• Aberdeen Gardens - Hampton VA
    Originally named Newport News Homesteads, "Aberdeen Gardens was a New Deal planned community initiated by Hampton Institue (now Hampton University), designed specifically for the resettlement of African-American workers in Newport News and Hampton. In 1934, the Hampton Institute secured a $245,000 federal grant to create the housing development. It was the only Resettlement Administration community for blacks in Virginia and only the second neighborhood in the nation for blacks financed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Subsistence Homestead Project. The Aberdeen neighborhood was designed by Hillyard R. Robertson, a black architect from Howard University. It became a model resettlement community in the United States. Charles Duke, a black architect, was name architect-in-charge...
  • Buckroe Water Tank - Hampton VA
    Researcher Frank da Cruz has found that construction of the Buckroe Elevated Water Tank in the 1930s was made possible by a 45% Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. The water tank is located in the Fox Hill section of Hampton, Virginia, near Old Buckroe Road and Manilla Lane. As of 2017, the water tank is still in use, though it is evidently slated for demolition.
  • City Hall (former) - Hampton VA
    In 1938 Hampton, Virginia's historic city hall building was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.The PWA contributed $24,545 toward the project, whose final cost was $77,193. (PWA Docket No. VA 1074.). In 2006, the building was converted into Kingsway Apartments.
  • Fort Monroe Bandshell - Hampton VA
    In 1934 several New Deal Programs provided funding and employed Fort Monroe laborers in the construction of the Fort Monroe Bandshell in Continental Park. The new bandshell replaced the previous one that had been destroyed by hurricanes in 1933. Capt. Harrington W. Cochran designed the bandshell for the 2nd Coast Artillery Band which played there for the first time in April 1934. Robert Kelly, Casemate Museum Historian at the Fort Monroe Authority, notes that Capt. Cochran's diary "documents Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) all either funding projects and/or providing labor for improvements across the post."
  • High Speed Wind Tunnel, Langley Research Center - Hampton VA
    "The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics constructed this 8-foot high-speed wind tunnel for test purposes. It is the largest structure of this kind in the world and is built of reinforced concrete throughout except that the air passages are lined with steel plates. Large-scale airplane models and full-sized airplane parts are investigated for the effects of air velocities varying from 85 miles per hour up to the speed of sound. The tunnel is equipped with an 8,000-horsepower motor which drives a 18-blade propeller 16 feet in diameter. The working space in the dome is at a...
  • Phoebus Fire Department - Hampton VA
    The Pheobus Fire Department in Hampton, Virginia was originally constructed as the Town Hall for Pheobus, Virginia. The town of Phoebus has since been incorporated into the city of Hampton. The Town Hall building was constructed in 1938. In his 2008 "Historic Structures Survey of City of Hampton, Virginia," for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Stephen Del Sordo writes: "The federal government used the potential for a European war, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Works Progress Administration programs to provide unemployment relief and to improve public facilities.... The federal government...constructed a new post office in Phoebus, the Phoebus Firehouse and...
  • Phoebus Post Office - Hampton VA
    This New Deal post office was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. It is also the site of William Caffee's 1941 mural, "Chesapeake Fisherman." Researcher Frank da Cruz notes that the post office's Colonial Revival design is by Louis A. Simon who was the Supervising Architect in the U.S. Department of the Treasury at the time. The Engineer was Neal A. Melick.  
  • Phoebus Post Office Mural - Hampton VA
    "Chesapeake Fishermen" This mural was originally proposed for the Eutaw, Alabama post office. Since it depicts nothing in the Eutaw area, the Section reassigned it to Phoebus, Virginia. Note: Phoebus was a separate incorporated town during the 1930s. It was consolidated into Hampton, VA in 1952. Medium: fresco
  • Phoebus Water Tank - Hampton VA
    Researcher Frank da Cruz writes that in 1936 the Federal Works Project Administration (PWA) financed the construction of this one-million gallon steel elevated tank. The current waterworks coordinator in the area reports that this project, as well as the 60th Street Elevated Tank project in Newport News, were "...financed by 25% to 45% federal grants, and 4% 25-year-serial-revenue-bonds accepted by the Public Works Administration." Although this tank is currently in use, it is evidently slated for demolition in 2018. The construction of this water tank in 1936 was part of a large scale waterworks expansion project that was carried out with the support of...