1 2
  • Ala Moana Park Landscape Design - Honolulu HI
    In 1932, the city government began grading work and site preparations on the grounds of the Ala Moana park with the help of territorial relief funds. But it was the advent of federal assistance in 1933 that expanded the scope of construction and park development. Robert Weyeneth describes the process in the volume, Ala Moana: The People's Park: "The Federal Employment Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and, briefly, the short-lived Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) provided the resources for the park board to undertake a major construction program in the thirties. During the construction program funded by the CWA and FERA, the daily labor force was as...
  • Ala Moana Park, Roosevelt Portals - Honolulu HI
    This shore-side park was constructed with CWA and FERA funds. From a Department of Land and Natural Resources calendar: "The moderne style, FERA funded Ala Moana Park East Entry Gateway (1934), designed by Harry Sims Bent, was officially named the Roosevelt Portals, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Hawai'I to formally dedicate and open Ala Moana Park on July 27, 1934." The Roosevelt Portals are located at the east entrance to the park.  
  • Ala Moana Park: Lawn Bowling Green - Honolulu HI
    Part of the Ala Moana Park complex, the Lawn Bowling Green was designed by architect Harry Sims Bent and built with the help of federal funds and FERA and CWA labor. "Constructed in 1939, the lawn bowling green was the last of Harry Sims Bent's designs for Ala Moana Park. It remains today the only lawn bowling green in Honolulu."
  • Ala Moana Park: the Sports Pavilion and Banyan Court - Honolulu HI
    Part of the Ala Moana Park complex, the Sports Pavilion and Banyan Court were designed by architect Harry Sims Bent and built with the help of federal funds and FERA and CWA labor. “The simple concrete exterior walls of the sports pavilion do not suggest the exotic richness of the banyan court hidden behind its walls. The banyan court is probably the best-kept secret in Honolulu's parks today; it is also perhaps Harry Sims Bent's most noteworthy design. The sports pavilion and banyan court were officially completed 1937, although much of the sports pavilion had been finished somewhat earlier, by 1935....
  • Central Fire Station - Honolulu HI
    The Central Fire Station at 104 Beretania Street, in Honolulu, Hawaii. This firehouse was built with the assistance of funds from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), 1934-1935. P.W.A. Docket No. T. H. 2633-7
  • Date Street Bridge - Honolulu HI
    The bridge carrying Date Street across the Manoa-Palolo Canal (itself a W.P.A. project) was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in 1937. Two imprinted stamps identify the bridge as W.P.A.
  • Flood Control - Kapalama, Honolulu HI
    A Public Works Administration grant of $310,909 funded new construction and improvement work on flood control in the Kapalama neighborhood of Honolulu. Docket No. TH-1004-DS.
  • Hawaii Nature Center: Lava Rock Terraces - Honolulu HI
    Several lava rock terraces at the Hawaii Nature Center (formerly the Department of Forestry's Nursery) were built by FERA in 1934.  
  • Hawaii State Library Murals - Honolulu HI
    According to the book Hawai'i Chronicles II: Contemporary Island History from the Pages of Honolulu Magazine, Juliette May Fraser “was one of four Island artists commissioned to work on WPA art projects for public places. It was during this time that she created a roomful of murals of Hawaiian legends for the Hawaii State Library downtown…When the meager federal funds for the project ran out after three months, she continued to work on the murals for another three months to complete them, working without compensation and even paying for her materials out of her own pocket.” The murals are still on...
  • Honolulu Board of Water Supply Engineering Building: Bas Relief - Honolulu HI
    According to the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture & the Arts, “The bas relief is executed on a series of green steatite stone blocks which depict mythical and human Hawaiian figures, flora, and animals in the upper portions flanking either side of a central doorway as well as stylized letter forming a narrative text beneath the figurative panels. The two panels, one on the Diamond Head side of the entry way and the other on the other side of the entry door both depict stories involving the god Kane and Kaneloa in a mythical story about the discovery and use...
  • Honolulu Harbor Fuel Oil Line System - Honolulu HI
    A Public Works Administration (PWA) grant of $92,224 funded new construction and improvement work on a harbor fuel oil line system for the Honolulu Harbor, under the direction of the Board of Harbor Commissioners of the Territory of Hawaii. The project, listed as Docket No. TH-1016-DS, was part of the PWA’s non federal project expenditures for the Territory of Hawaii, 1938-1939.
  • Honolulu Harbor Improvements - Honolulu HI
    The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Honolulu Harbor between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the enlargement of the “entrance channel to 40 feet deep and 500 feet wide, easing the curve where the entrance channel joins the inner harbor; deepening the harbor basin to 35 feet, for a general width of 1,520 feet; dredging to 35 feet along the reserved channel, a channel 900 feet wide and 1000 feet long, and thence a channel along the northerly side of the reserve channel 400...
  • Honolulu International Airport Improvements - Honolulu HI
    Between 1935 and 1937, the WPA contributed $38,000 to extending the runways of John Rodgers Airport (now Honolulu International Airport). Today, the airport serves well over 18 million passengers per year and provides a landing area for 370,000 tons of cargo and over 100,000 tons of mail annually.
