San Juan Sites

The American Red Cross Building in San Juan was built in 1935 by PRERA (the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration; as opposed to PRRA, the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration). “In accordance to Law No. 3 of June 26, 1929, the Government of Puerto Rico sold to the American Red Cross, Puerto Rico Chapter, a plot of 563.25 square meters, located in the Puerta de Tierra neighborhood of San Juan, for the sum of one dollar. Law 3 required that the Chapter build a structure within five years at the cost of no less than $15,000. Another condition was that the structure...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded improvement work to the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out grounds landscaping work at the Capitol Building in San Juan.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded repair work at Casa Blanca in San Juan.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair work to the Central High School in San Juan.

The CWA carried out street improvement work in Convalecencia Town Square, Río Piedras.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (with funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration) carried out new construction on Cupey Road in San Juan.

The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) built El Falansterio, a new public housing development located in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, between 1936-1937. PuertaDeTierra.info: In Puerta de Tierra a neighborhood house would be built between Matías Ledesma streets, San Juan Bautista, Fernández Juncos avenue and the train track (today the exclusive lane of the Authority Metropolitan Buses); cataloged as Tenement Group Project A, today known as El Falansterio. The inauguration of El Falansterio took place on November 7, 1937 at a cost of in 110,708 square meters and 216 apartments. The foundation work cost about $130,000, as there was a need...

Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration work relief division efforts included "the remodeling of the old 'Manicomio'" in San Juan, in 1937, "to render it available for the motorized transport of the Sixty-Fifth United States Infantry." The facility now houses Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico (the School of Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico).

In October 1936 -- two years after the First Lady visited Puerto Rico to assess social and economic conditions -- it was announced that the New Deal’s Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) was taking bids for the construction of the Eleanor Roosevelt housing development.  We don’t know which firm won the bid, but by 1939 about 472 homes were completed and about 1,500 more were planned.  The Eleanor Roosevelt neighborhood still exists today – it is a subbarrio of Hato Rey Norte, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico had been plagued by hurricanes, poverty, sub-standard housing, and a lack of...

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (with funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration) built sidewalks near the Guillermo Esteves Bridge in San Juan.

The PRRA built housing across the Island, as described in the 1938 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior: “The development of that part of the urban housing program of the P. R. R. A. originally aimed for the elimination of unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions, for the provision of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of low income, and for the reduction of unemployment and the stimulation of business activity, was continued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938. Inasmuch as the funds originally allotted were not sufficient to accomplish the demolition and clearance of the existing slum areas,...

What was then the San Juan Naval Air Station, now Isla Grande Airport in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was developed in substantial part with Work Projects Administration (WPA) labor. Nearly $2,000,000 were expended on such infrastructure development projects at the behest of the U.S. Navy and War Departments.

The work relief division of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) conducted "extensive repairs to the patio" of La Fortaleza, the 16th Century governor's mansion in San Juan, capitol of the territory of Puerto Rico, ca. 1937. In 1940-1 the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) conducted extensive restoration work on La Fortaleza. Improvements included utilities upgrades, new roof, replacement of floor and ceiling beams, elevator installation, modern bathtubs & showers installation, and more.

The Civil Works Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Miraflores Ave. in San Juan.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (with funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration) and the Civil Works Administration carried out new road construction from Ponce de Leon to Fernandez Junco Ave in San Juan.

The PRRA established the Program of School Construction to create facilities in rural areas. "During the school year 1937-38, 275 buildings were added to the number available last year, an increase of 479 rooms. The Federal Government authorized the expenditure of $3.000.000 by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration for school buildings. Of the original grant, $1,000,000 has been spent.” The exact location and status of this facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Army Corps of Engineers, with funds from the National Industrial Recovery Act, carried out improvements in the San Juan Harbor between 1934-1940.

Between 1935 and 1939, WPA crews conducted historic restoration and renovation work at this site, Casa-Torre de Ponce de León, built in 1521 for the notoriously brutal conquistador who died before ever occupying the residence. It is better known as Casa Blanca, or "White House." WPA work included roof repairs, installation of lighting, and creation of a garden. It now houses a museum with information about early colonial life on the island.  

WPA crews conducted extensive renovation and restoration work at this 18th century Spanish fort, including repair of the fortress walls, and cleaning, repairing, and lighting tunnels under the fortress, in order to facilitate tourism.  

Between 1935 and 1939, WPA crews conducted extensive historic restoration and renovation work, including restoration of the fortress walls, at this site, a 16th century fort later used as a military site during WWII.

Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration work relief division efforts included "reconstruction of the ancient Santo Domingo barracks, one of the island's historic edifices dating from the early sixteenth century" in San Juan, in 1937. Also known as Convent of the Dominicans, located with the Galería Nacional / del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in San Juan was built in 1914 with a New Deal-era addition constructed in 1938-1940. Now known as Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, the building still houses judicial functions, though postal operations have long since moved out. "The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico is a three-story, monumental, concrete office structure occupying an entire square block on the southern fringe of the Old San Juan Historic Zone. Built in 1914 ... the original structure was built above the foundations of...

The expansion and development of Puerto Rico’s education system was central to the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration’s (PRRA) agenda. The agency earmarked $2,062,954.40 for the development of the University of Puerto Rico, which remains the most important higher-education institution on the Island. The new buildings built by the PRRA included the Home Economics Building, Library Hall, Teachers’ College Hall, Normal School, the Biology Building, and an auditorium. “With these funds the following buildings have been constructed at the University of Puerto Rico: an auditorium with a capacity for 2,000 persons; a library with room for more than 50,000 volumes; a home economic...

The main campus of the University of Puerto Rico was founded in 1903 in Río Piedras.  Part of the campus, including the athletic field, was built with the help of the PRRA. "In 1924 the Chicago firm of urbanists Bennett, Parsons and Frost were contacted to design a master plan for the future development of the University. It wasn’t until 1935, with the establishment of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) and the large sum of federal funds that it invested for public works in Puerto Rico, that the partial design and construction of the so-called Plan Parson began. Under the supervision...

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration built the Radio and Hurricane Research Laboratory, at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras.