New York’s 15,000 square foot Essex Street Market, located along the east side of Essex Street between Rivington and Delancey Streets, was constructed with the assistance of the Work Projects Administration (WPA). The market opened in 1940. It was “one of… read more
The Federal Office Building at 90 Church Street was constructed between 1934 and 1935 by the Treasury Department Public Buildings Bureau, and includes the Church Street Station Post Office. It occupies the entire city block bounded by between Church Street and… read more
New York’s historic First Avenue Retail Market Market was one of eight similar markets constructed with the assistance of the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA). These structures were built in order to replace the informal pushcart markets common on New York… read more
The First Houses public housing development was constructed by the WPA in 1935. It is decorated throughout the courtyard and on the walls here and there with small animal statues and carvings. The New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation plaque at… read more
The WPA Guide to New York City reported that: “On Avenue A and Third Street, three blocks east of the Bowery, rise the FIRST HOUSES, the first project of the NY City Housing Authority, opened in 1935. Of the old… read more
First Park playground, named for its location at the intersection of East First St. and First Ave. opened in 1935. The New York City Parks Department calls the park a “typical product of the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) initiative to… read more
Fort Tryon Park was built during the Depression era with the goal of providing public green space for upper Manhattan. John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated the land and provided most of the financial support for the construction of the park’s amenities…. read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) assisted in the paving of what was then Fourth Avenue (now Park Ave.) from 14th St. to 23rd St.
The WPA funded the removal of 33 miles of trolley tracks in New York City (The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition). This image shows “WPA workers removing old street car tracks on Fourth Avenue [now Park Ave.]. Picture… read more
“During the year 1936 the WPA built East River Drive from Grand Street to 14th Street, demolishing structures in the line of the driveway, backfilling and grading low areas, rebuilding and extending sewers to new outfalls in the East River,… read more
The Department of Parks announced the opening of what is now the Fred Samuel Playground on March 31, 1939. The press release explained: “The area located on the west side of Lenox Avenue between 139 and 140 Streets is adjacent… read more
The Department of Parks announced the opening of what is now the Frederick Johnson Park on March 31, 1939. The press release explained: “The 150 Street and Seventh Avenue area obtained by the Department of Parks from the Board of… read more
The WPA constructed a half-million-dollar garbage dump facility at the East River Drive and 91st Street, jutting out into the East River. The facility is reached by a “vamp” over the now-FDR Drive. The “building, which resembles an airplane hangar, covers… read more
The PWA played a crucial role in improving New York City’s health and sanitation facilities at a moment of growing strain on existing infrastructure. The city’s need for better ways to deal with garbage was particularly acute after 1934… read more
“This monumental bronze portrait bust, dedicated in 1893, depicts Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886), and was created by American sculptor James Wilson Alexander MacDonald (1824–1908).” (www.nycgovparks.org) In the 1930s, the bust was restored with federal funding under Karl… read more
Lucienne Bloch’s mural, “The Evolution of Music”, encircles the upper wall of the old music classroom at the former George Washington High School. As the NY Public Schools Public Art for Public Schools website states: “Among New Deal New York City… read more
Gertrude B. Kelly Playground was one of five model playgrounds designed after Robert Moses assumed control of the New York City Parks Department in 1934. These playgrounds were “meant to serve as templates for further playground designs and included standard… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the Giuseppe Verdi Monument during the mid-1930s.
Then known as the Welfare Hospital for Chronic Disease, this hospital on New York’s Roosevelt Island opened in 1939. The hospital soon received three rare 7 x 50 foot WPA murals by Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981), Joseph Rugolo (1911-1983) and Albert… read more
From 1794 to 1966, Governors Island housed US army facilities. The whole island is now a National Monument and remains a “vibrant summer seasonal venue of art, culture and performance against the backdrop of two centuries of military heritage and… read more
In addition to WPA improvements made around Governors Island, “a mural in the Administration Building, depicting scenes from six American wars, was painted by artists of the Federal Art Project.” The Administration Building is better known today as Pershing Hall…. read more
Gracie Mansion has been the official residence of New York City’s mayor since 1942, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and his family moved in. It is located on East 88th Street in Carl Schurz park. The federal style house was built in the 18th century for… read more
“This majestic, gilded-bronze equestrian group statue depicts one of the United States’ best-known generals, William Tecumseh Sherman (1820 – 1891). Dedicated in 1903, it was master sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s (1848 – 1907) last major work, and serves as the centerpiece… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the Pomona statue (also known as the “Lady of the Plaza”) in Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan, during the mid-1930s. The statue tops the Pulitzer Fountain in the plaza’s southern half.
