New York City Sites

Ruth Egri painted a large WPA mural entitled "Disease, Cure and Prevention" in 1938-1939 for the Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx). In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location on 149th St. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.

In 1938, artist Albert Kelly painted a multi-panel mural entitled "The Circus" (it may also have been known as "Circus Parade") for the children's ward at the old Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd.) in the Bronx. In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location on 149th St. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.

In 1938 Eric Mose created murals for Lincoln Hospital (also known as the Lincoln Medical and Health Center) in the Bronx with funding from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) (Smithsonian Archives of American Art). The hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx) moved to its present location on 149th St. in 1976. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.

Although the history of this park is difficult to pin down, researcher Frank da Cruz makes a compelling argument that this is one of many WPA playgrounds built during the New Deal. First, it is located at the North end of Bronx Park, where all the development was done by the WPA. As da Cruz explains, "The timing is right too; the Parks Department says, 'Parks obtained the land for Olinville Playground in conjunction with the construction of the Bronx River Parkway extension in 1938'" - a period in which literally hundreds of municipal parks were developed by the WPA....

The NYC Parks website explains that the park's name comes from the fact that "Queens’ last one-room schoolhouse occupied this site from the time of its construction in 1879 until its demolition to make room for a public park in 1934." The press release announcing the opening of the playground within the park in December 1935 explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: "88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work on Brooklyn's Orange Street in 1936.

Orchard Beach is an artificial beach 6,000 feet long on Pelham Bay in Pelham Bay Park on the east side of The Bronx, built by WPA workers under the direction of the New York City Parks Department. It required a major reconfiguration of the shoreline and sand imported from the Atlantic coast.  It included many auxillary improvements, most notably a large bathhouse behind the beach.  Researcher Frank da Cruz sums up New Deal involvement in developing the area based on multiple Parks Department press releases from the 1930s: "Orchard Beach  created by the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) from a plan developed in...

"From the New York City Parks Department press release of March 14, 1941, announcing the "completion of reconstruction at Owen F. Dolen Park": ...two half-acre plots, separated by Benson Street, serve chiefly as pedestrian connections and sitting areas with open central grass areas bounded by four foot wrought iron fences and trees. Continuous benches line the interior walks and boundary sidewalks, providing adequate seating accommodations for this densely populated section. The existing walks of cinders, bluestone and macadam have been widened and rebuilt of concrete. Street trees have been planted along all curbs except adjacent to the West Chester Avenue elevated...

A March 27, 1936 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of this new WPA playground: "The Department of Parks will open ten new playgrounds Saturday, March 28, making a total of 125 added to the recreational system in two years. …at Owl's Head Park there will be a wading pool, an area for group games, four slides, six kindergarten slides, kindergarten swings, large swings, see-saws, a jungle gym and a baby jungle gym… All of these playgrounds were constructed as Works Progress Administration projects." Today, the NYC Parks website declares that "Owl's Head Park is now one of the premier parks in...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of Public School 107 in the Bronx, in 1935. Funding for this school was part of a larger PWA grant ($117,641) allotted for the building of 64 projects in all five boroughs of New York City.

The New York Times reported that WPA laborers had begun work in late 1941 on a playground on the "eastern half of the block bounded by Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, East 108th Street and East 109th Street." The playground was built for a new school to be built adjacent to it the following year.

The Brooklyn school now known as the Philip J Abinanti School opened in 1937. Construction was sponsored by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).

Located in East Elmhurst, Public School (P.S.) 127 serves students from pre-kindergarten through grade 8. The PWA allocated $109,232 in grant money to the construction of the building, which was completed February 1937.

P.S. 136 in Cambria Heights was constructed in the late 1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

P.S. 139 in Upper Manhattan, New York, received an addition in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $209,250 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $402,059. The former school now houses a senior citizens center operated by the New York City Housing Authority. PWA Docket No. NY 1715

The Queens school now known as the Henry Gradstein Elementary School was built during the 1930s. Construction was sponsored by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).

The P.S. 149 school building in Jackson Heights was constructed between 1934 and 1936 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. "Modern construction in Public School 149, Queens, includes windows running to the ceiling to admit the maximum of light and air, gymnasiums and auditoriums ... Throughout the State and throughout the nation, men have been busy for months building this equipment. In the mines and forests of the West, workmen were recalled to their jobs to produce ore, stone and lumber. Then in the mills and factories of the Middle West more men were busied turning these into steel, cement...

