New York Sites

The High School of Fashion Industries (formerly the Central High School of Needle Trades) is a New Deal building, which contains a well-known mural by Ernest Fiene. It is commonly believed to be a WPA Arts Project mural, but Gerald Markowitz, co-author of A New Deal for Art (1977), assures us that it is not, even though the spirit of the painting is so typically New Deal.  We have left it on our map because of the common confusion, which this may help allay. "In Manhattan, the fledgling coalition of government, industry, and organized labor created the Central High School of Needle Trades...

NYC Parks describes the WPA's role in developing the Highbridge Pool: "The Highbridge Pool and Recreation Center were built in 1936. The pool was the fifth of eleven city pools built with labor supplied by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). It opened during the hot summer of 1936, leading Fortune magazine to dub 1936 “the swimming pool year.”" In July 1937, Parks announced the further completion of "a new brick building, with copper roof...   be used as a concession stand to serve spectators and bathers at the swimming pool."

In December 1936, the Department of Parks announced the completion of a new playground in Highbridge Park "equipped with wading pool, swings, see-saws, slides and jungle gym for younger children and a large play area with horizontal bars and ladders, basket ball, hand ball, paddle tennis and horseshoe courts for older Children and adults." Although the press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935,...

The North Building at Hunter College was built between 1937 and 1940, using funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). It lies between 68th  and 69th Streets along Park Avenue.  FDR dedicated the building on October 1940 and in his speech he recounted the story of how Mayor LaGuardia asked for the funding. North Building’s designer was the firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, in consultation with Harrison & Fouilhoux. Wallace Harrison had already designed Radio City Music Hall and the auditorium in Hunter’s building, though much simpler, bears a related design If the façade appears familiar, the main designers also built the Empire State...

Construction of New York's Sixth Avenue subway line was enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA) during the 1930s. The PWA supplied a massive loan and grant totaling $23,160,000 for the project, one of the largest New Deal construction undertakings in the country.  The Sixth Avenue was a branch of the original IND Eighth Avenue line, opened in 1932. Four stations opened in southern Manhattan in January 1934; an extension to Brooklyn opened April 1934.  An extension taking the line up Sixth Avenue, with six new stations, opened December 1940.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The 14th Street subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The 23rd Street subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The 34th Street–Herald Square subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The 42nd Street–Bryant Park subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On January 1, 1936, four subway stations opened in southern Manhattan, part of a $17.3 million project that extended the subway from Washington Square to the Lower East Side. The Broadway – Lafayette Street station was one of the four to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On January 1, 1936, four subway stations opened in southern Manhattan, part of a $17.3 million project that extended the subway from Washington Square to the Lower East Side. The Delancey Street subway station at Essex Street was one of the four to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On January 1, 1936, four subway stations opened in southern Manhattan, part of a $17.3 million project that extended the subway from Washington Square to the Lower East Side. The East Broadway subway station was one of the four to open at this time.

Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped to dismantle the Sixth Avenue elevated train line in Manhattan, which was replaced by the new Sixth Avenue IND subway, a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On January 1, 1936, four subway stations opened in southern Manhattan, part of a $17.3 million project that extended the subway from Washington Square to the Lower East Side. The Rutgers Street subway tunnel enabled further extension of the line to Brooklyn at the York Street Station.   Use of the tunnel began in 1936.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On January 1, 1936, four subway stations opened in southern Manhattan, part of a $17.3 million project that extended the subway from Washington Square to the Lower East Side. The Second Avenue station on Houston Street was one of the four to open at this time.

The Sixth Avenue branch trunk line of New York City's Independent Subway (IND) was constructed during the 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. On December 15, 1940, six additional IND subway stations opened along Sixth Avenue. The West Fourth Street – Washington Square subway station was one of the six to open at this time.

The Indian Road Playground lies along West 214th Street on the east side of Inwood Hill Park. The playground was constructed during the 1930s by the WPA. New York City's Parks Department site writes that during "the 1930s when Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981), using Works Progress Administration (WPA) money and workers, initiated a massive reconstruction of the park. Parks created this playground bordering the 35-acre lawn that dominates the southeast portion of the park, which provides recreational facilities such as baseball fields with bleachers, walking paths, and picnic areas."

During the Great Depression, the WPA radically transformed this large park at the Northwest tip of Manhattan, making accessible what is now the only largely non-landscaped park in all of Manhattan. WPA workers built roads, trails and overlooks throughout the hilly park. A Department of Parks press release from January 26, 1939 summed up the ongoing work: "The fine native woodland will be made thoroughly accessible by means of a network of footpaths with many benches for strollers... The Authority provided a further sponsors' contribution to the WPA for toilet facilities, benches, drinking fountains and overlooks along the high...

A January 26, 1939 press release by the Department of Parks announced that, "The WPA is at present constructing a boat basin in the Harlem Ship Canal which utilizes the old channel bordering Inwood Hill and Isham Parks  no longer used since the cutoff through the old Johnson Iron Works was completed by Army engineers early this year. This basin will house small boats of every description from canoes and outboards to cabin cruisers. It is scheduled to be completed in April 1939 and before that time work will have been started on the reconstruction of 10 acres of existing...