  • Immigration Station - Honolulu HI
    Completed in 1934, the historic United States Immigration Office facility in Honolulu was constructed with Treasury Department funds. The complex, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, "consists of/five buildings: administration building (most visible and important), detention building (to the right and rear of the administration building, used to detain those immigrants waiting for proper clearance to enter Hawaii), .lounging shed (an open pavilion directly to the rear of administration building), garage and waiting shed (to the right of the administration building) and the gardener's cottage (no longer standing)."
  • Jefferson Elementary School - Honolulu HI
    Constructed by the PWA in 1933. Confirmation needed on whether or not this is the original building.
  • Kalihi Shaft Waterworks Portal - Honolulu HI
    This maintenance access portal for the Honolulu waterworks system was built with Public Works Administration funds in 1936.
  • Kaneohe Bay Drive - Honolulu HI
    Constructed with CWA and probably FERA funding.
  • Kawananakoa School Improvements - Honolulu HI
    "The lava rock terracing at Kawananakoa School (1934), as well as the fountain featuring bas reliefs by Margarite Blasingame, resulted from the continuation of a number of the CWA's projects by FERA." Blasingame was an American sculptor born in Honolulu in 1906. She did a number of projects under federal support during the Great Depression, including this "Hawaiian Decagonal Fountain" at the Kawananakoa School.
  • Kuakini Street Bridge (Nu'uanu Stream) - Honolulu HI
    Living New Deal believes this bridge, which carries North Kuakini Street over the Nu'uanu Stream, was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds—in conjunction to a nearby bridge over Waiolani Stream—in 1934.
  • Kuakini Street Bridge (Wailoani Stream) - Honolulu HI
    The bridge carrying North Kuakini Street over the Waiolani Stream was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1934.
  • Leahi Home (Leahi Hospital) - Honolulu HI
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded new construction or improvement work for the Leahi Home in Honolulu. The PWA grant amounted to $112,500, and the work was carried out in 1938. Listed as Docket No. TH-1085-F, the project was part of the PWA’s non-federal projects expenditure for the Territory of Hawaii for 1938-1939. Leahi Home was renamed Leahi Hospital in 1942, and it is still in service today.
  • Lester McCoy Pavilion Bas Relief Panels - Honolulu HI
    Marguerite Louis Blasingame completed this "pair of low-relief marble tablets of a Hawaiian couple set into a wall” (source note 1) in 1935 for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Entitled, "Hawaiian Couple," it is located in the Banyan Court gardens of Lester McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Park.
  • Lester McCoy Pavilion Floor Mosaic - Honolulu HI
    This “Floor mosaic of twelve figures engaged in traditional Hawaiian athletic activities, done in polished black basalt set into a flagstone floor” (source note 1), was completed by Marguerite Louis Blasingame in 1935 for the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
  • Lester McCoy Pavilion Murals - Ala Moana Park, Honolulu HI
    "One of a pair of murals at the Lester McCoy Pavilion at Ala Mona Regional Park. A Works Progress Administration art project, done in the Art Deco style. It depicts various aspects of makahiki (harvest festival), imagined as taking place in the vicinity of what is now know as Ala Mona Park, makahiki pa'ani ho'oikaika (annual sports tournaments) are emphasized. This mural shows ali'i (chiefs) guided by the spirit of Lono (one of the four major Hawaiian gods, associated with peace and fertility) being presented with ho'okupu (tribute). In the distance kahuna (priests) guard the kapa (bark cloth) double banner...
  • Makiki Pumping Station - Honolulu HI
    From a Department of Land and Natural Resources calendar: "The Makiki-Manoa Pumping Station (1935), designed by architect Hart Wood and the landscape architecture firm of Thompson & Thompson, was one of a number of Honolulu Board of Water Supply improvements funded by the WPA."
  • Manoa-Palolo Canal - Honolulu HI
    "The Manoa-Palolo Canal was built thanks to the use of Works Progress Administratio moneys. Its rock lined walls channeled several meandering streams in the area into a straight run to the Ala Wai Canal, allowing the wetlands between Kapahulu and Mo'ili'ili to be opened for urban development."
  • Mother Waldron Playground - Honolulu HI
    Mother Waldron Playground is an urban playground that is bounded by Halekauwila, Cooke, Pohukaina, and Coral streets. It was constructed in 1937 on a 1.76-acre (77,000-square feet) site in the Kakaako district of Honolulu, Hawaii. Built elements within the park include a comfort station and remaining portions of a low wall that encompassed the original park. The built components contain design elements of the Art Moderne and Art Deco styles, including an emphasis on horizontality, rounded corners and piers, and streamlined appearance. WPA labor was used to construct the park and concrete bricks were the chosen material. Mother Waldron Playground...
