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  • 109th St. Pool - Los Angeles CA
    The WPA helped in improvements at this pool that put 66 people to work in 1939. 53,300 man hours were used. $36,211 went toward labor and $3,129 to other expenses. As of Winter 2015, the facility was extant but being extensively renovated.
  • 17th St. Improvements - San Francisco CA
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of 17th Street between Market and Harrison.
  • 18th Street Widening - San Francisco CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved many roads in San Francisco, California, including widening a 1,655 foot stretch of 18th Street between 3rd and Missouri Streets (between Potrero Point and the crest of Potrero Hill).    
  • 25th Ave. Improvements - San Francisco CA
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of 25th Ave. between Fulton St. and El Camino del Mar.
  • 28th Street Land Reclamation Project - San Diego CA
    This WPA land reclamation project (a process by which new land is created from sea or riverbeds) appears to have taken place where 28th street runs into the San Diego coastline near East Harbor Drive. Note the ships and masts just visible towards the horizon in the photo below.
  • 3rd St. Improvements - San Francisco CA
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of 3rd St. between what was then Bayshore Blvd. and Burke Ave. Highway 101 now occupies that stretch of Bayshore Blvd.
  • 75th Street Elementary School – Los Angeles CA
    Seventy-Fifth Street Elementary, which opened in 1922, was rebuilt with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The work was done sometime in 1934-35. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Seventy-Fifth Street Elementary was one of three schools in the city to receive an outright grant.  It was awarded $24,000, while Huntington Park Elementary School received $7,000...
  • 7th Street Sidewalks - Knights Landing CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built curbs and sidewalks in portions of Knights Landing, CA in 1940. The attached photos show the WPA imprints that were placed in the concrete at the time of construction.
  • Abraham Lincoln High School - Los Angeles CA
    Abraham Lincoln High School, which opened in 1878, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Architect Albert C. Martin designed the Moderne-style buildings, which feature murals and sculptures likely completed under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP). In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of...
  • Abraham Lincoln High School - San Francisco CA
    Academic unit; shop unit, 2 gyms, auditorium to be added later. 1 new building. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $750,000 in PWA funds had been allotted for the first unit of the construction of the Abraham Lincoln High School. From the school's current website: "The result of a 1938 bond measure approved by San Francisco voters to address the increasing population in the Western San Francisco area, Abraham Lincoln High School was incorporated into a modern three-story building that was completed at a cost of over $750,000 in 1940 with just 50 classrooms, a cafeteria, a...
  • Abraham Lincoln School Improvements - Lynwood CA
    The New Deal carried out reconstruction and ground improvements.
  • Acalanes High School - Lafayette CA
    A WPA stamp laid in front of the school identifies the school as being built in 1941. The stamp, originally in the sidewalk, has since been cut out of the ground and is now on display inside one of the classrooms.
  • Achieve Academy - Oakland CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of the Hawthorne Elementary School in the Fruitvale area of Oakland, California, in 1940.  The PWA had been incorporated into the Federal Works Agency (FWA) circa 1940 (the plaque does not give a date). The single-story building's design is (PWA) Moderne with bas-relief columns between the windows on the south wing and a decorative scrim above. The north wing is plain. The main entrance has a simple grooved edging.   Because the school lies within the main Latino/x district of Oakland, it has been painted in bright colors, as the community prefers. The effect...
  • Adams School Annex - San Francisco CA
    Now the Ellis-Polk Police Station. Remodeled room for telatype and general complaints.--Healy, p.72. Originally the Adams School Annex, this building was then the San Francisco Ellis-Polk or "Northern" Police Station for many years. Though the inscription above the door now reads "Harvey Milk Children's Center," the building now houses the San Francisco Unified School District Student Nutrition Services Center.
  • Addams Elementary School - Long Beach CA
    Designed by Edwall James Baume, the original five units and garden courts at Addams Elementary School were built in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. Addams is one of six LBUSD schools built in the aftermath of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake that were designed in the Period Revival style instead of WPA/PWA Moderne. The 1933 earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal...
  • Addams Elementary School Fresco - Long Beach CA
    In 1938, under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), artist Suzanne Miller completed the fresco "A Visit to the Jungle" for Jane Addams Elementary School library in Long Beach, CA. According to the Arts Council for Long Beach, "This story-telling mural illustrates an original children’s fable, written by the artist, where children encounter an assortment of wise and friendly animals. Contemporaneous accounts note that the artist wrote a story of children visiting the jungle specifically to accompany her mural at the Jane Addams School." Miller also completed murals at the old Lincoln Park Main Library and Franklin Classical...
