Queens Sites

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.

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

Daniel Celentano completed this oil-on-canvas mural, entitled "Children in Creative & Cultural Activities," in 1940 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is currently located in the auditorium of P.S. 150 in Queens.

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 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 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.

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.

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

The land for the Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park, known more commonly as the Smokey Oval Park, was acquired by the city in 1938. On October 31, 1939, the Department of Parks officially celebrated the opening of the park with a ceremony attended by Mayor La Guardia, Borough President George U. Harvey, Work Projects Administrator of New York City Brehon Somervell, and Park Commissioner Robert Moses. The press release announcing the opening explained: "the new 4.3 acre playground contains a separate children's area with wading pool, slides, see-saws and jungle gym, as well as kindergarten apparatus and sand pit for children of...

On September 30, 1941, Parks announced the opening of a new playground behind Public School 119 to be shared by the Department of Parks and the Board of Education. The press release explained that the playground was divided in two sections. In the south section, "A central free play area is flanked by three combination volleyball Legend basketball courts with removable goal posts, and a string, three shuffleboard courts and four paddle tennis courts. This entire section may be used for roller skating and flooded for ice skating." The north section contained benches and trees, a brick comfort station, a...

The Poppenhusen branch of the Queens Library system, located in the College Point neighborhood of Queens, was constructed in the early 1900s. A WPA photo shows the WPA sign and explains that "new copper sheeting for roof is another improvement provided for the College Point Branch of the Queens Library system by the WPA," implying that other improvements were made as well.

The historic main post office building in Far Rockaway, New York "was built in 1935, and is one of six post offices in New York State designed by architect Eric Kebbon as a consultant to the Office of the Supervising Architect. It is a two-story brick building with limestone trim and a low granite base in the Colonial Revival style. Its main façade features a centrally placed polygonal shaped frontispiece with a rounded dome inspired by Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. It also has a grand entrance vestibule." (Wikipedia) The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The Queens Borough Public Library features a number of murals completed through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The murals are: A. Grant Arnold's "The Big Maple Tree" (1936), Philip Cheney's "12th and Market Sts., Phila." (1936), Louis Lozowick's "Night Repairs" (1939), Nan Lurie's "Next" (1937), Elizabeth Olds's "Pittsburgh" (date unknown), and Raphael Soyer's "Portrait of a Man (A Transient)" and "Working Girls Going Home" (both 1936). The location and status of these works is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The "Flemish Revival" style Astoria branch of the Queens Borough Public Library was constructed in 1904, but heavily renovated by the CWA in the 1930s: "The angled corner was squared off, which created two new windows and made the structure three bays wide, two bays deep, and more rectangular.  The original saffron brick pattern and tripartite window designs were carefully replicated in the new corner walls.  A new stairway and main entrance were constructed, with narrow windows with stone sills and keystones on either side of the door.  A basement entrance for children was created and the basement windows were widened. ...

The Astoria branch of the Queens Borough Public Library received a series of murals as well as accompanying sculptures under the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s Federal Art Project. "here was no controversy about the playful mural commissioned in 1938 for the children's reading room of the Queens Borough Astoria branch, which celebrated the centennial of its building last year. Painted by Max Spivak (1906-81), an artist little known today, the mural, depicting whimsical circus and opera puppets, was originally done in five parts. But three have been lost, as have all of the original polychromed figures, by the sculptor Eugenie Gershoy,...

Daniel Celentano, once an apprentice to Thomas Hart Benton, was already a successful artist when he joined the Mural Division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1936, under the WPA, he completed his mural “Commerce” for the Queens Borough Public Library, Flushing Branch.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) tore up disused trolley tracks along, repaved, and otherwise beautified Queens Boulevard during the 1930s. 2,500 men, who would otherwise be unemployed, were put to work on the job. Work stretched along Queens Blvd. for eight miles: from Roosevelt Avenue in Sunnyside to Hillside Avenue in Jamaica. Groundbreaking for the massive $1.5 million infrastructure improvement project occurred on October 5, 1935, with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. One aspect of the project called for the "plant Norway Maple Trees in Malls. Pave mall area with concrete block. Plant vines and hedges at Elevated Pillars along Queens...

