Washington D.C. Sites

In 1965, a small cenotaph memorial to President Franklin Roosevelt was placed in front of the National Archives, at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 9th Street, NW.  It is made of marble and from the same rock quarry that was used for the president’s grave at Hyde Park, New York. According to a blog of the National Archives, FDR had wanted any memorial in his honor to be simple, telling Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter: “If any memorial is erected to me, I know exactly what I should like it to be. I should like it to consist of a...

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial in Washington DC was completed in 1997 at cost of $48 million dollars, funded largely by the federal government. It is located in West Potomac Park, along the tidal basin between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson memorials.  The memorial is managed by the National Park Service. The FDR Memorial is divided into four sections, with each section representing one of FDR’s four terms in the White House. The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes it: “The memorial’s rooms and water features, built primarily of red South Dakota granite, use stone to express the fracture and upheaval of the...

Franklin Park, also known as Franklin Square, was overhauled c. 1935-36.  Work on the park was part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program in the 1930s, funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA), assisted by the Civil Work Adminstration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). "By the 1930’s Franklin Park was considered one of the city’s most rundown reservations. Its walks were greatly deteriorated, its lawns overgrown, and its trees unpruned and deteriorating. In spring 1935, planning for the complete rehabilitation of Franklin Park began with the award of a $75,000 grant from the Public...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the Douglas Court Garages in Washington, DC between 1935 and 1936. This project consisted of sixteen 1-car garages (as well as a workshop) located on what is now Frederick Douglas Court NE. It appears that at least nine of the sixteen garages still exist. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Frederick Douglass Dwellings in Washington, DC between 1940 and 1942. The Frederick Douglass Dwellings were demolished in 2000, to make way for Henson Ridge, a mixed-income community. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of an administration and community building for the Frederick Douglass Dwellings and surrounding community, ca. 1940-1942. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Frederick Douglass Dwellings Administration and...

The Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA) undertook crucial preservation work at the Frederick Douglass home ("Cedar Hill") along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington DC, where the great abolitionist writer and former slave lived and worked from 1878 to his death in 1895. The restoration work was focused on Douglass' papers, library and artifacts, and on improvements to the extensive grounds of the estate. An article published in the The Atlanta Constitution in 1939 reported that the WPA Historical Records Survey Project was “cleaning assembling, indexing and filing the valuable papers” of the late Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) at...

In 1938, the Washington Post reported that the Public Works Administration (PWA) had funds to build a new tuberculosis unit with 150 additional beds at the Freedman's Hospital site. The same year, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did repairs at the former Freedman's Hospital in Washington DC.  WPA project cards in the National Archives state that the work to be done was to, "Clean and renovate Freedmen's Hospital buildings, including cleaning windows, washing walls, floors, woodwork, furnishings and small equipment". Freedmen's Hospital was established in 1862 to serve the thousands of African Americans who came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking their...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaved a long segment of G Street SE, from Fourth Street to Eleventh Street, in 1935-36.   “The streetcar tracks and the old granite block paving were removed from the roadway of G Street SE., from Fourth Street to Eleventh Street, and replaced with sheet asphalt pavement. The granite block pavement was laid in the year 1890.”   The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936.   The work is likely still extant, but invisible and paved over.        

The original Gallinger Hospital dates back to 1846, when the hospital was first located on the banks of the Anacostia River. The hospital moved to this site during the Civil War, with frame buildings meant to house wounded soldiers and more structures were added in 1923.  The hospital was abandoned in 1929, but the Works Progress Administration (WPA) rehabilitated the old complex in 1935-1936 for use as tuberculosis, child disability, psychiatric, and venereal disease wards. Work: A Journal of Progress reported: "The 45 buildings at Gallinger Hospital cover 65 acres. Under current appropriations funds have been allotted to permit the hiring of...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration completed improvements at the Gallinger Playground in Washington DC, between 1933 and 1934. The work consisted of the following improvements: “New shelter(s) built."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration funded and constructed improvements at the Garfield Playground in Washington DC, between, 1933-1934. “Playing area increased by relocation of hedges, graded, relocation of equipment.”

The eastern half of the former General Services Administration Regional National Capital Office Building was built under the New Deal in 1933-35.   The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $1,750,000 towards the project and the Treasury Department paid the rest, $850,000. The purpose of the expansion was to add ~400,000 square feet of space for a consolidated home of the Treasury Department's Procurement Division, whose workers had been spread out across several buildings in the District. Originally meant to be an addition to the Procurement Division's building across 8th Street to the west, completed in 1932, the addition was simply integrated into the...

