• Carmel Firehouse - Carmel CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Carmel Firehouse in 1936-1937. Carmel has used a volunteer fire department since 1915. The architect of record was Milton Latham, supervised by Bernard Rountree. The stone-clad facade is multi-hued and meant to echo the abundant use of stone in buildings around Carmel-by-the-Sea. There were 4 bays for firetrucks in the original building with a fifth bay added later. This firehouse appears to be used primarily for emergency vehicles now. The second floor was accessed on the west side of the structure via a steep stairway, part of the original structure, and included fire poles from the...
  • Carmel Firehouse: Copper Relief - Carmel CA
    The metal relief at the Carmel Firehouse in Carmel CA was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). It was installed the year after the completion of the firehouse (1937) and sits above the fireplace on the east wall of the second-story meeting space. This metal relief of an early firetruck was designed by Clay Spohn and executed by Alonzo Chard, similar to another WPA project executed for the Adobe building in Castro Valley, CA. The scene pictured is that of a horse drawn firetruck with a steam pumper. The horses are running to a fire in a 3-story house on the...
  • Carmel Firehouse: Copper Repousee Light Fixtures - Carmel CA
    These two elaborate hanging light fixtures supply primary lighting to the large meeting room on the second floor of the Carmel firehouse, a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.  They were produced separately by Otto Koehler as a project of the Monterey WPA's Federal Art Project (FAP). We believe they were hung as the building was completed in 1937. The light fixtures have a hexagonal shape, copper sides and top with a high relief of leaves. A white glass filters light to the floor.
  • Carmel Forest Theater - Carmel CA
    Carmel's Forest Theater was established in 1910, when Carmel-by-the-Sea was founded as an artists' colony (and real estate speculation).  Since then, it has been a fixture of the Carmel scene and the life of the city.   The was deeded to the town of Carmel in 1937, which soon applied to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for help in renovating and improving it. The WPA renovation took place in 1939-40 and included a reinforced concrete floor, new seating, a new stage and dressing rooms underneath, and a new surrounding stone wall and entry stairs. There is a WPA plaque on the...
  • Carmel High School - Carmel CA
    The New Deal helped build Carmel High School in 1940. In 1939, the city of Carmel purchased the lot and secured a bond issue for $165,000 for the school.  Groundbreaking came in early 1940 and school opened in September.   The city put in applications for funding to both the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Works Projects Administration (WPA), so it is not entirely clear from the newspaper sources whether the project was done with the aid of both agencies or just the WPA. The five-building school complex was designed by Ernest Kump, Jr. of Fresno, who created a long, single-story modern...
  • Carmel Mission Roof Renovation - Carmel CA
    The Carmel Mission chapel roof was rebuilt in 1936 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) craftsmen to enable the roof to be covered in clay tile. This was a correction to a restoration performed in 1882. The full name of Carmel Mission is Mission San Carlos Borromeo del rio Carmelo.  It was established by Father Junipero Serra and his Franciscans monks leading the Spanish settlement of Alta California.  He is buried here.  At the time of the beatification of Father Serra in 2015, there were many protests at the mission.
  • City Council Chambers: Tree of Life Painting - Carmel CA
    The scene is of a large spreading tree, probably a coastal pine in a fanciful setting with mountains in the background, a giraffe on the left side, and a woman sitting under the tree, a man behind and to her right. This is one of several paintings in the City Council chambers, though there is no clear documentation as to the source of the other works. It is signed Armin Hansen 36. Armin Hansen is a well-known painter of California coastal scenes who lived in Monterey from 1913 until his death in 1957. He was instrumental in forming the Carmel Art...
  • Junipero Serra Statue - Carmel CA
    In 1937, Remo Scardigli created a redwood sculpture of Father Junipero Serra, the founder of the Spanish Mission system in 18th century Alta California.  Scardigli's work was sponsored by the Federal Art Project (FAP).  The sculpture stood for 50 years in Devendorf Park in the center of Carmel, but was removed sometime around 2015 when passions flared over the beatification of Father Serra by Pope John-Paul II and another statue of Serra at Carmel Mission was damaged. The Scardigli sculpture is reportedly in storage with the city Public Works department, as of 2023. Father Serra's remains are buried at the foot of...
  • Malpaso Creek Bridge - Carmel Highlands (Big Sur) CA
    $40,000 was provided by federal funds for the Malpaso Creek bridge on State Route 1, the Cabrillo Highway, just north of Big Sur, California. It is a concrete arch bridge, built in 1935. This bridge was part of a much larger effort by the New Deal to aid in construction of the California coastal highway (then called State Route 46) from Monterey/Carmel to Morro Bay.  Much of the road had been built in the late 1920s by the state highway department, with federal aid from the Bureau of Public Roads, but New Deal funding was required to complete the job, particularly in...
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve Development - Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park. Point Lobos was acquired by the state in 1932 after a major mobilization of local citizenry in Carmel and a national fund-raising effort.  Because the site and its seashore wildlife are so spectacular, F.L. Olmsted, Jr. was brought in to draw up a plan for restricted development that would preserve the place while allowing for limited public use.  That plan was adopted by the State Parks Commission in 1936...
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve: Paths - Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, overlooks and paths (with some stone steps and retaining walls).  
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve: Picnic Areas - Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, coastal paths (with stone steps and bracing), and a couple ranger residences.    
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve: Residence and Maintenance Buildings- Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, overlooks and paths (with some stone steps and retaining walls).   The CCC built and renovated a handful of rustic buildings for ranger residences and park maintenance.  Some appear to be the original if modified structures, but public access...
  • Road Work and Carmel River Bridge (replaced) - Carmel CA
    In 1933-34, the California State Highway Department expanded and paved a two-mile section of the road behind the town of Carmel (now Highway 1) from the top of the hill down to the Carmel River.  They also built the first concrete bridge across the Carmel River. The work was paid for by the Public Works Administration (PWA), or as it was officially known when created under the National Recovery Act of 1933, the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. This section of highway has been expanded further and repaved in recent years and the Carmel River bridge has been replaced with a...