The WPA undertook a $940,000 project aimed at improving the campus of Queens College during the 1930s. The description for the project is as follows: "landscaping; draining; constructing roads, sidewalks, parking areas, athletic fields, field house, bleachers, and tennis and handball courts; and performing incidental and appurtenant work."

The PWA constructed the Queens General Hospital at 161st St. and 82d Drive. The hospital opened in 1935. The hospital was later greatly expanded and became part of the Queens Hospital Center. The current facility is located on the same site; most, if not all original buildings have been replaced or otherwise incorporated into more recent construction.

The Queens–Midtown Tunnel was completed with the assistance of a $58 million Public Works Administration grant approved by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "In 1935, with the promise of $58 million in Public Works Administration loans made available under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, then Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia created the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority, telling the new agency's three–members, "You are starting from scratch with no appropriation and nothing but an idea and a law.” A year later the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority became the New York City Tunnel Authority, which merged again in 1946 with the Robert Moses–led Triborough Bridge Authority...

New York City's Queensboro Bridge, which connects Long Island City in Queens with Manhattan, was improved by the federal Work Projects Administration during the 1930s. The bridge is also called the 59th Street Bridge or, more recently, the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. A WPA report from 1940 described its work: "Repaving of the Queensboro Bridge, an example of the improvement made to New York City's bridges. The old paving was of wood blocks and had become dangerous, particularly in wet weather. This was replaced by a concrete paving on a special I-beam grid. The lower roadway was completed in 1937 and,...

From the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s New York City Guide (1939): “Queensbridge Houses, north of Queensboro Bridge Plaza, between Vernon Boulevard and Twenty-first Street, is the fifth low-rent, government-financed housing project in the city since 1936. Twenty-six brick dwelling structures, six stories high with elevators, a community building, and a children’s center, all arranged around open polygonal courts, will cover less than one quarter of the projects 62.5 acres; the remaining land will be landscaped park and recreation space. When completed late in 1939, the 3,161 apartments will house approximately 11,400 people.” The building was constructed through the WPA under the...

Parks acquired this land to the West and the South of the WPA's Queensbridge Housing development in 1939. The press release announcing the completion of a WPA playground on the site in July 1941 explained: "The southerly section lying alongside and under the bridge structure has been developed for specialized intensive forms of recreation adapted to the needs of various age groups. Central to this section is a new comfort station located on the line of 10 Street and surrounded by play apparatus for small children: sand pit, wading pool, swings, etc., and extending to the east a series of game...

The Raymond M. O'Connor Park and the Kennedy Playground within it were developed with federal relief funds in the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed work on the park in 1935. The NYC Parks site explains that the park "was established as part of the massive expansion of recreational facilities, largely through Federal emergency relief funding, which took place in the 1930s under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. In 1931 the city purchased property in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens for $95,000 to create a public playground and thoroughfare... the land was landscaped with lawns, shade trees and sidewalks by...

The extension of the Richmond Hill branch library in Queens was undertaken as a sponsored federal WPA project during the 1930s.

In 1936 Philip Evergood completed a 160-foot mural entitled "The Story of Richmond Hill," with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project. "The left and lighter side of the mural celebrates the bucolic pleasures of Queens, with citizens making merry (couples dancing in the park), The right and darker side depicts less rosy conditions in the heart of the metropolis (laborers and children). A middle section shows planners and dreamers. The mural is displayed over bookcases in the main reading room." (loc.gov)

A set of alterations to the branch library in Ridgewood, New York was undertaken as a sponsored federal WPA project during the 1930s.