  • Nu'uanu Stream - Honolulu HI
    "The lava rock walls that lined Nu'uanu Stream were part of a WPA funded flood control project (1937). Flood control assumed a high priority in Honolulu after a February 27, 1935 storm dumped 14.23 inches of rain in Nu'uanu Dowsett in 15 hours, flooding Chinatown's River Street and killing nine people."
  • Oahu Prison - Honolulu HI
    In 1935, a contract was awarded for the construction of additional facilities at the Oahu Prison. “A unit for incorrigibles, and additions to the mess building at Oahu Prison for the sum of $104,389, of which $28,500 was Federal grant.” Today the facility is called the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
  • Piikoi Street Extension - Honolulu HI
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded new construction or improvement work for the Extension of Piikoi Street in Honolulu. The PWA grant amounted to $38,700. The work was carried out in 1938. The project, listed as Docket No. TH-1050-F, was part of the PWA’s non-federal projects expenditures for the Territory of Hawaii for 1938-1939.
  • Punchbowl-Makiki-Nuuanu Shortcut - Honolulu HI
    “Among the major projects on which work still was in progress at the end of the fiscal year is the Punchbowl-Makiki-Nuuanu shortcut now nearing completion, which provides another cross-town main artery for residents of Honolulu and will greatly relieve traffic congestion and existing hazards on present cross-town streets.”
  • Quarantine Station (demolished) - Honolulu HI
    What is now Sand Island consists of mostly reclaimed land. During the early 20th century it was known as Quarantine Island. Substantially enlarged during the F.D.R. era prior to World Was II, on it was the federally managed U.S. Quarantine Station, which was likewise expanded with an array of new buildings during the 1930s using Treasury Department funds. (The island has been significantly expanded since that time as well.) A large block of new construction was undertaken in 1938-9: "Five new buildings were completed and equipped at the quarantine station---a hospital detention building with 23 bedrooms, 2 dining rooms, and a kitchen; a 10-room attendants' quarters; a large...
  • Roosevelt High School - Honolulu HI
    Honolulu's Roosevelt High School was constructed in 1935 with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. P.W.A. Docket No. 2633 T. H.  
  • Roosevelt High School Athletic Facilities - Honolulu HI
    The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded the construction of the Roosevelt High School athletic facilities: “Another major operation concluded during the year consisted of the completion of a concrete stadium and the Roosevelt High School athletic field with facilities for track and field activities, football, baseball, and other sports, together with necessary flood control and drainage walls and other general improvements.”
  • Senior Core Building - McKinley High School, Honolulu HI
    “The Works Progress Administration (WPA)–financed Senior Core Building, constructed in 1939, sits off the corner of the quadrangle. Designed by Ossipoff, it presents a more modern and Island-oriented interpretation of Spanish forms, which complements the original school core. Its cast-stone transom panels by Margarite Blasingame depict Hawaiian motifs and the inset, single-stacked lanai/corridors, which wrap around the makai sides of the pavilion plan, afford protection from trade wind–propelled showers and maximize classroom ventilation. The lanai's terra-cotta-trimmed railings depict taro, breadfruit, and papaya.”
  • Tax Office Building (former) Hale Auhau - Honolulu HI
    A Public Works Administration grant of $97,795 funded new construction work on the Tax Office building in Honolulu. The work was underway in 1938. Listed as Docket No. TH-1035-DS, the project was part of the PWA’s non-federal projects expenditure for the Territory of Hawaii for 1938-1939. The building, also known as Hale Auhau, which translates as “tax house,” served as the headquarters of the Department of Taxation. Designed by Henry Stuart, architect for the Territorial Department of Public Works, the building is representative of the Mission Revival or California Mission style. Architects of that era designed numerous public buildings in...
  • University of Hawaii at Manoa: Andrews Amphitheater - Honolulu HI
    "The lava rock Andrews Amphitheatre at the University of Hawai'I (1935) was designed by architect Ralph Fishbourne with Professor Arthur R. Keller serving as the consulting engineer. The University covered the $5,213 cost for materials while the FERA paid for the labor."
  • University of Hawaii at Manoa: Crawford Hall - Honolulu HI
    Crawford Hall, also known as the social sciences building, was constructed with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds in 1938.
  • University of Hawaii at Manoa: Gillmore Hall (former) - Honolulu HI
    "The original Gilmore Hall was constructed in 1935 and was funded, in part, by the federal Public Works Administration. Gilmore, the agricultural building, was built on the edge of campus, at an angle to face both Hawaiʻi Hall and Farrington Hall between the main campus and the campus farms. The building was distinctive with its green and blue roof tiles, hand-made by pressing clay around the thigh to form arches." The New Deal-era facility has since been replaced.
  • University of Hawaii at Manoa: Miller Hall - Honolulu HI
    "Miller Hall, originally known as the Home Economics Building, was built in 1939 and formally opened with a ceremony on March 15, 1940. The architect of the building was John Mason Young, a professor of engineering at the University. The building’s contractors were Walker and Olund and the overall cost of the construction was $68,000. In addition to Territorial Funds, federal funds were provided by the Public Works Administration totaling $34,000."
1 2