some or all of the original Highland Dwelling homes still exist.
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.
With the advent of World War II, the ADA was enlisted to work alongside the FWA to provide housing for defense workers (using Lanham Act funds). Highland Dwellings was one of those projects.
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).
“Highland Dwellings,” DC Housing Authority (accessed August 10, 2020).
Project originally submitted by Brent McKee on August 15, 2020.
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal project site.
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