- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Public Housing, Civic Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Alley Dwelling Authority (DC only), Housing Programs
- Started:
- 1942
- Completed:
- 1942
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Stoddert Dwellings in Washington, DC in 1942.
Today, the DC Housing Authority manages “Stoddert Terrace,” in the same general area (and perhaps the same exact area) as the original Stoddert Dwellings. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the original structures 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 Federal Works Agency (FWA) to provide housing for defense workers (using Lanham Act funds). Stoddert 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).
“Stoddert Terrace,” DC Housing Authority (accessed August 12, 2020).
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on August 13, 2020.
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