Glendale Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved the grounds at Balboa Elementary School in Glendale, CA.

Works Project Administration (WPA) project No. 7214, sponsored by the city of Glendale. "This project provides for the construction of a reinforced concrete distributing reservoir of 5,000,000 gallon capacity with connecting pipe lines, and a roadway for maintenance and service. It will replace a series of wooden tanks, now serving this isolated district, which are not at the proper elevation to tie in with the rest of the reservoir system. This project also provides for the connecting of the new unit with the Park Manor reservoir, which will bring another isolated territory into the system. The availability of interconnected reservoirs will...

A 1939 Report on WPA works in Southern California describes WPA involvement in the construction of this large city garage, which is still standing today. WPA Work Project No. 996 employed an average of 79 men for 7 months. "Sponsored by the City of Glendale, provided for the completion of a garage building started under the S.E.R.A. (State Emergency Relief Administration) This building, which is located on Isabel Street adjacent to the City Hall, is for the purpose of centrally storing and maintaining city owned trucks, passenger cars and other equipment. The structure is ell-shaped, having a one story portion containing...

Constructed by the WPA under projects 3635, 6994, 7706 and 9392 in 1938. When constructed it was called the Verdugo Municipal Recreation Center and was sponsored by the city of Glendale. "This project, costing a total of $736,422 of which $650,731 was supplied by the Federal Government, consisted of the construction of an auditorium containing 560,000 cubic feet with facilities for plays, concerts, conventions, dances and other public gatherings. A 50 meter swimming pool of the modern cloverleaf design, and conforming to intercollegiate and international specifications, was built together with a reinforced concrete grandstand. A connecting bathhouse containing 160,00 cubic feet...

Glendale Community College (formerly Junior College) relocated to its present campus in 1937. Several of the campus' original buildings—including the surviving John A. Davitt Administration Building—were constructed between 1936 and 1937 with the support of a bond election and funds matched equally by a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. "The initial campus would consist of four buildings: a 24,000 square-foot Administration Building, a 12,000 square-foot Science Building and men's and women's locker rooms, together totaling 6,960 square feet. This plant would have 32 classrooms and laboratories. Space would be set aside for a student-funded student union, auditorium, liberal arts and classroom...

Archibald Garner sculpted "Youth in Agriculture" of granite for Glendale Community College in Glendale, CA, with Federal Arts Project (FAP) funding. Los Angeles Public Library has listed the sculpture as missing. Garner's extant New Deal–funded works in the region include a sculpture, "Law" (1941), at the U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles, CA; the Copernicus figure found in the Astronomers Monument (1934) at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA; and, in Inglewood, CA, the water fountain at Edward Vincent Jr. Park as well as a mahogany bas relief, "Centinella Springs" (1937), at the post office.

This Glendale Junior College fountain "Memorial to C.A. Nelson" is by Robert Boag. Created out of small tiles, it is about five feet tall and has three tiers. The bottom shows an ocean scene, the middle prehistoric villagers, and the eight-sided top shows birds in flight.

Petrachrome table and benches at Glendale Junior College. Round table and benches by Jane Mussy. Straight memorial bench artist unknown.

The Works Progress Administration improved a playground on the site of the Glendale High School.

The old Glendale Public Library was built in the early 1900s. The WPA added two wings between 1940 and 1942. Unfortunately this building was replaced by the current library in 1973 and demolished in 1977.

The WPA constructed a retaining wall around Herbert Hoover High School, and repaired the auditorium. Both the retaining wall and the auditorium still stand. The auditorium is the only remaining building from the original school construction. Figures below are for the cost of the retaining wall only.

The WPA improved the grounds of Thomas Jefferson School in the Glendale Unified School District. Location confirmation is needed, but the address here is the only Jefferson school located in that school district today.

The Marshall school was originally constructed in the late 19th century and was a brick building. It was rebuilt in the late 1920s and featured a classic Greek-style entrance. Some work was done in 1931 but ruined by the 1933 earthquake. The WPA demolished and reconstructed the Marshall school in an Art Deco style in the 1930s in at least two official WPA projects. One at a cost of $26,602 in federal funds and $35,380 total. Another at a cost of $17,861 in federal funds and $$25,841 total. Major reconstruction was done in 1990 with a new addition to the front...

The WPA reconstructed the Doran School for almost $100,000 in federal funds. Given location and architectural style this is almost certainly what is now known as the R. D. White Elementary School at the above address.

The WPA improved the school grounds in the 1930s.

The Army Corp. of Engineers was central to New Deal flood control efforts all over the country. The Verdugo Wash in Los Angeles County was one such project. "Verdugo Wash is a 9.4-mile-long (15.1 km) tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the Glendale area of Los Angeles County, California. The stream begins just south of Interstate 210 in the Crescenta Valley. It flows southeast along the eastern edge of the Verdugo Mountains, then south through a pass between those mountains and the San Rafael Hills, and finally west to ultimately join the Los Angeles River just northeast of Griffith Park....

A concrete bridge over the Verdugo Wash constructed by the Army Corp. of Engineers in 1938.

A 100 ft riveted, 5-panel Pratt through truss bridge over the Verdugo Wash.

98 ft. Vierendeel pony truss bridge over the Verdugo wash constructed by the Army Corp. of Engineers.

1 of 3 Vierendeel pony truss design bridges in the US. Built by the Army Corps. of Engineers in 1937. The bridge crosses the Verdugo Wash at Glenoaks Blvd.

A two lane concrete bridge over the Los Angeles River in Glendale CA constructed by the Army Corps. of Engineers in 1936.

A very rare Vierendeel pony truss bridge over Verdugo Wash on Kenilworth Avenue in Glendale Ca. built by the Army Corp. of Engineers.

The Verdugo Wash Bridge is the first significant bridge on US 99 north of downtown Los Angeles. It is a steel girder structure built in 1939 by the US Army Corp of Engineers. The Verdugo Wash was lined with concrete at that time and the bridge was built to accommodate the new channel.