Washington D.C. Sites

“Although the ROD Building was a municipal building, the District of Columbia's peculiar sovereignty status required that the federal government approve its construction, and that the Treasury Department Section of Fine Art play a major role in its art program… The Treasury Sections December 1, 1942 announcement of the ROD Building mural competition was a term paper-like, ten page document that required artists to submit their entries unsigned for anonymous judging… A press release announced that the winners wide geographic dispersion and almost equal female-male ratio, as well as the inclusion of accomplished African-American painter William Edouard Scott, proved the fairness of...

“Although the ROD Building was a municipal building, the District of Columbia's peculiar sovereignty status required that the federal government approve its construction, and that the Treasury Department Section of Fine Art play a major role in its art program… The Treasury Sections December 1, 1942 announcement of the ROD Building mural competition was a term paper-like, ten page document that required artists to submit their entries unsigned for anonymous judging… A press release announced that the winners wide geographic dispersion and almost equal female-male ratio, as well as the inclusion of accomplished African-American painter William Edouard Scott, proved the fairness of...

“Although the ROD Building was a municipal building, the District of Columbia's peculiar sovereignty status required that the federal government approve its construction, and that the Treasury Department Section of Fine Art play a major role in its art program… The Treasury Sections December 1, 1942 announcement of the ROD Building mural competition was a term paper-like, ten page document that required artists to submit their entries unsigned for anonymous judging… A press release announced that the winners wide geographic dispersion and almost equal female-male ratio, as well as the inclusion of accomplished African-American painter William Edouard Scott, proved the fairness of...

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) improved a segment of Reno Road NW, from Rodman Street to Chesapeake Street. “This dirt road was given an improved surface: “Old material from replacement jobs is hauled to the , broken by hand, and then rolled. After rolling, the pavement is treated with a bituminous material.” Note: The DC Government annual report credits this work to the Public Works Administration (PWA), but based on previous reports of similar work, and particular wording used, for example, “Public Administration forces,” we believe that this project was more likely carried out by the Work Division of the Federal Emergency...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other, unspecified improvements to a segment of Rhode Island Avenue NE, from Twelfth Street to Sixteenth Street, in 1935-36. The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936. This WPA roadwork is probably not discernible today due to subsequent road maintenance, repairs, or alterations.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other unspecified improvements to a segment of Rhode Island Avenue NW, from First Street to Third Street, in 1935-36. The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936. This WPA roadwork is probably not discernible today due to subsequent road maintenance, repairs, or alterations.

To help alleviate pollution in Rock Creek, the Public Works Administration (PWA) granted approximately $3,500,000 for the creation of a massive new sewer system serving Crestwood, Petworth and surrounding areas in 1939-1941. The trunk sewer lines were constructed by private contractors, one of which was the Philadelphia construction company of Joseph Lombardi. Beginning near the intersection of 16th Street and Arkansas Avenue (northwest), the system runs southwest down Piney Branch Parkway, under the National Zoo, and then south.  It splits into two lines, one along each side of Rock Creek: the western line to carry storm water runoff and the eastern to...

The planning and construction of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway largely predates the New Deal, but it was only completed in 1933-36 with help from the National Park Service (NPS), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The Parkway runs 2.5 miles from the Lincoln Memorial on the Potomac River along Rock Creek to the Connecticut Avenue bridge, just south of the National Zoo.   At that point, the road becomes Beach Drive and the Parkway join Rock Creek Park.  The two are separate units of the National Capital...

At the same time as the New Deal completed the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, it extended the system of trails south from Rock Creek Park (a separate park unit) into the parkway.  All such paths were converted to general purpose walking and biking trails in the 1970s. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built more than two miles of bridle paths in both Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.  This work was done under supervision of the National Park Service, which had gained oversight of all DC parks in 1933. The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the replacement...

The Shoreham Hill bridge was constructed in 1938 as part of the completion of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway project of the 1930s.  It lies just south of the large Connecticut and Massachusetts Avenue bridges.  It is the third and most northerly of three parkway crossings of Rock Creek by the parkway. The Shoreham Hill bridge replaced a steel truss bridge of 1929, which was considered by the National Park Service (NPS) as a traffic hazard and out of keeping with the established look of the parkway and its other bridges. In 1937, the NPS and the DC Board of...

In 1937, 250 WPA enrollees went to work on a recreation center on the site of the defunct Brightwood Reservoir in Rock Creek Park.  The Washington Post (1937) reported: "Dynamite yesterday blasted a hole through the obsolete Sixteenth Street Reservoir so that steam shovels could begin razing the plant for an athletic field and playground to be erected there.... The recreation center will incorporate 16 new tennis courts, a field house, baseball diamond, a football and soccer field and areas where football, softball and lacrosse may be played.  Tennis courts now on the land will remain for the time being." Today, the...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) demolished an abandoned reservoir at 16th St. and Morrow Drive, filled in the hole, leveled the adjacent area, and sodded and seeded the entire area.  The open space was intended to be used for recreational purposes in Rock Creek Park and today appears to be the site of the Carter Barron soccer fields, next to the Brightwood Recreation Center (also built by the WPA).