  • Administration Building - Novato CA
    P.W.A. Federal Project No. 487
  • Administrative & Support Buildings - Death Valley National Park CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942. CCC 'boys' built erected a total of 76 buildings in the monument, including administrative, residential, maintenance & visitor facilities.   The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, built in 1933 and rebuilt after a fire in 1936.   The original park headquarters was at Cow Creek, as well, and now serves as a Research Center.  Some of the old camp buildings at Cow Creek still stand and are in use as support facilities for park administration: warehouses, a carpenter shop, trades shop, radio building and...
  • Adobe Art Gallery - Castro Valley CA
    "The Adobe building, located on the grounds of the Castro Valley Elementary School, was leased to the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District for use as a community center. The Adobe was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed by Mario Corbett of San Francisco and built in 1938. The building is located in an elm grove planted by the Castro Valley Boy Scouts in 1926. There are hundreds of 4x9x16 inch adobe bricks made by the W.P.A. from dirt excavated from the site of the Redwood School in Castro Valley. The walls of the Adobe are 16 inches thick....
  • Adobe Chapel Reconstruction - San Diego CA
    In 1937 the federal Works Progress Administration rebuilt San Diego's Adobe Chapel of the Immaculate Conception "close to its original site."
  • Adobe Office Building - Bakersfield CA
    The WPA constructed a cluster of buildings at O and Golden State streets, including a sizeble adobe office building, as well as some shop and storage buildings. The former is currently unused. Its last occupant was Kern County Parks & Recreation after they were burned out of their much newer building. Parks & Rec have been moved to a more recently acquired building. The WPA warehouse and shop buildings have served the county since the late 1930s with very little in maintenance costs. They are currently under threat of demolition.
  • Agassiz Elementary School - San Francisco CA
      Vocational night school. Eighteen classrooms. Near high school. 'Bids will be opened for constructing Agassiz elementary unit of twelve classrooms to be located at Bartlett and Twenty-second Streets. Masten and Hurd are the architects. The estimated cost is $179,000.'--The Architect and Engineer, Nov. 1935 (p. 60)
  • Airport Boulevard Railway Underpass - South San Francisco CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for a grade-separation underpass on the Bayshore Highway under the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks in South San Francisco.  The project cost $200,000. The underpass, completed in 1936, doubled the width of an earlier structure built in 1927 and increased its capacity from 4 to 8 lanes (lanes were narrower at the time). This was much desired by the local Chamber of Commerce and, no doubt, by travelers on the Bayshore Highway, the main route south from San Francisco to San Jose. It also  improved access to the San Francisco Airport, which was benefitting from New Deal...
  • Alameda County Courthouse - Oakland CA
    Alameda County courthouse is a striking example of Moderne Architecture. It consists of a large base filling a city block, a setback tower, two further stories of jail set farther back and a hipped roof with observation cupola at the top. The base and tower are white concrete with striking vertical window columns.  The south facade features a large bas-relief eagle over the door (and has been altered for wheelchair access).  The main entrance, no longer used, faces Lake Merritt to the east, with a grand lobby and staircase flanked by large marble mosaics. The interior, housing several floors of...
  • Alameda County Courthouse: Marble Murals - Oakland CA
    The former main entrance on the east side of the Alameda County Courthouse leads to an elegant lobby flanked by stairways and two large murals made of inlaid marble backed with gold and silver leaf.   The murals, which measure 10 x 30 feet, were designed by Marian Simpson and sculpted by Gaetano Duccini.  They were paid for by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). One is called "Exploration" and depicts the Native American and Hispanic history of Alameda County.  The other is called "Settling of California" and portrays the arrival of Anglo frontier settlers.  That entrance and lobby is...
  • Alameda County Road Work - Berkeley CA
    The February 1934 issue of California Highway and Public Works describes federal funding for extensive road work from Oakland to Richmond. When the Key System replaced portions of their lightrail trolley with bus service, federal funds helped with track removal and widening of portions of San Pablo Avenue. The work took place in two units. The first was complete removal of the 20 foot central area of the street from Potrero Avenue in El Cerrito to Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. The second unit covered the widening of San Pablo Avenue through the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and El Cerrito...
  • Alameda Electric Power Plant (demolished) - Alameda CA
    This sub-station of the Municipal Power and Light System of the City of Alameda was constructed with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The exact date is unknown to us. The old power plant has been demolished and replaced by a housing complex (c. 1970s).  Two auxiliary buildings remain, which appear to be empty and unused.  One can be seen to the left of the former power plant in the photos from the 1930s.
