Barry Farm Dwellings - Washington DC

State:: WASHINGTON-DC
Site Type:: Public Housing, Civic Facilities
New Deal Agencies:: Alley Dwelling Authority (DC only), Housing Programs
Started:: 1941
Completed:: 1943
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Barry Farm Dwellings in Washington, DC between 1941 and 1943.

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.

Beginning in December 1941, the ADA was ordered to prioritize housing for war workers. Barry Farm Dwellings was one of the initial ADA projects to have its plans & purposes modified by these wartime changes.

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).

“Barry Farm,” DC Housing Authority (accessed July 27, 2020).

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on July 30, 2020.