This sizable park on Manhattan’s west side includes vistas of the Hudson River and of the George Washington Bridge. It was acquired by the city in 1925, and opened by the Department of Parks in 1935. The press release announcing… read more
Now known as the J. J. Byrne Playground, this was one of five “model playgrounds” designed as templates for further playground development by Robert Moses and his team after Moses assumed control of the New York City Parks Department in… read more
An addition to the J.H.S. 80 school building in the Bronx was constructed in 1935-36 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The PWA funds were allotted in 1934-36, and the school opened in 1936.
The spacious Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, originally called Colonial Park and known for many years as Bradhurst Park, first opened in 1911, but was only fully developed under the New Deal. When the Department of Parks announced the planned… read more
The playground inside Jackie Robinson Park (originally Colonial Park), located at Bradhurst Ave. and W 153rd St., was one of 11 Works Progress Administration (WPA) parks that opened April 4, 1936. Excerpt from Frank da Cruz, Kermit Project, Jackie Robinson Park… read more
Originally known as “Colonial Park Pool” this was the tenth of eleven pools to be constructed by the WPA in New York. 25,000 people attended the opening ceremony on August 7, 1936, which was presided over by Mayor LaGuardia and… read more
The Jackson Heights Station post office of Flushing in Queens, New York “is a historic post office building located at Jackson Heights … The original section was built in 1936-1937, and was designed by architect Benjamin C. Flournoy (1876-ca. 1939)… read more
The historic Jackson Heights Station post office houses an example of New Deal artwork: “Development of Jackson Heights,” a Section of Fine Arts-commissioned mural by Peppino Mangravite.
This small triangular park at the intersection of 8th Ave., Horatio St. and Greenwich Ave. in Greenwich Village is one of New York City’s oldest parks. It dates back to the 19th century. In 1934, it was renovated by the… read more
The New York City Parks Department website provides a brief history of Jacob Riis Park: “260-acre Riis Park, stretching over a mile on the western section of the Rockaway Peninsula, was acquired by the city in 1913. In 1914, the… read more
The WPA provided assistance in repairing and otherwise improving the One Hundred and Fourth Field Artillery / 172nd Street-Jamaica Armory in Jamaica, Queens. The building is no longer extant.
The paving of the 3.5-mile stretch of Jamaica Avenue between 168th St. and 225th St. in Jamaica, Queens was first undertaken as a nearly-half-million-dollar WPA project during the 1930s. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-11.
The federal Works Progress Administration worked to conduct repairs and alterations to several civic buildings in Queens as part of a $300,464 project begun in 1935. The project included the construction of an addition to what was the Registers Building… read more
In early 1942, the WPA began work on a new park and playground to be operated jointly by the adjacent P.S. 40 (Samuel Huntington School) and the Department of Parks. A press release announcing the start of construction described the… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration worked to conduct repairs and alterations to several civic facilities in Queens as part of a $300,464 project begun in 1935. Facilities improved included the “Jamaica Storage Sheds” at 132nd St. and 150th Ave. The… read more
The James Baldwin School is one of several schools housed in the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex. When it was constructed in 1931, the whole campus was created as the Textile High School. Though fairly austere outside, the inside of the… read more
The colossal James Farley Post Office Building, so named in 1982, is home to the Main Post Office of New York, NY. The building was originally constructed in 1912, facing Eighth Avenue; a 1934-6 Treasury Department-funded addition doubled the size… read more
This 1912 post office building serves as the Main Post Office for New York and houses two 1938 murals by Louis Lozowick, entitled “Triboro Bridge in Process of Construction” and ”Sky Line and Waterfront Traffic as Seen from Manhattan Bridge.” The… read more
James J. Walker Park was improved and extended circa 1935 with the help of the New Deal. The agency involved in funding and completing the work is unknown to the Living New Deal. During the 1930s Robert Moses used New… read more
Jane Addams High School, located in the southern Bronx, was constructed during the 1930s with federal Public Works Administration funds. It opened in 1937. The project was PWA Docket No. NY 1178. The school closed in 2012, and the building… read more
Jay Street was widened in the 1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.
