• Chancellor Avenue School Mural - Newark NJ
    The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency." While not confirmed, Michael Lenson purportedly painted a mural at Newark's Chancellor Avenue School: "nother Lenson mural might be hiding behind the wall paint in a windowless room at the Chancellor Avenue School in Newark. According to a retired teacher...
  • Charton Street School Mural - Newark NJ
    The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more in New Jersey by other artists. He also made one mural in West Virginia." "Three of Mr. Lenson's...
  • Douglass and Harrison Apartments (demolished) - Newark NJ
    The since-demolished Douglass and Harrison Apartments was a housing project in Newark, New Jersey. According to the Federal Writers' Project, "Construction costs (approximately $1,800,000) were reduced through the help of the city and the Civil Works Administration in grading the entire site."
  • East Newark Playground (former) - Newark NJ
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed East Newark's first playground. The 50'-by-100' facility opened July 13, 1936. Located on Searing Avenue between Passaic and Grant Avenues, the playground is no longer extant.
  • Fourteenth Avenue School Mural - Newark NJ
    "The Four Freedoms" by Michael Lenson was created in 1942 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more...
  • Frank R. Lautenberg Post Office and Courthouse - Newark NJ
    The main post office in downtown Newark, NJ—designated the Frank R. Lautenberg Post Office and Courthouse in 2000 by act of Congress—was constructed during the Great Depression. The cornerstone bears the year 1933. The post office occupies the first floor of the building and features a grand lobby.
  • Frank R. Lautenberg Post Office Statue - Newark NJ
    "In 1935 the Section on Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department of the Federal Government announced two competitions – one for a mural painting and one for a statue to be located in two courtrooms of the newly constructed United States Post Office and Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, which opened in April of 1936. There was a sculpture competition to select a 7-foot high bronze figure of “Justice”, with the winner receiving a sum of $6,500.00 to complete and install the sculpture. The Newark Museum coordinated the competition for a sculpture to grace Courtroom #2. The sculpture selected...
  • Hayes Park Pools - Newark NJ
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed two pools at Hayes Park in Newark, New Jersey ca. 1936. It is probable that the pools are no longer extant.
  • Newark Airport Administration Building - Newark NJ
    The original Newark Airport terminal building, then known as Building 1, was built in 1934-35 with New Deal funding.  Newark Airport holds a special place in aviation history, with the first paved runway and the first terminal that provided a designated place for passengers and a restaurant. It has been called, by one preservationist, "...the single most important and historic passenger facility in the world" and a model for all that followed. (Quote here) It is an Art Deco gem, the work of architect John Homlish (an extensive tour of the building and its details, with fine photographs, can be found...
  • Newark Airport Administration Building Murals (lost) - Newark NJ
    Two twelve-by-six-foot murals were painted by Mr. and Mrs. William Herbert Holston for the Newark Terminal (Administration Building) of 1935 under the auspices of the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The murals, shown in a contemporary WPA photograph, have been lost or destroyed. According to Newark's Star-Eagle: The first mural depicts Leonardo da Vinci gazing into space with his left hand raised, attempting to solve the mystery of flight. Seated at a table to his left is his student, Astro, head bowed, wearing useless wings. The second mural shows the "Kitty Hawk" in successful flight 40 years later ... Both murals combine...
  • Newark Airport Administration Building Murals at Newark Museum - Newark NJ
    "Between 1935 and 1937, Gorky painted ten large-scale murals on the theme of  aviation for the Newark Airport Administration Building. This mural cycle, known as Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations, was among the first modernist murals created and installed under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project. Although still engaged with the Cubist vocabulary of Picasso and Braque, the mechanized forms of these murals also reveal a debt to the work of Fernand Léger, especially his monumental 1919 painting The City, now in the Museum's collection. Léger's urban, machine-inspired imagery and vivid colors...
  • Newark Airport Improvements - Newark NJ
    New Deal agencies greatly improved the Newark Airport, opened in 1928, during the 1930s.  The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $31,635 grant toward an airport repair project whose final cost was $129,978 (PWA Docket No. NJ 1146). Construction on this project occurred between October 1933 and March 1935.   In 1935, $3,500,000 was allocated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for the improvement of Newark Metropolitan Airport.  The details of the work are uncertain, but probably included completion of the new Terminal (Administration) Building and new runways.  
  • Newark City Hall Mural - Newark NJ
    Michael Lenson painted "History of Newark" with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. It consists of 8 panels, each approx 6' h x 4' w. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six...
  • Newark Street Paving - Newark NJ
    The federal Works Progress Administration paved Newark Street in Newark, New Jersey in 1936.
  • Play Area - Newark NJ
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) project 3-77 involved the construction of "a large playfield area at Chancellor avenue" in Newark, New Jersey. Examination of a photo from a 1936 WPA publication places the field between Chancellor Avenue Elementary School and Hobson St.
  • Post Office (former) Demolition - Newark NJ
    85 WPA workers demolished the then-obsolete 1898 post office building in Newark, New Jersey, on Broad Street between Raymond Blvd. and Academy St.
  • Verona Avenue Paving - Newark NJ
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved Verona Avenue in Newark, New Jersey in 1936. The job put 25 men to work.
  • Weequahic High School Mural - Newark NJ
    Michael Lenson painted "Enlightenment of Man" with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more in New Jersey by...
  • Wilson Avenue Grade Separation - Newark NJ
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant for the grade separation of Wilson Avenue and what were then the Central Railroad of New Jersey railroad tracks in Newark, New Jersey. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. The PWA provided a grant of $158,850 for the project, whose total cost was $319,784. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "The order to eliminate this crossing was originally issued by the Board May 1st, 1933, but extensions of time for beginning the work were granted from time to time and construction of the...