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to conduct repairs and alterations to several civic buildings in Queens as part of a $300,464 project begun in 1935. Buildings improved included what was then the Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse building in Ridgewood, NY. "The Ridgewood YMCA building was constructed in 1931 and served as the Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse. At the time, the brick and limestone-trimmed building was the first courthouse erected in Queens since 1898. The courthouse shuttered its doors in 1962 and the YMCA of Greater New York purchased the building from the city in 1965 for $50,000." (YMCA)

"Beginning in 1936, Alland supervised the Photo-Mural Section of the Federal Art Project. He installed photo-murals at the Newark Public Library (1936) and at the Riker's Island Penitentiary library (1937)."   (https://dlib.nyu.edu) The Riker's Island mural, entitled "Approach to Manhattan" was designed specifically for the prison. As Alland's submission statement explained: "The subject of this photomural utilizes the familiar aspects of the normal and happy family in the City. The main purpose of this decoration, besides that of relieving the monotony and changing the aspects of a huge prison hall, into a livable library, where those prisoners who have gained the privilege through...

Excerpt from the National Archives and Records Administration, Neg. 17975-D: "Rikers Island Penitentiary. Description of work done by WPA. Erection of four single family residences; two single family residences; 5400 linear feet chain-like fence. Fence around entire institution, fence around baseball field; one concrete coping wall; piping in tunnel to the new proposed buildings. Erection of new hay and feed barn in wagon sheds on Riker's Island. Project No. 665-97-3-22. Social rehabilitation of Prison Inmates, Department of Correction, 2 Rikers Island."   Excerpt from the (1939) WPA Guide to New York City, Federal Writers Project: “The island is now entirely given over to the city's...

"Ben Shahn's WPA mural planned for the Rikers Island Penitentiary mess hall was rejected in 1935, the year the prison opened. Harold Lehman's WPA mural "Man's Daily Bread" was mounted there instead circa 1936 but was removed decades later. Thus in a sense, both the planned Shahn mural and the actual Lehman mural could be counted as two murals "missing" in Rikers Island Penitentiary WPA art history. Considerably worse for wear but not missing is a third Rikers Island Penitentiary WPA mural: Anton Refregier's "Home and the Family." Its presence enhances the historic landmark character of NYC's oldest structure in continuous correction-related use. In 1937...

The WPA undertook work during the 1930s to improve Rockaway Beach (the physical beach, as opposed to the neighborhood of Rockaway Beach itself) in southern Queens, New York. One project entailed: "Removal of refuse and level sand on Rockaway Beach." WPA Official Project No. 165-97-3001.

Sanitation Department Section Station 144 in Whitestone, New York was constructed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Interestingly, construction of the Cross Island Parkway made it necessary to plan to relocate the building the next year, to a site a few hundred feet north on 149th Street. The entire new building (as well as a neighboring fire station) was relocated to the new site, as opposed to being built from scratch, resulting in substantial savings to the city.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a "sea wall and boathouse" by the site of the former Naval Militia armory in Whitestone, New York. The boathouse, which still stands, is likely abandoned.

On June 18, 1941, the Department of Parks announced the completion a large recreation area stretching from 114th to 121st Streets along the Southern Parkway (part of the Belt Parkway): "At the 114th to 121st location the construction of five softball diamonds, chain link fence enclosures, grading and seeding is completed. Separating the two ballfields opposite 114th Place and again, the two opposite 116th Street, sets of three-tier concrete bleachers have been constructed in a double or back-to-back arrangement, so that each of the four ballfields is provided with spectator accommodations. The diamonds all have hooded backstops. An irrigation system has...

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 of road. Holes were filled in and the streets were smoothed, surfaced and reconditioned. Roads improved as part of this project (WPA Official Project No. 65-97-9) included large stretches of Springfield Boulevard.

Springfield Park was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and were "turned over to the Park Department" on August 18, 1939. "A three-acre lake, once a mosquito-breeding swamp, is the center of the Springfield Gardens development," wrote The New York Times, "which embraces seventeen and one-half acres and includes an athletic field, a football gridiron, two basketball courts, two softball diamonds and more than 100 shade trees."