P.S. 15, now called the Jackie Robinson School, in St. Albans, New York, was constructed in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $256,500 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $430,448. PWA Docket No. NY 1711

P.S. 159 in Brooklyn, New York, received an addition in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $94,500 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $179,930. PWA Docket No. NY 1724

Public School (P.S.) 162 in Flushing, Queens, was built with a grant from the PWA totaling $107,470.  The building was completed June 1937 and extended during the 1950s.

The school auditorium contains a set of murals by Sacha Moldovan entitled "New York Old and New," painted under the auspices of the WPA. "Drawing inspiration from historic images of New York as well as 1930s views of the city, Sacha Moldovan created a fanciful panorama of New York City, old and new, blending recognizable landmarks with a naïve sensibility. Moldovan was born in Russia but lived and worked in Paris, where he came of age artistically as a member of the School of  Paris, befriending Henri Matisse and Chaim Soutine. Moldovan’s paintings feature thick applications of brilliant color, heavy outlines, and...

The Queens school now known as the Henry Gradstein Elementary School was built during the 1930s. Construction was sponsored by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).

P.S. 194, located on W 144th Street in upper Manhattan, New York, was completed in 1940 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant of $474,300, 45% of the estimated project cost.

The original part of the current P.S. 2 school building on 21st Avenue in East Elmhurst, Queens, was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The building bears a 1935 cornerstone, and a plaque cites the construction dates as 1935-6. Funding for the school was part of a larger PWA grant allotted for the building of three schools and a hospital wing in Queens and the Bronx. PWA Docket No. NY 7582.

P.S. 213, on Hegeman Ave. between Vermont St. and New Jersey Ave., was constructed in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $256,725 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $440,538. PWA Docket No. NY 1446

In 1939, Herman Simms completed a mural for the entranceway of P.S. 216 in Brooklyn with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The mural is entitled "Children in Vocational Activities and Children in Directed and Undirected Play." The New York Times explains that "...Herman Simms, a 29-year-old artist kept off the bread lines by the Works Progress Administration, painted a mural in the entranceway of Public School 216 in Gravesend, Brooklyn....It took him eight months. He was paid $20 a week." It describes the mural thus: "One piece of the mural dealt with classroom activities -- music instruction, home economics and...

P.S. 221, located on Empire Boulevard in Brooklyn, New York, was completed in 1940 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant of $431,100, 45% of the estimated project cost.

An addition to the P.S. 225 school building in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

P.S. 247 in Brooklyn was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

The original P.S. 48 school building, at the eastern corner of 108th Ave. and 155th St. was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The building bears a 1935 cornerstone.

The former P.S. 60 south of 163rd St. in the Bronx received an addition constructed in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $191,250 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $339,052. PWA Docket No. NY 1450

Ozone Park, New York's Public School 64 (P.S. 64), now the Joseph P. Addabbo school, was constructed by the federal Work Projects Administration. The school is located north of 101st Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Streets. The WPA described the project in 1940: "Completed in March, 1940. Replaces an antiquated building of a capacity inadequate to the increased population of the district. Twenty-two class rooms, with a normal seating capacity of 905 pupils, include completely equipped science room, a woodworking shop and cooking room. The cost was $595,438, of which the city's contribution was $309,600." The school has since been enlarged.

The P.S. 80 school in the Bronx was built in 1935-36 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The plans for the school were approved by the Board of Education in 1935.

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." Paerdegat Park is the fourth site described. New York City's Parks Department website writes: "The land for Paerdegat Park was acquired by purchase and condemnation in 1941 and became a park that same year." Construction on the park was completed in January 1943. A press release announcing the opening...

This photo shows WPA Federal Art Project artists giving members of the Paragon Boys' Club a lessons in mural painting.

These WPA photos show WPA crews constructing a "vehicular tunnel" along Park Avenue, from 40th to 42st Streets. Current status of the project unknown to the Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook several road improvement projects along roads in Brooklyn, New York. One such project involved the removal of malls and other repair work along the modest stretch of Parkville Ave. from McDonald Ave. to 47th St.

The historic Parkville Station post office in Brooklyn, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1937. The building is still in use today.

According to the NYC Parks website: "The site of this ballfield was acquired by the City of New York for the construction of the Independent Subway whose line curves from the Avenue of the Americas to West Houston Street. In May 1934 the Board of Transportation granted the Department of Parks a permit to develop for playground purposes four parcels on West Houston Street. The park at the northeast corner of West Houston Street and the Avenue of the Americas was one of thirty-eight new playgrounds added to the Park system in the first four months of Robert Moses’s twenty-six...

The Brooklyn school now known as Paul Robeson High School for Business and Technology (originally P.S. 191) received an addition during the 1930s sponsored by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).