Description

“Philadelphia artist Walter Gardner (1902-1996) painted “The Streets of Philadelphia” in 1937 for the Spring Garden Post Office, one of many across the country built as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.  The painting depicts a bustling street scene with workers unloading goods in front of the Merchant Exchange on Dock Street.  Murals like this one represent an important chapter in American history, when federal policies encouraged the production of art “for the masses” to combat the economic and social challenges wrought by the Great Depression.  Gardner was an English-born painter who emigrated to Philadelphia as a teenager and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  He also created murals for post offices in Honesdale, Pennsylvania and Berne, Indiana, as well as a large panel for Philadelphia’s Family Court, included in the building’s recent interior designation to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.”