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in Rock Creek park, as well as the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, during the 1930s.  Among other work, the CCC enrollees cleared Rock Creek of brush, deepened the channel and added rip-rap and stone retaining walls to stabilize the channel at various places along the stream. The exact dates of the creek stabilization work are unknown, as the CCC had a camp in Rock Creek Park for most of the 1930s. Much of the CCC work appears to remain in place, though distinguishing it from earlier and later stonework is not certain.  

The Works Progess Administration (WPA) did landscape cleanup around Fort DeRussy in Rock Creek Park.  Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees from the old earthworks, which were then (and are now) heavily forested. Fort DeRussy is a Civil War-era fortification constructed in 1861 on a hilltop on the west side of Rock Creek, as part of the defenses of Washington. It is a trapezoidal earthwork with a perimeter of 190 yards and places for 13 guns. It is maintained today by the National Park Service. 

The New Deal contributed substantially to the betterment of Rock Creek Park in the 1930s.  This involved a number of federal agencies. Rock Creek Park is a key greenway in the District of Columbia and, at 1750 acres, is almost twice the size of Central Park in New York.  It was established by Congress in 1890, making it officially a National Park at the time.  It featured prominently in the far-reaching plans for the District of Columbia by the McMillan Commission in 1901-02 and the Olmsted Brothers report of 1918, which envisioned a major park with a scenic parkway running through it. In...

Bridal paths were a part of Rock Creek Park from the beginning around 1900, but the system of paths and bridges was greatly expanded during the New Deal.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built more than two miles of bridle paths as part of various works done in Rock Creek Park (as well as in Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway). All such work was done under supervision of the National Park Service, which had gained oversight of all DC parks in 1933. The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the replacement of eight bridges that had been washed away in a...

The National Park Service, which took over command of the Capitol Parks system in 1934, restored the old Pierce Mill in Rock Creek Park in 1935-36 with the aid of a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) of $26,614 and labor of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees.  The project was completed in March 1936. The old mill building was constructed in 1810 of native split stone taken from a nearby quarry.  It is 50 by 40 feet in size. One gable is stone and the other wood frame.  The floors are wide oak plank and the roofing is wood shingles....

In 1935-36, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Piney Branch Parkway on the southeast side of Rock Creek Park.  It was meant to serve as a new access road to the park and to improve traffic flow to and from Beach Drive and the Rock Creek and Potomac parkway.  It runs for two miles from Beech Drive to Arkansas Avenue. The WPA-built roadway was 30 feet wide with a bituminous covering. A stone retaining wall was built along two-thirds of the route and the whole parkway was landscaped by the WPA workers (Work 1936). Civil Works Administration (CWA) crews did preparation...

The New Deal provided funding and labor for road improvements in Rock Creek Park.  The primary Depression-era addition to the parks road system was the long-contemplated construction of a direct connection between Bingham Drive and Daniel Road (Davis 1996, p. 94).  This project was undertaken in 1934-1935 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. A newspaper report notes that the CCC work in the park included, “Bingham Drive extended to make new entrance to park" (Daily News 1936) Contemporary photographic evidence suggests that the new section of Bingham Drive was constructed with a bituminous macadam pavement and that hand labor was used to smooth the road banks in...

The Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration renovated the Rosedale Playground in Washington DC in 1937.

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $20,448 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to the Rudolph Playground in the city's northwest quadrant. Today, park abuts the Washington Latin Public Charter School and is apparently part of the school's recreation area.  There is a baseball field and traces of an older field, as well as a soccer pitch.  The ball fields very likely trace back to the New Deal work of the early 1940s.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the Ruppert’s Court Automobile Repair Shop in Washington, DC between 1935 and 1936. In 1943, the building became a woodworking shop for the ADA, It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any part of this structure still exists today, but it is not likely. The alley where Ruppert’s Court Auto Repair Shop was located is now called “Lincoln Ct. SE.” and is historically known as DC’s “Square 762.” (Note: On page 7 of the ADA’s 10-year report, Ruppert’s Court is said to be located in Square 672. However, in the ADA’s 1937 fiscal...

Samuel Gompers was an American labor leader and founder of the American Federation of Labor. This sculpture by Robert Aitken was erected in 1933 and President Franklin Roosevelt made an address at the dedication ceremony for the monument on October 7th. Apparently, New Deal relief labor was used to improve the park around the memorial (now Samuel Gompers Park).  That would likely have been part of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) million dollar program of parks improvement in 1935-36.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) aided in the construction of the 16th Street underpass beneath Scott Circle NW.  A 1941 Washington Post article reported that: “First steps to remove one of the District’s worst remaining bottlenecks were underway at Scott Circle yesterday. The fashionable residential section resounded to the snorts of straining steam shovels and reverberations of air compressors as District and WPA workmen laid the groundwork for construction of the much discussed $400,000 automobile underpass.” The project was completed that same year.

