Louisiana Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds for the restoration and expansion of the historic French market along the waterfront of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans.  Short and Brown's 1939 compilation of important PWA projects has the following to say: "Along the Mississippi River water front in New Orleans is located a group of buildings comprising the old French market, which is one of the largest public markets in the United States. One of the buildings was erected during the Spanish domination in the eighteenth century, and it has been an object of interest to tourists for the past...

The G. B. Cooley Tuberculosis sanatorium was constructed by the Works Progress Administration. It was located at Pine Top, seven miles from Monroe, Louisiana, or at White's Ferry, 3 1/2 miles from Monroe, depending on source. The WPA provided $66,303 and the community and Tuberculosis and Public Health Association raised the remaining $10,000 for the project. The sanatorium was spearheaded by efforts of Captain G. B. Cooley of Monroe. The central structure was two stories with one-story wings on each side, approximately 7,000 square feet. The wings contained 11 bedrooms on each side, with one wing for men and one...

This bridge was built during the Great Depression with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was constructed of pipes and serviced the G. B. Cooley Tuberculosis Sanatorium at White's Ferry in West Monroe, Louisiana.

As part of a massive $12-million project to improve and expand New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges across the grounds between 1936 and 1939. Located behind the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Grandjean Bridge spans an inlet of Little Lake on a reinforced concrete rigid-frame arch. Constructed in 1938 to replace an older bridge, the structure reveals modernistic flourishes, including sections of vertical fluting, curving end walls and nautical-like lighting. A stylized WPA logo appears in counter relief across the southeast end post. Little used in Louisiana, the rigid-frame technology casts the superstructure and substructure monolithically as...

Constructed in 1939, the Harrison Avenue Bridge spans a lagoon developed by the WPA. The bridge is a single-span, reinforced concrete, closed-spandrel arch design. Approach spans, flanked by heavy parapet railing, lead up to the crossing. In elevation, the low, elliptical arch is highlighted by the recessed extrados and the oversized fluted abutments. A stylized WPA logo is stamped in counter relief on the northeast end post. As part of a massive $12-million project to improve and expand New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges between 1936 and 1939.

High School Park Homes was one of two public housing projects completed in Lake Charles in 1939. High School Park was 73 dwellings constructed by Robert Angelle for $225,556. The brick duplexes were designed by architects G. Lewis Dunn and Gustave G. Quinn.

This bridge across the Mississippi River was started under President Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1931, and completed in 1935 with PWA funds. "Opened in December 1935 to replace the Walnut Street Ferry, the bridge was named for the extremely popular and notorious governor, Huey P. Long, who had just been assassinated on September 8 of that year. The bridge was the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana and the 29th along the length of the river. It is a few miles upriver from the city of New Orleans." (Wikipedia)

The modernist Iberia Parish Courthouse was undertaken in New Iberia, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The three story, Art-Deco style building had white stucco walls and was completed for a cost of $410,863. The original courtroom contains the last federally directed mural by Conrad Albrizio, The Struggle of Man, completed in 1940. The courthouse entered use in 1940 and was officially dedicated on Armistice Day, 1941.

The Iberville Projects public housing was the third of six low-rent public housing developments in New Orleans funded by the United States Housing Act of 1937. The Housing Authority of New Orleans was the first housing administration approved in the US under the Housing Act (Adams, 2014). The 75 building complex resembled rowhouses, and were constructed of brick exteriors with tile roofs, chimneys, and galleries with iron columns and decorative cast iron railing, typical of other New Orleans style architecture. One, two, and three bedroom apartments made up the 858 units completed in 1941. The architects were Herbert A. Benson,...

Jackson Barracks was established in the early 19th century. It was transferred from the US Army to the state National Guard in the 1920s. "From 1936 to 1940, Louisiana adjutant general Raymond H. Fleming utilized the federal Works Progress Administration to provide renovation and new construction to the post. Included in the WPA project was a new headquarters building, later dedicated to the Louisiana commander... Fleming Hall served as the Guard's state headquarters until Hurricane Katrina. Just prior to the storm, it suffered a fire. It has since been restored and is in use as a conference building."   (https://neworleanshistorical.org) "In August 2005,...

It appears that the historic Jackson House was restored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the mid 1930s as part of a larger historic rehabilitation project in the Jackson Square area (source #1). The plaque on the building confuses matters, however, by claiming that the Jackson House was built in 1933 and restored in 1978 by the state of Louisiana.  The 1933 date hardly seems possible, given the age of the brick used in construction of the house (see photo of plaque for close-up of bricks). Furthermore, the building is shown on the 1876 Sanborn fire insurance map (image from...

The Jackson Parish Courthouse was undertaken in Jonesboro, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). It was part of the largest wave of courthouse construction in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected between 1936-1940 (Leighninger, 2011). The courthouse for Jackson Parish is a "...relatively simple and sedate composition with deco bands above first and third floors...first floor is stone, and the upper two are brick" (Leighninger, 2007, p. 113-114). Cost of construction was $251,406.

During the New Deal, the Work Progress Administration (WPA) restored the historic buildings at the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, forming three sides of Jackson Square: the Upper and Lower Pontalba Buildings, the Cabildo and the Presbytère (see project pages on each one).  The work to restore the buildings was part of a larger effort by the WPA to document and restore historic sites in the French Quarter and to improve the appearance of the French Quarter for the purpose of improving tourism to the Crescent City. The project took place between 1935 and 1937, and it cost...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed facilities at the Gum Springs Recreation Area, located in Kisatchie National Forest. The CCC also planted trees.

Lafitte project was constructed 1940-1941 and included 896 units. It was the fifth of six local housing units constructed in New Orleans following the Housing Act of 1937. The project was bounded by Lafitte Avenue, Orleans Avenue, North Claiborne and Avenue, and North Dorgenois Street. Architects were Sol Rosenthal, Jack J. H. Kessels, and Ernest W. Jones. R. P. Farnsworth and Company were the contractors for the $4,000,000 project. The units were built in a traditional New Orleans style townhouse with metal balconies and porch columns and railings. The project was originally slated for demolition in 1995 but postponed. It...

Construction of this school was undertaken in Lake Providence, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The funding was allocated as part of a joint project with a training school in the same city. The brick school contained 20 classrooms, a gymnasium, offices, locker rooms, lavatories, and shower baths, and was completed at a cost of $140,093 (Monroe Morning World, 1937). The school was destroyed by fire in 1992 (Leighninger, 2007). The exact location of the school is unknown to Living New Deal.

Located in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, downriver from the French Quarter, Lautenschlaeger Market was constructed in 1901 as a public open air market. In the late 1930s, the City of New Orleans owned 19 public markets, many of which had fallen into disrepair and were threatened by demolition. The city turned to the WPA, which financed the improvement of eight of them under the Market Rehabilitation program, spearheaded by Mayor Robert Maestri. Maestri, a New Dealer elected to office in 1936, used work relief programs, according to historian Anthony J. Stanonis, “to change the physical appearance of the cityscape as...

A state website explains that the "Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site explores the cultural interplay among the diverse peoples along the famed Bayou Teche. Acadians and Creoles, Indians and Africans, Frenchmen and Spaniards, slaves and free people of color-all contributed to the historical tradition of cultural diversity in the Teche region."   (https://www.crt.state.la.us) The site was developed by the CCC in the 1930s: "Acadiana was fortunate to have several projects. Most notably was project SP-1 Company No. 277 located in St. Martinville. The project was one of the first in the nation and started on Sept. 20, 1933. Its first major project was the...

"At the time the Louisiana State Capitol was constructed, it was considered large enough to house virtually all of the administrative offices and departments of the State government. This proved to be incorrect and due to urgent need, the State Office Building, often called the Capitol Annex, was erected about 400 feet distant from the capitol. It is a part four and part six-story building, rectangular in plan, with over-all dimensions of 130 by 260 feet, and in addition to a large amount of office space, housed the official board room and library. It has a...

Conrad Albrizio was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration to paint several murals in the foyer of the Capitol Annex. An exhibit in the foyer today explains that "Albrizio's murals in the Capitol Annex were designed to illustrate 'the achievements of the state program under the administration of' Governor Leche." They depict social security and social well being, industrial prowess, public construction, and health care. The murals have been recently restored by a conservator who "worked on restoration projects in Louisiana, most notably Conrad Albrizio's murals at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport and his students' frescoes in LSU's Allen Hall....

This impressive art deco museum was built by the PWA: "Completed in 1939 as one of the New Deal’s Public Works projects, the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum is an architectural jewel, in the ultra modern style of the times. Layered inside and out with costly marble, granite and polished aluminum, the circular building surrounds a landscaped courtyard and features hand-cut limestone. Without a doubt, this is one of the most impressive buildings in the state. The original artworks include a monumental fresco on the front portico executed by famed muralist Conrad Albrizio that introduces the public to the beautifully rendered scale dioramas...

As part of the original federal project funding the building of the museum, Conrad Albrizio was hired to paint this massive, recently restored fresco for the museum's entrance: "Conrad Albrizio is the artist of the four panels that comprise the massive fresco at the Louisiana State Exhibit Building. The amazing artwork covers 700 square feet of wall space around the Museum’s main entrance on Greenwood Road in Shreveport, Louisiana. Albrizio painted the mural in true fresco technique. This fresco and oil-painted murals throughout the museum depict images of Louisiana’s culture and economic development, including scenes from agriculture, lumber and oil industries,...