As researcher Frank da Cruz explains, “Jerome Park Reservoir has seven gatehouses: three offsite and four onsite such as the two shown here, the darker brick Gatehouse No.7 at left and the lighter brick Gatehouse No.5 at right. Gatehouses control… read more
The reservoir itself dates to 1906, but, this report at nyc.gov describing the history of the reservoir and its surroundings explains that: ”The WPA funded a significant number of New York City projects relating to the water system, including surveys,… read more
Jewish Memorial Hospital, no longer extant, was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the 1930s. Located at the northeast corner of Broadway and 196th Street, the hospital closed in 1983 and the Art Deco facility has since… read more
Originally a high school, Junior High School 113 (“Richard R. Green”, formerly Olinville Junior High) was constructed during the 1930s with Public Works Administration funds. The project was PWA Docket No. NY 1180.
Junior High School 113 (“Richard R. Green”, formerly Olinville Junior High) contains a two-panel oil on canvas mural entitled “Industry and Farming” painted by Edna Hershman in 1941. The murals were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project. The label… read more
The land for what is now the John Allen Payne Park was acquired in 1940. “It is one of more than a dozen parks and playgrounds that line the highway now known as the Gowanus Expressway” (NYC Parks). The WPA… read more
The New York Times reported in Sept. 1941 that the WPA worked on the “reconstruction of John Jay Park along the East River Drive, between Seventy-sixth and Seventy-eighth Streets.” Specific improvements included the installation of a new diving pool with… read more
Today’s NYC Parks site explains: “The swimming complex was opened in stages between 1940 and 1942 as part of a massive Work Projects Administration (WPA) capital construction program. The outdoor swimming pool was opened in 1940 and measured 50 by… read more
From NYC Parks: “Sauer Park is one of nine playgrounds that were built by the Parks Department through the War Memorial Fund, and were opened simultaneously on July 15, 1934. The War Memorial Fund was established in 1921 with $250,000… read more
A June 1936 press release announced the opening of a new playground in Canarsie Park “fully equipped with play apparatus for young and older children.” The NYC Parks site confirms this date and explains the history of this site: “Located… read more
“Joseph H. Lyons Pool, the largest public pool on Staten Island, was built in 1936. Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Lyons Pool was one of eleven pools that opened throughout New York City in a single summer… read more
The sign on this park says Josephine Caminiti Playground. The NYC Parks website also refers to it as Alstyne Playground and notes that it was formerly known as Corona Playground. The land for this park was purchased by the City… read more
A 1935 New York City Department of Parks Press release announced a: ‘plan for the reconstruction of Joyce Kilmer Park, north of the Bronx County Court House between Walton Avenue and the Grand Concourse and extending from 161st Street to… read more
In 1936, Ben Knott completed an oil on canvas mural entitled ‘Decorative Map of the World’ for the fourth floor corridor, East School, of what was then Julia Richman High School, with funding from the Federal Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art… read more
On January 4, 1938, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground: “In Queens, at 34th Avenue between 96th Street and Junction Boulevard, the new playground has slides, swings, see-saws, sand table, shuffleboard and handball courts. A… read more
This large park in the Middle Village neighborhood of Queens provides a wealth of leisure and recreational attractions to local residents. Before it became a park, “it was used variously as a farm, a cemetery, a source for peat moss,… read more
NYC Parks describes the history of this park: “The property on which the park is located was acquired by Parks from the Sinking Fund in two parcels. The first parcel was assigned on July 11, 1934, the second on June… read more
This park area consists of Kelly Park to the West of the BMT Brighton Beach transit line and the smaller Kelly Playground to the East of the line. Both were developed by the WPA in 1940. Kelly Park was first… read more
Brooklyn, New York’s Kensington Station post office “is a historic post office building … was built in 1935, and designed by consulting architect Lorimer Rich for the Office of the Supervising Architect. The building is a two-story, six-bay-wide brick building… read more