The Second Division Memorial is located in President's Park, between 17th Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. It commemorates those who died while serving in the 2nd Infantry Division of the U. S. Army during World War I. The artist was James Earl Fraser. While the sculpture itself does not appear to have been a New Deal project, it was erected with New Deal labor and/or funds and was dedicated on July 18, 1936, by president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The labor was most likely provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during its extensive parks improvement effort in 1935-36. Two...

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers at 17th, 18th, and Randolph streets in the district's northeast quadrant. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

The Works Progress Administration funded improvements at the Seventh and H Streets SW Playground in Washington DC between 1935 and 1936. The crews graded 1,000 cubic yards.

According to the Washington Post, $220,500 was allotted by the Public Works Administration (PWA) for an outfall sewer extension in 1933.   According to DC Water, there are 53 sewer outfalls in the District, so the location of the work cannot be known based on this source alone. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program to upgrade the sewers of Washington DC, separate sanitary and storm sewer systems, and install sewage treatment at Blue Plains.   The outfalls referred to here would today be storm sewers not sanitary sewers.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Sherrier Place NW, from Chain Bridge Road to Potomac Avenue. The WPA graded this road, and also prepared it for pavement by putting in a foundation of recycled road material (e.g., concrete, rock, macadam).

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded improvements at the Sherwood Playground in Washington DC. The work consisted of the following improvements: FERA, 1934-1935, “Wrecked two houses; remodeled garage into shelter house (50 percent complete).” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1935-1936, “grading 1,000 cubic yards.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1936-1937, “Continued grading 1,000 cubic yards, renovized two small houses for temporary use as (1) playground shelter and (2) marionette workshop.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1937) WPA, 1937-1938, “Grading, filling, fencing.” (Report of the Government...

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers at 16th and Oates streets in the district's northeast quadrant. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

In 1933, the Washington Post announced the approval of several road surfacing projects funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA): "Among projects approved here are paving of Sixteenth street, Constitution Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Columbia Road, Foxhall Road, Good Hope Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Benning Road and Conduit Road, widening of E Street back of the White House and widening of Thirteenth Street." The report continues: "The Sixteenth street project was the first actually begun under the public works grants in the Tenth Highway District" (Post, 1933). It doesn't say exactly which part of Sixteenth Street was involved, but it was probably...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) improved a segment of Sixth Street NW, from Pennsylvania Avenue to D Street. This section of road was part of a PWA-funded project to widen, realign, repave, and install sidewalks along streets, to accommodate the new Municipal Center building (also a PWA-funded project).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Skyland Drive, from Twenty-fifth Street to Wagner Place. WPA workers graded this road, and also “placed old broken concrete and Macadam, for a depth of approximately seven inches, as a base source. This material was then rolled and covered with a bituminous material by maintenance forces The completion of formed a necessary adjunct to the large private development in this vicinity.”

Dacre F. Boulton painted two oil-on-canvas murals, "Industrial" and "Winter," for the U.S. Department of Labor in 1933-1934 with funds provided by the Public Works of Art Project of the Treasury Department (PWAP).  The Smithsonian American Art Museum received this and other artworks in the 1960s when they were transferred from federal offices that had previously displayed them.  The Boulton murals are not on display.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds hundreds of works from the New Deal’s art programs:  Public Works of Art Project, Section of Fine Arts, Treasury Relief Art Project, and Federal Art Project. These artworks are mostly in storage, but at any time there may be several New Deal paintings and sculptures on display in special exhibitions.   Much of the Smithsonian's New Deal collection can found found online, too.  This search generated 520 results: https://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?fq=data_source%3A%22Smithsonian+American+Art+Museum%22&q=federal+art+project&gfq=CSILP_1

Lily Furedi's oil-on-canvas mural, "Subway," was painted in 1934 under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project – a relief program to hire unemployed artists. The Smithsonian American Art Museum received Subway and other surviving artworks in the 1960s when they were transferred from the agencies that had previously displayed them. Furedi's painting was transferred from the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, though it is not known where it was originally hung.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum contains hundreds of New Deal artworks.  Some are on permanent display, many are not. Of those, some are brought out for specific exhibitions from time to time. One permanent display on New Deal art features Eugenie Gershoy's sculptures, "Goddess of Fertility" and New Deal artists at work.  There is a nice plaque acknowledging the Public Works of Art Project and the Federal Arts Project and the thousands of artworks produced under those New Deal arts programs.

A 1933 Washington Post article reported $1,020 in unspecified repairs planned by the Public Works Administration (PWA) for the United States Patent Office. The old patent office, which was constructed from 1836 to 1865, is now the home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Harry W. Scheuch completed two murals for the PWAP titled "Workers on the Cathedral of Learning" and "Finishing the Cathedral of Learning" that were transferred from U.S. Department of Labor to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. According to the Smithsonian: "Artist Harry Scheuch painted the Cathedral of Learning twice for the PWAP. The first image is a close-up view of the masons at work(1964.1.157), while this second painting (1964.1.42) is a more distant view that reveals the horde of workers involved. Together the two paintings tell the story of this mighty undertaking. The forty-two-story structure was not substantially completed until 1937,...