The WPA, the PWA and the CWA were all involved in working on the LSU campus from 1934 through the late 1930s. As Professor Robert Leighninger Jr. explains in Building Louisiana: "On a typical day I used to drive to work at Louisiana State University (LSU) past a lake reclaimed from swampland by WPA workers... Parker Coliseum (also a WPA project) at the southeastern edge of campus. As I entered the campus, I passed the Student Health Center (WPA) and Himes Hall (a PWA classroom building). Turning into my parking lot, I passed the northern enclosure of the football stadium (WPA). If...

Louisiana State University's historic Parker Coliseum, also known as the Agricultural Center, was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937. The building, which contains numerous artistic details created by artists of the period, is still in use today. WPA Project No. 165-64-2016.

The Pontalba Buildings flank Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans.  The Upper Pontalba Building lies on the west side of the square along St. Peter Street, the Lower Pontalba Building on the east side on St. Ann Street.  Both are block-long structures, four stories in height, built of brick and graced with the ironwork typical of buildings in the French Quarter. They were originally built in the 1840s. The two building were the gift of the Baroness de Pontalba, who wished to improve the appearance of Jackson Square – then the center of the city....

Madison Parish Courthouse was completed in 1939 in the Colonial Revival style by the PWA and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Magnolia Housing Project was one of the first two planned for New Orleans. The original 740 units in one, two, and three story buildings included one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The chief architect was Moise H. Goldstein, with supportive architects Thomas Harlee, Frederick Parham, N. Courtlandt Curtis, Richard Koch, and Charles Armstrong. Construction was completed by R. P. Farnsworth Company. Jens-Braae-Jensen, structural engineer, Frank Chisholm, mechanical engineer, Orloff Henry, electrical engineer, William Wiedorn, landscape architect, and Frank Hugh Waddill, civil engineer were also part of the construction and design crew. Magnolia was completed in 1941 for $2,478,980. The...

According to National Archive files, between 1935 and 1938 WPA crews "landscaped the battleground, installed drains and built drives through the historic site."

The McFadden Cabin was built by a City Park benefactor in the 1920's as a recreational facility for New Orleans Girl Scouts (still in use today).  The WPA made improvements as part of its many works projects in the park, which had been recently expanded when the New Deal came into being. A plaque was placed in the stonework at that time.

Auditorium used for theatre, performances, concerts, and school and city activities. It is still used today. First referred to as "Junior College Auditorium", then named "McNeese Main Auditorium", and later "F. G. Bulber Auditorium." The building was the first building completed for the then new McNeese Junior College.

The Monroe swimming pool was undertaken in Monroe, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Monroe swimming pool at Forsythe Park was constructed for approximately $100,000 and was described as "one of the finest fresh water inland natatoriums in the county" (Work report made by WPA, 1937, p. 10). It operated without cost to community members (New Deal Network, 2003).

According to a plaque outside its front entrance, the Napoleon Middle School Gymnasium was constructed in 1939 "from the proceeds of a parish wide bond issue and a P.W.A. grant."

The Natchitoches Parish Courthouse was undertaken in Natchitoches, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The facilities were part of the largest wave of courthouse construction in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected in the period of  1936-1940. The Natchitoches courthouse was one of only two of these projects undertaken with substantial use of bas-relief sculpture common in PWA architecture. "The entrance to the Natchitoches building is flanked with two huge American Indian chiefs" (Leighninger, 2007, p. 116) and is designed in the Art Deco style. It was constructed for...

A federal Treasury Department-funded construction, the old National Leprosarium Infirmary building, "built in 1933, had 68 beds in two open wards--men upstairs and women downstairs. Architects provided screened porches across the front of the building to allow patients fresh air. Notice the flat roof. Originally canopies had been installed to give patients a shady spot in the non-air-conditioned building and a place to catch a breeze." In some files the facility was called "the National Home for Lepers." The contractor for infirmary construction was Murch Brothers Construction Co. of St. Louis.

The Works Progress Administration built the Fredericks Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches LA. The Center contains the 1,000-seat A.A. Fredericks Auditorium and Theater West, a smaller performance venue. 

The Works Progress Administration built a swimming center for Northwestern State University. Northwestern State University closed the Nesom Natatorium in May of 2012.

Construction of this footbridge was undertaken in Swartz, Louisiana during the Great Depression with federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. The drainage canal was excavated by African American Works Progress Administration workers in 1936, near Monroe.

This 1937 bridge is almost certainly a New Deal structure given the date, style and location.

The Pierre Part Elementary School was constructed using PWA funds. Two relief sculptures flank what was once the front entrance to the school.

The St. Landry Parish Courthouse annex and jail project was undertaken in New Roads, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The facilities were part of the largest wave of courthouse construction and improvement in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected in the period of  1936-1940. The annex and jail was added to the north side of the existing courthouse in the parish at a cost of $185,971.