  • Alamo River Bridge - Brawley CA
    $24,000 was provided by federal funds during the Great Depression for the construction of a bridge carrying Ben Hulse Highway over the Alamo River east of Brawley, California.
  • Albany High School - Albany CA
    Albany did not have a public high school until 1936; students traveled to Berkeley, Richmond or Oakland. The WPA and PWA contributed to the building of Albany High between, roughly, 1936-1941. According to the Albany Times from that period, five building units were constructed, including administrative offices, classrooms, laboratories, a cafeteria, nurse's offices, print shop, library, theater, gym, and music room. Regarding cost, also according to the Albany Times, the WPA contributed $20,000 of the $60,000 it cost to build the first unit, and at least $26,602 to building the third unit. A PWA grant of $28,350 went to the fourth...
  • Alcatraz Prison Improvements and Guard Housing - San Francisco CA
    The Public Works Administration funded improvement work at the Alcatraz Prison on Alcatraz Island. The cost of the project was $1,100,000. The funds for the modernization were earmarked through a PWA program in 1938. The modernization plans were temporarily suspended after the Attorney General suggested the prison be moved away from San Francisco’s “doorstep.” The work restarted in 1940, when Attorney General Jackson took office, inspected the site, and approved the modernization project. James V. Bennett, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, declared in 1940 for the Fresno Bee that he expected the construction to finish by July of 1940. He also...
  • Alexander Hamilton High School Sculpture - Los Angeles CA
    In 1941, an unknown artist created a marble sculpture of Alexander Hamilton for Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, CA. Completed under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration Arts Project (WPAAP), the 6 foot 10 inch high sculpture depicts a young Alexander Hamilton dressed in knee breeches, a vest and a long coat. It is located in the main entrance foyer.
  • Alhambra High School Gymnasium - Alhambra CA
    On October 14, 1938, the Daily Pacific Builder reported that a PWA contract of $63,840 had been awarded for the construction of a boys' gym at Alhambra City High School. The plans had been prepared by architect John Walker Smart, and Steed Bros. won the construction contract.
  • Alhambra High School Renovation - Alhambra CA
    The science building at Alhambra High School was renovated in 1935 with New Deal funding, including from the Los Angeles County Relief Administration. Twenty-five laborers and 12 skilled tradesmen were employed on the project.
  • Aliso Elementary School Kindergarten - Carpenteria CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) added a Kindergarten to the Aliso Elementary School in Carpinteria CA.  It is unknown to us which part of the present school this is. 
  • Aliso Street Bridge - Los Angeles CA
    US highway 101 from Center St. to Mission Rd. Connected the Ramona Parkway (present day Interstate 10) with the proposed Hollywood Parkway (now US 101). Crosses over the LA River as well as numerous city streets and railroads. Originally the lanes of the highway were separated by Pacific Electric tracks running down the center of the bridge/viaduct. "The Aliso Street Viaduct was torn down in 1940 and replaced by the present freeway structure which entered service in mid 1943. PE participated in the cost of this mammoth structure, paying $350,000 as its share of the improvement. With the opening of the first...
  • Aliso Village (demolished) - Los Angeles CA
    In 1942, the United States Housing Authority (USHA) built the Aliso Village low-income housing project in South Central Los Angeles.  The project included over 1500 garden-style (low-rise) apartments designed by eminent L.A. architects.  Like many public housing projects around the country, Aliso Village was successful for a time as affordable working class home but was later allowed to deteriorate as it became occupied solely by the poorest of the poor.  It was demolished at the end of the 20th century and replaced by a new project, Pueblo Del Sol.  The original project as proposed was described at the time: "LOS ANGELES HOUSING...
  • Alta Loma Elementary School - Los Angeles CA
    Alta Loma Elementary School, which opened in 1915, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...
  • Alum Rock Park - San Jose CA
    Alum Rock Park is California's oldest municipal park and occupies 720 acres within Alum Rock Canyon just east of downtown San Jose. Though in the late 1800s it held many commercial attractions, including an aviary, a restaurant, a carousel and a zoo, today the park has been returned to a more natural state and most of these man-made structures are gone. Much of the evidence of mankind that remains dates to the extensive work in Alum Rock Park undertaken by the WPA and the CCC in the 1930s. These agencies improved park trails, removed railroad tracks and built stone bridges,...
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Improvements - Richmond CA
    The New Deal made major improvements to the former Alvarado Park on the east side of Richmond CA, where Wildcat Creek tumbles out of the East Bay hills. Alvarado Park was transferred by the city of Richmond to the East Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park.     The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park...
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