Before the 1930s, the large area of Inwood Hill Park north of Dyckman Street, between the New York Central Railroad tracks and the Hudson River was a literally a dump. Through the efforts of the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority, the Department of Parks and the Works Progress Administration, this area was transformed into an extensive landscaped area full of baseball and soccer fields, archery ranges and more. A January 1939 Parks press release explained that the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority contributed to this not only through landscaping the new Henry Hudson Parkway and providing foot-bridges between the waterfront area and...

Payson Playground, in the Southeast corner of Inwood Hill Park, is one of three playgrounds in the park. The current Department of Parks website says the playground was built by Robert Moses in 1939, but Parks Department press releases from the New Deal period show that the park was originally built in 1934 and completed in 1941. A 1934 press release announced the opening of the playground in August of that year. The release describes the new playground as containing a "Field house, comfort station, play area, basketball courts and the usual playground equipment for children." The labor and materials...

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

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted street repair work on Irving Place in the vicinity of 15th Street, ca. 1936.

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 the opening listed the park's facilities as including "slides, swings, jungle gym, see-saws, horizontal ladders and bars, soft ball diamond, wading pool and two handball courts. The recreation building will include a playroom and two loggias. Floodlights will be installed for night use. Ten playground directors will supervise this three-acre playground." The recreation building referred to was completed in 1937,...

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 reconstruction in August 1935, they gave an unusual level of detail about this important project: "The Department of Parks has determined the location and completed the development plan of a major recreational center in Harlem. For over a year the Department has been searching this section of the city for an area large enough to provide space for the active play...

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 and Pool: "Even though this park was designed, paid for, and built by Federal New Deal agencies of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, there is no plaque, cornerstone, or other marker anywhere in or around the park crediting the New Deal in any way for this magnificent community resource. It is not unique in this respect; most New Deal creations in New...

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 Robert Mose. The pool is 82 feet x 235 feet and the diving pool is 65 feet x 82 feet. The press release announcing the opening explained: "While only the south half of the two story brick bathhouse building, of medieval architecture with Roman arched windows, buttresses and towers, accommodating 1800 persons, will be ready for the opening, there will be...

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 Department of Parks, which announced that the area had "been designed principally for the use of mothers and infants and will be provided very generously with shade trees and benches." The NYC Parks website further explains that during this renovation "seventeen pin oaks were planted on the perimeter, the shower basin was replaced by a new wading pool, and new...

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 school was made more interesting by New Deal artists. The lobby of what is now the James Baldwin School contains two, large stained glass windows, collectively titled "Aesthetic Motive." Created by artist G. Gerard Recke in 1936 under the WPA Federal Art Project, the windows are composed of a variety of panels depicting, as one visitor puts it, "students learning grammar,...

The colossal James Farley Post Office Building, so named in 1982, is home to the Main Post Office of New York, New York. The building was originally constructed in 1912, facing Eighth Avenue; a 1934-6 Treasury Department-funded addition doubled the size of the building and extended it to Ninth Avenue. Hence, the building now occupies two full New York City blocks: 8th to 9th Ave. from 31st to 33rd Street. The U.S. Postal Service houses just retail operations at this regal facility—as well as a couple of examples of New Deal artwork—on the 8th Avenue-facing side of the building. With most...

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 murals are located at the Eighth Avenue side of the building. They were funded under the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP).

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 Deal funding and labor, yet he  rarely credited New Deal agencies. New Deal plaques in New York parks are rare. For a detailed discussion see, Kermit Project, New Deal Assistance in NYC Parks Department Projects, 1934-43. The NYC Parks site describes the origins of the park: "Bordered by Hudson Street, Clarkson Street, St. Luke’s Place, and the Carmine Street Recreation Center,...

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 been demolished.

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 concrete bleachers; the remodeling of an "old bath building" to "include a recreation room, gymnasium and auditorium"; and a new "completely equipped playground." A May 1942 Department of Parks press release further reported that the WPA had relocated the concession building, paved areas of the park, installed benches and planted trees.

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 145 feet. Legend has it that Parks Commissioner Robert Moses required the pool to be five feet short of the length necessary for 150-foot sprints. In 1941 the bathhouse was remodeled and reopened with an auditorium, large recreation room, gym, and changing facility which could accommodate 1,002 male and 590 female bathers. Systems were installed to filter, purify, and re-circulate...

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 collected by the Police Department, and by 1934 the fund—never spent—had grown in value to $350,000. Seeking additional open spaces for children, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obtained a legal ruling which permitted use of the fund for playground development. The properties were intended to honor the memories of individual soldiers who gave their lives in combat. The Fund was transferred to...

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 Project (WPA/FAP). The high school building that housed the mural has since been converted into the Julia Richman Education Complex. The building complex now serves as the site of six separate small schools. The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of the mural.

The historic Knickerbocker Station post office in New York, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1937. The building, located in Manhattan's Lower East Side, is still in use today.

La Marqueta "is a marketplace under the elevated Metro North railway tracks between 111th Street and 116th Street on Park Avenue in East Harlem in Manhattan, New York City. ... In its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, over 500 vendors operated out of La Marqueta, and it was an important social and economic venue for Hispanic New York." federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). The market was the first of eight similar projects in the city.