“The third project which Louis Schanker completed while in the Mural Division of the WPA was for the Hall of Medicine and Public Health Building at the New York [W]orld’s Fair (1939-1940). Large sharply angled geometric shapes are the background… read more
Hamilton Fish Park was first opened in 1900, featuring a gymnasium and playground. In 1936, it was thoroughly remodeled and the new WPA swimming pool (the first of eleven to open that summer) became the main attraction. A June 1936… read more
Renovations to Harlem Hospital were undertaken by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Harlem Hospital murals include two 1940 pieces by Charles Alston, “Magic in Medicine” and “Modern Medicine”, painted under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project of the WPA in 1936. As the New York Times notes, “Harlem Hospital’s were perhaps the first… read more
Alfred D. Crimi painted this 250-square-foot fresco, entitled Modern Surgery and Anesthesia, in 1940 for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). According to the webpage entry “Harlem Hospital WPA Murals” from Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies, “Alfred D. Crimi,… read more
An eight panel mural by African America artist Vertis C. Hayes, entitled “Pursuit of Happiness,” was commissioned for Harlem Hospital Center with funding from the WPA’s Federal Arts Project. The mural, which was completed 1937, “…traces the African diaspora from 18th-century African… read more
In 1937 Elba Lightfoot completed this mural, entitled “Toy Parade,” for the Harlem Hospital Center with funding from the WPA’s Federal Arts Program. It was one the first major federal commissions to be awarded to African-Americans. The hospital initially rejected… read more
Below is a photograph that shows Georgette Seabrooke at work on her mural entitled “Recreation in Harlem” for the nurses’ recreation room at Harlem Hospital Center. She made the mural with funding from the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP). The WPA commissioned… read more
The Harlem River Houses, together with First Houses in Manhattan and the Williamsburg Houses in Brooklyn, were the first federally-funded public housing projects in New York City. The project was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA Docket No. H-1302). Wikipedia states:… read more
A 2016 article celebrating Black History Month highlighted this unique and little known WPA mural by artist Aaron Douglas: “The Harlem Branch of the Y.M.C.A., which is located at at 180 West 135th Street, contains an exquisite example (though in need… read more
In 1938 William Karp completed the mural entitled “Armed with Learning and Reality, Looking from the Past to the Future” for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on Amsterdam Avenue between 136 and 138th Street in New York City. The Hebrew Orphan… read more
The column of the Henry Hudson Memorial in Henry Hudson Park was created in 1909, but the bronze sculpture by Karl Bitter intended for the top of the column was never added. This was rectified in the 1930s. In 1937,… read more
The Henry Hudson Parkway runs along the Hudson River from West 72nd Street to the Bronx-Westchester border and includes the Henry Hudson Bridge, which connects Manhattan with the Bronx. The Parkway was part and parcel of the West Side Improvement… read more
The Henry Hudson Bridge carries the Henry Hudson Parkway over the Hudson River between the Bronx and Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan. The idea of a bridge in that spot had been raised as early as 1906, but resistance from… read more
In 1940, the WPA rehabilitated the “hourglass” intersection formed by Broadway, 6th Ave., 35th St. and 32nd St, the north end of which is known as Herald Square and the south end as Greeley Square. The project centered around the… read more
What is now the High School of Fashion Industries began in the 1920s as a vocational program in a garment center loft on West 31 Street. It was intended to train a work force for New York’s large garment industry,… read more