The General Services Administration's former Regional National Capital Office in Washington DC is graced by a magnificent set of murals by Harold Weston commissioned under the New Deal. The building was originally the headquarters of the Treasury Department’s Procurement Division. In 1936, Harold Weston was employed by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) to paint 22 murals inside the main lobby area at the 7th street entrance.  The murals depict construction-related activities carried out by the Procurement Division and the private construction firms it contracted with.  The 1942 WPA Guide to Washington DC says:  "In the main lobby, 7th Street entrance, murals illustrate...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Georgia Avenue Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 170 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced...

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) allotted $58,900 for divorcements sewers in the Good Hope Road area. The new sewers began in Anacostia Park, “midway between the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge and the Eleventh Street Bridge,” and then ran “southeastward to Naylor road” (Evening Star, 1938). Work on the project started on December 12, 1938 and was completed on May 27, 1939. These new divorcement sewers were part of a city-wide New Deal effort to extend the city sewer system and separate sanitary and storm sewers, and introduce unified sewage treatment for the first time to reduce the contamination of the...

In 1933-34, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for pavement repair and other unspecified improvements to a long segment of Good Hope Road SE, from Nichols Avenue (now Martin Luther King, Jr Avenue) to Naylor Road.  The labor was very likely provided by Civil Works Administration (CWA) or other relief agency workers.   This roadwork is probably not discernible today, having been paved over several times.           

U.S. Government Publishing Office Warehouse (also known as Building No. 4) is graced on the exterior by four bas-relief sculptures commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts.  The original name of this office complex was the US Government Printing Office, but it was changed in 2014. Two printing press worker sculptures were created in 1937 by Elliot Means (1904-1962).  After the 1930s, Means went on to become a successful artist, “known as a maker of bas-reliefs and painter of southwestern scenes” (Albuquerque Journal, 1962). The two eagle sculptures were done by Armin Scheler (1901-1987) in 1937.  After his New Deal artwork,...

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (USGPO) is a four building complex, which was called the Government Printing Office until the name was changed to the Government Publishing Office in 2014.  Building No. 3 was constructed in 1939-40 by the Treasury Department and the Federal Works Agency.  The funding for Building No. 3 was approved by Congress, c. 1935, along with two other federal building projects in the District (an annex for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and remodeling of a building for the General Accounting Office).  In 1938 a group of buildings at H and North Capitol streets NW was torn down to...

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (USGPO) is a four building complex, which was called the Government Printing Office until the name was changed to the Government Publishing Office in 2014.  The USGPO warehouse, also known as Building #4 of the complex, was constructed in 1936-38 by the Charles H. Tomkins Co. under a $1,042,930 contract with the Procurement Division of the U.S. Treasury.   The Treasury had long been responsible for all government (non-military) buildings and a new Procurement Division was created in 1933 by the incoming Franklin Roosevelt Administration to coordinate all such activities.  The design of the building was done under...

The Civil Works Administration funded improvements at the Industrial Home School for Colored Children, between 1933-1934. The structure appears to be today’s Guy Manson Recreation Center, but very little remains (see here and here). “Through Civil Works Administration assignment, some much needed work was done. The interiors of the cottages and administration building were painted and considerable flooring replaced. Some concrete walks were laid. A new cow shed was erected adjacent to the barn and extensive excavation for the replacement of the 6-inch water main was made.”

In 1936, the Washington Post reported improvement work at several city playgrounds, the Hamilton Playground among them.  This would have been part of a major New Deal park renovation effort across the district.  The work was likely done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which had undertaken a nearly $1 million program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36.

The Civil Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funded improvements at the Happy Hollow Playground in Washington DC. A wading pool was installed. In 1934-1935, FERA, “esurfaced one tennis court; painted house.”

WPA Administrator, Secretary of Commerce, and aide to the president Harry Hopkins lived in this Georgetown house from about 1943 to 1946. A plaque on the building reads, “Harry Hopkins House, 3340 N Street, N.W., c. 1830, Foundation for Preservation of Historic Georgetown, Easement Acquired 2005.”

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $21,390 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to what was then the Eckington Recreation Center, now known as the Harry Thomas Sr. Recreation Center, in the Eckington neighborhood of NE Washington. As part of the District's new PlayDC initiative, the site was renovated in 2013. It is unclear what FWA work may still be visible at the site.

According to Work: A Journal of Progress, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook renovations of the district's school facilities complex at 13th and Allison Streets, NW. The purpose was to create a "children's health camp" as part of a campaign to aggressively treat tuberculosis: "The camp occupied buildings of the health school plant with the permission of the Board of Education. WPA labor was assigned to put the buildings in shape." It is possible the building that was renovated is the current Dorothy Height Elementary School on Allison at Thirteenth Street, but several buildings in the complex are postwar in appearance...

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the approval of $17,586 in funding for the Federal Works Agency (FWA) to build and/or make improvements to the Phoebe Hearst Playground, now the Hearst Recreation Center.   It is not certain if any of the current play fields, tennis courts or playground at the Elementary School are products of this New Deal work.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Highland Dwellings in Washington, DC in 1942. It appears that some or all of the original Highland Dwelling homes still exist. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. With the advent of World War II,...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Highland Dwellings and surrounding area, ca. 1942. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Highland Dwellings Community Building was part of the...

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the approval of $40,270 in funding for the Federal Works Administration (FWA) to build and/or make improvements to the Hillcrest Recreation Center. This was the largest sum appropriated for parks work in the Lanham Act. Exactly what was done is unknown to us, but the facility has a recreation hall, tennis courts (at another location), and a putting green.  The present Hillcrest Recreation Center dates from the early 2000s.

Originally known as the Blue Plains Home for the Aged and Infirm, this facility was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the early 1940s. The facility was originally built in 1906 at the district's southernmost tip. According to WPA project cards at the National Archives, from 1935 to 1941, relief workers were used to: "Rehabilitate and enlarge the facilities of the Blue Plains Home for the Aged and Infirm, including constructing storm doors, fire exits, and additions to buildings; rehabilitating buildings; screening and roofing porches; reconstructing old and placing new floors; erecting partitions; reconditioning locker rooms; painting; constructing and reconstructing...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Works Progress Administration, and the Civil Works Administration (WPA) funded improvements at the Hoover Playground in Washington DC. The work consisted of the following improvements: CWA and FERA, “Graded, fenced, 3 gates.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1935) FERA, 1934-1935, “Constructed new shelter 12 by 28 feet with toilet facilities; removed old shelter.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1935-1936, “grading 4,000 cubic yards.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1936-1937, “Completed grading, fencing 1,400 linear feet; three gates.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1937)

In 1935-36, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a large housing clearance, replacement, and rehabilitation project at London Court. At the same location, the New Deal’s Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) constructed Hopkins Place, which consisted of 12 new units located in the block bounded by K, L, 12th, and 13th streets. The 1934 Alley Dwelling Act funded "slum" rehabilitation efforts in the District of Columbia. Though the Alley Dwelling Agency was initially underfunded, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was called upon to carry out its program. This is similar to how the New Deal continued the urban renewal plans in the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded improvements at Howard Playground in Washington DC between 1936-1937. The work included the following improvements: "Demolished pool, filled and graded in preparation for installing wading pool.”

Public Works Administration (PWA)  provided funding for several buildings on the campus of Howard University.  According to records kept by the university Board of Trustees, the PWA awarded $1,018,811 for a chemistry building; $800,000 for a library building; and $460,000 for an education classroom building. Board records note an additional appropriation of $120,000 for two wings of Cook Hall, a men's dormitory. (Logan 1969) The exact dates of the PWA grants is unknown to us. We believe that the 'education classroom building' is, in fact, Mines Teachers College (shown below); confirmation is needed, however. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) also carried out...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $1,018,811 for a chemistry building at Howard University.  It was one of four buildings funded by PWA on the campus, including the Founders Library, built c. 1937-38. The chemistry building was built in brick Georgian style, with limestone trim. It was almost surely designed by Albert I. Cassell, an African American architect who did several of the buildings at Howard.  It still serves as the home of the Department of Chemistry.  

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $120,000 for two wings of a men's dormitory at Howard University, presently called George Cook Hall.  The full cost of the project is unknown to us, but it appears that the two wings loom over a small central part of the complex -- which may well have been built as part of the first PWA grant for four buildings on campus.  This implies that the PWA funded the construction of Cook Hall. Cook Hall was built c. 1938.  The central portion is more Georgian in style, while the wings are very high modern: geometric, undecorated...

Founders Library, the centerpiece of Howard University campus, was built 1937-1938 with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The official opening came in mid-1939.  The library stands on the site of the 19th century Old Main building, which previously housed most of the functions of the university. The Georgian-style edifice was designed by African-American architect Albert Cassell, who did several buildings on the Howard campus.  It recalls Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  The walls are red brick, the trim is limestone, and the roof is slate.  The clock tower soars 167 feet high and is topped by a golden spire. Congress...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) improved a segment of Indiana Avenue NW, from Second Street to Sixth 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 Civil Works Administration funded improvements at the Industrial Home School for White Children, between 1933-1934. The structure appears to be today’s Guy Manson Recreation Center, but very little remains (see here and here). “It can be reported that during the year much very important work was accomplished by the Civil Works Administration. The roadway from Wisconsin Avenue around the buildings was completed; the large porches were repaired and painted; two large store rooms were constructed and a considerable area of the ground graded and converted into gardens with provision for irrigation. Anew tennis court has almost been finished, and suitable fences...