Five years after the WPA built a new pool and bathhouse in Betsy Head Park, the Parks Department announced the completion of the rehabilitation of the south section of the rest of the park, bounded by Livonia and Dumont Avenues,… read more
In 1936 the Betsy Head Park in Brooklyn, New York, “was redesigned extensively and the Olympic-sized swimming pool was constructed. Architect John Matthews Hatton’s pool house exemplified the sleek Art Moderne style with liberal use of glass block and a… read more
The Department of Parks announced the opening of this new playground on Bedford Ave. on October 14, 1935. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with… read more
The federal Work Projects Administration undertook a large road repair project starting in 1935 in the borough of Queens. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were repaired; particular emphasis was placed on fixing washout-damaged stretches… read more
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 Brooklyn’s Borough Hall.
The federal Works Progress Administration worked to “renovate and repair” several buildings in Staten Island as part of a $225,507 project begun in 1935. Buildings improved included Staten Island’s Borough Hall.
The grand lobby of Borough Hall contains a series of Depression Era bas-reliefs and 13 large murals painted by Frederick Charles Stahr in 1940 under the auspices of the WPA Arts Project. The murals illustrate important events in Staten Island… read more
“During May and June 1946, two 900-square-foot murals depicting three centuries of local history were unceremoniously removed from the cavernous two-story rotunda of Brooklyn Borough Hall less than a decade after their creation. The murals, titled “Brooklyn Past and Present,”… read more
Boulevard Gardens was founded in 1935 as part of the United States’ New Deal initiative. The development is presently a co-op development encompassing 12 acres, with ten buildings of six stories each — a total of 968 residences. Operated under… read more
The historic Boulevard Station post office in the Bronx, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1936. The building is still in use today.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided resources for the construction of what was then known as the Bowery Bay Pumping Station. The facility, which bears a 1940 cornerstone, has since been expanded. “Under the auspices of the New York Department… read more
In 1939 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned a set of four cast reliefs for inclusion on the facade of the then-new Bowery Bay Pumping Station in Queens, New York. The works, which depict men at work engaging in sewage… read more
Parks acquired this property by condemnation in the mid 1920s. In December, 1935, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground on the site. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12… read more
“Breezy Point began in the early 20th century as a shantytown called Irish Riviera. Then, the sandy sliver of land that lies on the far western edge of Rockaway Island was considerably thinner than it is today. In 1935, as… read more
The City acquired Breininger Park (previously known as Braddock Park) in 1938. The Department of Parks officially announced the opening of the park in August 1939: “In Queens, the new playground is located at Braddock Avenue and 240 Street, in… read more
New York City’s Parks Department writes: “[Brizzi Playground], formerly named the 43rd St. Playground, is bounded by 42nd and 43rd Streets and 10th & New Utrecht Avenues. It was acquired through condemnation and assigned to Parks for playground purposes in… read more
The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) put many men to work starting in 1935 with street repair and maintenance projects that improved roads throughout the Bronx. The work pictured here shows WPA laborers on the Bronx Boulevard construction project.
The Bronx County Courthouse was built on the cusp between FDR’s governorship in New York and the federal New Deal of his presidency. It was approved in 1928 and construction begun in 1931, but the work was not completed until 1933 or… read more
Later known as the Bronx House of Detention for Men, the Bronx County Jail was constructed during the 1930s, a project aided by federal Public Works Administration funds (Docket No. NY 9050X). Located at East 151st St. and River[a] Ave.,… read more
The historic Bronx General Post Office was built from 1935 to 1937. It was designed by consulting architect Thomas Harlan Ellett (1880-1951) for the Treasure Department’s Office of the Supervising Architect, Louis Simon. The building is constructed of smooth gray… read more
The Bronx General Post Office houses a set of 13 magnificent mural panels—collectively titled “Resources of America”— by Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson Shahn. A Lehman College Guide to Public Art in the Bronx has this to say about the… read more
The Bronx General Post Office contains superb examples of New Deal art, added in 1938-39 under the Treasure Section of Fine Arts program. Inside are 13 mural panels by Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda; on the exterior wall, flanking the entrance, are two… read more
The Bronx General Post Office contains superb examples of New Deal art, added in 1938-39 under the Treasure Section of Fine Arts program. Inside are 13 mural panels by Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda; on the exterior wall, flanking the entrance, are two… read more
“Until 1937, the north portion of Bronx Park was owned by the NY Botanical Garden and the NY Zoological Society and had no public facilities such as paths, lighting, playgrounds, or athletic fields. As part of the Bronx River Parkway… read more
New York City’s Parks Department writes: “Ranaqua, the Bronx headquarters of the Department of Parks & Recreation of the City of New York, is located in the southeastern part of Bronx Park, east of the northbound lanes of the Bronx… read more
Researcher Frank da Cruz has done some serious groundwork to uncover the history of Reiss Field on the east side of Bronx Park, opposite Reiss Place, just north of Pelham Parkway. This ball field stands precisely where the Parks Department… read more
Researcher Frank da Cruz has gathered research from a variety of sources here to conclude that the New Deal had some role in the development of the Trojan Courts area of the east side of Bronx Park: This area includes… read more
“Waring Playground in Bronx Park, across Bronx Park East from the block between Waring Avenue and Thwaite Place, June 17, 2015. It opened on September 28, 1939, as part of the larger project of developing the land turned over by… read more
The WPA dredged the Bronx River between East 177th St. and East 180th St. during the 1930s. A 1935 allotment provided $7,426 for the project. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-446(?).
During the last decade of the 1800s, John Grignola carved this granite statue of a Civil War Union soldier for Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. After years of neglect, WPA workers located the statue in the Bronx River, refurbished it, and… read more
From 1934 to 1935 the Bronx Terminal Market expansion project took place with New Deal support. The Market was one of eight indoor markets that New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia built or expanded with federal support. It was part of… read more
From 1938 to 1939 federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers constructed a freight shed at the north end of the Bronx Terminal Market. Much of the funding for the project came from a $250,000 allocation from the New Deal Reconstruction Finance Corporation… read more
The Triborough Bridge is one of three major bridges, along with the Henry Hudson and the Bronx-Whitestone, built during the New Deal era to link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, and tie together the expanding highway system… read more
Now an industrial park, the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 140 58th Street, which was previously known as the Port of Embarkation, was improved through numerous projects conducted by the federal Work Projects Administration during the 1930s and early 1940s.
“In the rotunda of the [Laboratory Building] are bronze busts of Linnaeus, Darwin, Mendel, Asa Gray, Robert Brown, and John Torrey–the work of WPA sculptors.”
The New Deal supported various improvements to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the Great Depression, among which was the Herb Garden: “Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to build the 1938 Herb Garden, a Caparn design taken from a… read more
The New Deal supported various improvements to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the Great Depression, among which was the Osborne Garden. “Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to build the 1938 Herb Garden, a Caparn design taken from a… read more
According to a Brooklyn Children’s Museum history: 1930s “The Work Progress Administration (WPA) brings more than 200 docents, artists, carpenters, printers, and clerks to work at the Museum during the Depression. Over 200 volunteers support museum projects including the construction… read more
Brooklyn College was created in the 1930s with the assistance of the New Deal. The five original buildings, including a library and gymnasium, were built with PWA funding and the grounds were landscaped by WPA workers. The college’s web page… read more
Boylan Hall is one of the original buildings on the Brooklyn College campus, serving originally as the Administrative and Academic Building. It was constructed as part of a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression.