New York City Sites

The historic Morris Heights Station post office in the Bronx, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1936. The building is still in use today.

This house "was built in 1765 by Roger Morris, a British military officer, and served as a headquarters for both sides in the American Revolution" (wikipedia). It was declared a national landmark in 1961 and is now a house museum. The WPA photos pictured here show that the Jumel mansion was restored with New Deal assistance in the 1930s.

The Morrisania Station post office of the Bronx, New York (originally constructed as New York, New York's Station T post office in the Bronx) "is a historic post office building located at Morrisania in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was built in 1936, and designed by consulting architect William Dewey Foster for the Office of the Supervising Architect. The building is a two story, five bay wide brick building with a hipped roof and a one bay recessed wing in the Colonial Revival style. It features an arcade of five recessed brick round arches with limestone keystones." (Wikipedia) The...

Mosholu Golf Course is in the southeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park is a public golf course built with 9 holes rather than 18. It specializes in children and teenagers. It opened in 1914. A New York City Parks Department press release from May 7, 1936 described New Deal improvements to the golf course: “Van Cortlandt and Mosholu in the Bronx ... have been reconditioned and remodeled to some extent. All this work has been done with relief funds provided by the C.W.A., T.E.R.A. and W.P.A.”

The Mosholu Parkway runs north-south through Van Cortlandt park, from Gun Hill Road to the Henry Hudson Parkway in the northern section of the park. The Parkway was constructed between 1936 and 1941 under the office of the Department of Parks. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains, "Later, in the 1950s, Moses also ran the Major Deegan Expressway through the park, so now the the park is effectively cut up into six pieces with very little access from one piece to the other."

The WPA allocated $56,003 (later reduced to $34,703.70) toward the filling of what was then a canal in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The project entailed filling the canal between 135th and 138th Streets. The Mott Haven street names Canal Place and Canal Street West embody the now-historical facet of the neighborhood's past. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-432(?).

The Mott Haven Health Center was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. It opened in 1937. "The Mott Haven Health Center, second of eight centers to be opened by the city this Summer and Fall, will be dedicated on Tuesday. The building, at 349 East 140th Street, the Bronx, cost $209,978."

The historic Mott Haven Station post office in the Bronx on East 139th St. was one of several post offices in the borough constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'X' until its redesignation as Mott Haven Station on June 1, 1947. This project was implemented by the Public Works Administration, and the building's cornerstone dates an initial stage of construction to 1935. The building is still in service. C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown: This postal station is in the Bronx on East 139th Street and serves a territory bounded by the Harlem...

On May 26, 1939, the Department of Parks announced the official opening of the new Mount Prospect Park behind the Brooklyn Public Library: "At Mount Prospect Park, the exercises will start at 12:00 Noon and besides Commissioner Moses and the Mayor, Honorable Joseph Goodman, Commissioner of the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, and Honorable Raymond V. Ingersoll, President of the Borough of Brooklyn will speak. This area, formerly the site of the old Mount Prospect Reservoir and bordered by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Science and the new Brooklyn Central Library, has been completely...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the Brooklyn Municipal Building.

The WPA provided $119,002 in funds to "repair garage & buildings at 181st St. and Webster Ave." The property is still owned by New York City and the buildings (not the originals that the WPA worked on, which have presumably been demolished) today houses Fleet Services for the city's Department of Transportation. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-441.

The New York Times reported in 1941 that, as part of WPA efforts, Brooklyn would receive six new playgrounds, located at: "Third Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, Second Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Fifty-second Street, Albany and Foster Avenues, Park and Nostrand Avenues and Eastern Parkway Extension and Fulton Street." The history of this no-longer-extant park, the fifth of the six sites sited above, is detailed by New York City's Parks Department in a page describing the development of nearby Marcy Playground: "An unnamed park preceded this playground that honors Marcy. It was located a block further north, was one-third...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the no-longer-extant municipal yard at DeKalb Ave. and Irving Ave.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the municipal yard at 5th Ave. and 38th St. The site is now utilized by the MTA.

This land was first developed as a playground in 1903 and has been known by several names over the years, including the John J. Murphy Playground and Murphy Park, and now, according to NYC Parks, the Murphy's Brother's Playground. In June 1941, Parks announced the completion of improvements to the park: "This improvement included the demolition and removal of the old wooden pavilion and comfort station and the complete redesign of an outmoded facility, to which a small area has been added because of the alignment of the new East River Drive. Situated in an intensively developed neighborhood, adjacent to the East...

The building housing FDNY Engine 274/Battalion 52 in Murray Hill, Flushing, was constructed in 1939 by the Work Projects Administration.

