Start Year: 1936

"This city hall occupies the site of a former building which was destroyed by fire on April 9, 1933. It is approximately 120 by 140 feet over-all in plan and is two stories and a basement in height. As it is on sloping ground, the basement windows are above grade on the rear. The basement provides space for the public-welfare department and for a small courtroom. On the first floor are most of the city offices and space for record storage. The council chamber, the mayor's offices, and the department of public works are on the second floor. The building is fireproof,...

Charity Hospital was constructed between 1936 and 1940 in central New Orleans, about a mile north of the downtown by today's Interstate 10.   Charity Hospital was one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. For decades it served one of the country's largest populations of uninsured citizens. At the time it was built, Charity Hospital was the second-largest hospital in the United States. The cornerstone lists the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (later called the Public Works Administration) as the building funder. The architects were Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth, who were also...

The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, originally the US Post Office Department, was begun under the Hoover Administration and completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It is richly decorated with New Deal artworks paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. There are 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements: 12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, and 8 carved wood medallions. The building serves today as the headquarters for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  It includes a local branch post office, called Benjamin Franklin Station, on Pennsylvania Avenue, that is open to the public; but entry to the rest of the building...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a beautiful new high school for the city of Boulder in 1936-37, replacing an obsolete structure built in 1895. The project cost $550,500.  The school's design is Streamline Moderne (Art Deco) and one of the architects was Glen Huntington, the builder of the noted Art Deco Boulder County Courthouse (which is not a New Deal structure). The exterior facade is done in the same local "Colorado Red" stone as buildings on the University of Colorado campus. The original interior of the auditorium is intact and probably the cafeteria, as well, along with many of the details,...

In a survey of federal projects constructed with PWA funding in 1939: "The population of Montgomery, the capital city of Alabama, was 66,079 in 1930. Its city hall was destroyed by fire in 1932 and shortly thereafter a grant from the P.W.A. made possible the construction of a new building, which was placed on a site adjoining the State capitol. It is two stories in height and accommodates the water department, police department, tax collector, health department, engineering department, and the mayor and his staff. In addition, it provides an auditorium with a seating capacity of 2,300, a stage, and miscellaneous offices. The...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of this magnificent city hall in Lindsay CA in 1936.  The building style is Mission Revival, designed by local architect Fred L. Schwartz. It has been little altered and stands today as a reminder of the elegance of so many mid-20th century civic buildings. "The new city hall in Lindsay is a U-shaped structure with over-all dimensions of 158 by 65 feet. The wing on the left is used as a hall for public meetings and for sessions of the court. The wing on the right contains rooms for the chamber of commerce and...

As part of the New Deal reconstruction of Mission La Purisima, Helen Seegert created a concrete fountain at the east end of the complex in 1936.  It was paid for by the Federal Arts Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Taft Union High School's main building was constructed with federal help under the New Deal.  It is an elegant Art Moderne (Art Deco) facility with lovely decorative elements, particularly the colored bas-reliefs (probably terra cotta). The original Taft Union HS had been built in 1917 with local funds, but the state declared it unsafe in 1934 – most likely because of the great Long Beach earthquake in 1933.  It was not torn down entirely, but reconstructed and expanded. The federal government offered a grant of $51,000 in 1935 – almost surely from the Public Works Administration (PWA).   The county passed a...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the $20,000 Putah Creek Dam project in Winters between 1936 and 1938. The dam has since been removed and the natural floodplain restored.

The Tilden Park golf course was constructed by the the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) with aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief labor in 1936-37.   WPA workers first uprooted 20,000 eucalyptus from former plantations of the trees in the Berkeley Hills.  Then they prepared the land and laid out the course.  It opened in November 1937. Of the total cost of $173,000, abut $139,000 was paid out of WPA funds. The rest came from the Parks District. The course was designed by William Bell, a nationally prominent golf course architect, who was assisted by Richard Walpole, who later became...