In Sept. 1941 the New York Times described a playground being constructed by the WPA in Queens at "Forty-Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street." This site, Murray Playground, is still in use today. New York City's Parks Department writes: "The City of New York acquired the land that constitutes Murray Playground in four parts by purchase and condemnation between 1941 and 1945. The park stretches from 11th to 21st Street, and is bounded by 45th Avenue and 45th Road." A 1942 Department of Parks press release announcing the park's opening describes the work done by the WPA: "A wide mall, lined with benches and...

The WPA undertook a project to improve what was then known as New York's City Museum, during the 1930s. Work included: "Paint interior and exterior, construct exhibition cases, stages, buns, shelves, install ventilating and electrical systems; repair elevators; and make improvements to the grounds of the City Museum in New York City, New York County."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed additions to the drill hall at the Naval Militia Armory in Whitestone, New York. "The only active, federally-recognized Naval Militia with continuous, unbroken service to the Country and State for more than a century and a history stretching back to the Revolution, housed in the former club house of the Whitestone Yacht Club." "The New York Naval Militia's heritage spans over two centuries, dating back to the American Revolution. The first naval battle of the Revolutionary War was fought on Lake Champlain in 1776 by New York Militiamen manning the ships of a small American squadron."

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook several road improvement projects along roads in Brooklyn, New York. One such project involved the widening of Navy Street in the area between Fort Greene and downtown Brooklyn from Park Ave. to DeKalb Ave. (Presently, the stretch of this road widened north of Myrtle Avenue is Navy Street while the southern portion is known as Ashland Place.)

"While a supervisor, Louis Schanker did several murals for the WPA. A series of 11 murals was done for the TB wards’ dining room at the Neponsit Beach Children’s Hospital in Rockaway Queens. The official pictures, taken for the WPA, are available on line from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Some show him working on the murals while others must have been taken at the dedication ceremonies because he is shown wearing uncharacteristically formal attire. In the late 1970’s Schanker checked with the Hospital to see if the murals were still there. The Hospital had been converted into...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the no-longer-extant water pumping station located at Neptune Ave. and West 27th Street. The station was replaced by a PWA-sponsored project located a few hundred feet east.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island street repair and maintenance project along roads throughout the borough. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were surfaced with bituminous macadam. Roads paved included several stretches in the New Dorp neighborhood of Staten Island: The stretch of Beach Avenue between the Staten Island Railway and 10th Street 9th Street between Beach Ave. and New Dorp Lane 10th Street between Beach Ave. and New Dorp Lane Clawson Street between Lincoln Ave. and New Dorp Lane South Railroad Avenue between Jacques Ave. and Lincoln Ave. North...

The Federal Writers' Project wrote of the New York Botanical Garden: "The botanical garden, incorporated by the State Legislature in 1891, after a two-year campaign for funds, is maintained by city appropriations, membership fees, and funds from the sale of publications. In recent years considerable improvements have been effected by PWA and WPA grants." WPA work at the gardens included the construction of "ome 14,000 linear feet of 10- foot paths" and "the transplanting of 54 large conifers, 41 large deciduous shrubs and 93 medium- sized plants of Ilex opaca." (https://mertzdigital.nybg.org)

"In 1936, under the Works Progress Administration, the artist Abram Champanier created a series of murals for the children's ward . Champanier had done large commercial murals in the 20's for the Roxy Theater in New York and the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, among other works. For the hospital, he painted 16 panels on the theme of "Alice in Wonderland in New York." The oil-on-canvas murals are all seven feet high, but of varying widths. After the first panel, "Alice Steps Out of a Book," they cover subjects like "Alice Flies Over the East River Bridges" and "Alice and Her...

The McGraw Rotunda of the 5th Ave. library building contains a set of WPA murals: "It features The Story of the Recorded Word, a set of four large arched panels by Edward Laning, were executed for the McGraw Rotunda of the New York Public Library Main Branch from 1938 to 1942 as part of a Works Progress Admistration (WPA) Project, with supplies furnished by Isaac Phelps Stokes, author of the Iconography of Manhattan Island. Laning depicted the story of the recorded word across each of the murals. The first mural, to the left of the entrance to the Catalog Room, Moses...

This building, formerly known as the New York County Courthouse, contains several large New Deal murals created by a variety of artists, begun under the Public Works of Art Program (PWAP) in 1934 and continued under the WPA's Federal Art Project. Most of the murals were painted by Attilio Pusterla with the help of several assistants. The vestibule ceiling contains brightly painted murals by Pusterla and his assistants painted in a "grand Italian decorative style" (nytimes). The subject of these murals is the administration of justice, and the murals depict many allegorical figures representing Truth, Error, Protection, Security, Army and Navy among...

This building, formerly known as the New York County Courthouse, contains several large WPA murals. Most of the murals, including those in the vestibule and rotunda, were painted by Attilio Pusterla with the help of several assistants. Jury room 448, however, contains a series of 11 paintings by Robert K. Ryland depicting historical New York scenes. The subjects include Henry Hudson's ship, the Half-Moon; an early Indian settlement; Broad Street around 1660, and two panoramas of the city in the 18th century.

The Fulton Street branch of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On April 9, 1936, nine stations opened in Brooklyn, including the Court Street subway station. The Court St. subway station closed in 1946; it reopened in 1976 as the New York Transit Museum.

NYC Parks describes the origins of this playground in Queens: "This public space was acquired by the City of New York by consolidation on January 1, 1898, and transferred to the Department of Parks in 1917. It was not developed as a playground until 1934-35. The playground opened on August 9, 1935 with slides, swings, sandbox, seesaws, benches, comfort station, tool house, and cherry and hawthorn trees." On April 3, 1937, the Department of Parks announced the further completion at this site of "a new recreation building of brick construction," containing "a boys and girls' comfort station, a mother's room and...

From NYC Parks: "In 1918, the War Memorial Fund was established to create a $1 million Memorial Arch to commemorate those killed in World War I. The organizers were forced to adjust their plans when they were only able to raise $210,000, and by 1922 the project was scrapped and the money was turned over to the City. The fund earned interest, growing to nearly $340,000 by 1934. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888–1981), wishing to construct playspaces for children, convinced the remaining members of the War Memorial Committee to allow the funds to be used for playgrounds. Parks received the War Memorial...

A Department of Parks press release from December 4, 1939 describes the completion of WPA work on Noble Playground, along with three other playgrounds: "At East 177th Street and Noble Avenue the 3.6 acre area contains a children's playground and a separate regulation baseball diamond with concrete bleachers accommodating 150 spectators. The children's area is divided into two parts separated by a high, natural rock outcrop. One part contains a children's playground with combination wading pool and volley ball court, kindergarten apparatus, a large shaded sandpit, slides, swings, jungle gym and a brick comfort station. The other part is paved and...

In the mid-1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a $6,000,000 grade crossing elimination program for what was then Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway (SIRT). The final project was the mile-long Port Richmond-Tower Hill viaduct, which, at the time, was "the largest grade crossing elimination unit in the United States" (New York Times). The project sought to put an end to accident prone crossings. Arthur S. Tuttle, the State Director of the PWA, opened the newly elevated stations at Port Richmond and Tower Hill in a ribbon cutting ceremony. On February 26, 1937, The New York Times announced the opening of the viaduct...

The Department of Health medical center at 130 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn was constructed with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. This was one of three infant health stations in Brooklyn dedicated by Mayor La Guardia on May 10, 1939. The buildings cost about $50,000 each, with the WPA paying 60% and the city paying 40% of the costs.

This WPA relief map of the NYC Water Supply System is now on display in the Queens Museum of Art. The information plaque displayed with the map reads: "For the 1939 World's Fair, city agencies were invited to produce exhibits for the New York City Pavilion (now the Queens Museum of Art). The Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity (a New York City Department of Environmental Protection predecessor agency) commissioned the Cartographic Survey Force of the Works Progress Administration to create the magnificent relief map of the New York City water supply system and watershed that you see in this...

Originally formed as the result of glacial action during the Ice Age 15,000 years ago, Oakland Lake is a kettle lake, part of the Alley Pond Park system in northeast Queens. It is surrounded by glacial boulders and is fed by underground springs and a ravine that flows into the lake from the south. The lake served several purposes until it was transferred to New York City's Parks Department in 1934. The Parks Department notes: "In the 1930s, Works Project Administration (WPA) workers lined the brook feeding Oakland Lake with blocks, and later, the brook and a small pond leading into the...

The historic Old Chelsea Station post office on West 18th Street was constructed with Treasury Department funds in 1935-7. The building, which houses examples of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The historic Old Chelsea Station post office houses examples of New Deal artwork: two sculptures, titled "Deer" and "Bears," by Paul Fiene, housed just inside the public entrance on 18th Street. Made of "cast stone with silver leaf finish," the works were commissioned by  the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1938.

Researcher Frank da Cruz reasons persuasively here that this playground beside the Jerome Park Reservoir was a New Deal project: "t Reservoir and Sedgwick Avenues to Old Fort Four Park (its proper name according to the Parks Department website), but labeled as Fort Four Playground. It was opened in late 1934, some months before Strong Street Playground at the other end of Washington's Walk. Not the press releases, nor any other material I can find, give any credit to the New Deal for this park but since it was built in the same time frame on the same street...

The Lincoln Hospital (also known as the Lincoln Medical and Health Center), has contained several WPA murals. During the 1930s, the Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx) received at least three WPA murals. Ruth Egri painted a large mural entitled "Disease, Cure and Prevention" for the hospital in 1938-1939; Eric Mose painted another WPA mural for the hospital in 1938; and Albert Kelly painted a multi-panel mural entitled "Circus Parade." In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location. Unfortunately, a conversation with an employee of Lincoln Medical Center in 2016 leads us to...