Washington D.C. Sites

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA)  crews had done work on the New York Avenue Playground.  This would have been part of a  nearly $1 million WPA program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36. It is unclear whether the existing field house dates to this period, but it shares a general form with other New Deal playgrounds in the area. In 2012, the playground and recreation center were renovated.

Newland Memorial fountain, located at Chevy Chase Circle on the border of Washington D.C. and Chevy Chase MD, was create to honor Francis Newlands, Congressman, author of the Newlands Reclamation Act, and developer of Chevy Chase. The fountain was designed by Edward Wilton Donn in 1933 and put in place in 1938.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. New Deal workers erected the monument as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program.  The work was probably done by Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief laborers, who were active in parks renovations across the district in the 1930s.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted roadway work at Nichols Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue) and Atlantic Street in the district's southeast quadrant. This project was part of a massive New Deal program of street paving and upgrades around the city of Washington DC.  Most such work is invisible today beneath subsequent repavings.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Nichols Avenue Houses in Washington, DC, in 1943. These houses were called “Standard Temporary Dwellings Units,” or “TDU’s.” They were built for African American national defense workers, and were intended to be taken down after the war. It is unlikely that any part of the Nichols Avenue Houses still remains. 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...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Nichols Avenue Houses and surrounding area, ca. 1943. 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 Nichols Avenue Houses Community Building was part...

On August 22, 1933, Public Works Administration (PWA) chief Harold Ickes announced a grant of $1,759,500 for various DC sewer projects. These included an extension of the Northeast Boundary Sewer “intended to eliminate a pollution nuisance in Kingman Lake in Anacostia Park” (Evening Star, 1933). The following March, a contract of $589,000 was awarded to Michael Bell Balso, Inc., to extend the sewer “from Twenty-first and A streets NE to the Anacostia River, south of Kingman Lake” (Evening Star, 1934). The extension was completed sometime in 1935.  The trajectory appears to lie beneath parts of the RFK sports complex west of...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the O’Brien Court Parking Lot in Washington, DC, ca. 1935-1938. The lot was located in the block bounded by E, F, 20th and 21st streets NW, on the E Street frontage. Then, in 1943, the ADA and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) created the O’Brien Court Houses on the same site. These houses were called “Standard Temporary Dwellings Units,” or “TDU’s.” They were built for African American national defense workers, and were intended to be taken down after the war. It does not appear that any remnant of the homes or parking lot...

A 1943 article in the Washington Post reported paving and sewer work underway by on Oklahoma Avenue along Anacostia Park in Northeast DC, between Benning Road and C Street.  The work was being done by the Federal Works Agency (FWA).

The Washington Post, September 8, 1933, reported on a Public Works Administration (PWA) disbursement for a number of federal buildings, including $3,121 for roof renovation on the old Post Office Department Building. On October 11, 1933, the paper also reported that: "Five Government buildings will get new window fixtures here at a cost of $77,324. The departments sharing in this grant are Post Office, Interstate Commerce, Labor, Justice and the auditorium which connects the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Labor Buildings. The work is expected to provide 150 men with jobs for three months." The building referred to in these articles is the...

In Spring 1939, the DC government used funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to award contracts for the Outfall Relief Sewer project, a large sewer line to run from the Poplar Point Pumping Station to a point near the Blue Plains Disposal Plant (today’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant). The Diamond Construction Company was awarded a contract for $423,116 to build one section of the line, while the Wagner-Larsen Construction Company contracted to build a second section for $293,049. Work on the Outfall Relief Sewer started on May 17, 1939, and was completed in mid-1940. This project was part of...

In 1939, the Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $70,375 towards an extension of the Oxon Run Interceptor, a large sewer line in southeast Washington DC. This was part of a large-scale New Deal program of new and extended sewers (storm and sanitary) for the District of Columbia. The original section of the Oxon Run Interceptor had been installed in 1938-1939 using municipal funds only (i.e., not PWA). It started at the Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant and from there ran in an easterly or northeasterly direction. PWA funds extended the Interceptor another 4,925 feet, from roughly 1st Street to Thirteenth Street SE....

In 1942, the Lanham Act allocated 7 acres and funding for the Federal Works Agency (FWA) to construct sports facilities at Oxon Run at Mississippi Avenue between 4th and 6th Streets, SE.   It is unknown is the Oxon Run pool dates from this period and if any remnants of the New Deal work remain at the site. The playground preceded what is now Oxon Run Park, a 300 acre area created in 1971 and still a major recreation area today, with bicycle paths, jogging paths, and a baseball diamond.

Work: A Journal of Progress reported on Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief work at Oxon Run in the southeast District in 1933-1934, which included “lowering the stream bed in some sections, straightening out bends and clearing away debris to increase the rapidity of the run off of water.”

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed a paving project on P Street, a short stretch of road in the city's southwest quadrant. This was part of a nearly $1 million WPA program of street paving in the District that fiscal year.

Palisades Playground and Park was developed by New Deal agencies in the mid-1930s. The field house was built with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1936. That same year, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers had been hired by the District for rehabilitation and improvement of the park. In addition, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) also did work on Palisades Playground, according tothe Historic American Buildings Survey of CCC activity around Washington.  Palisades Playground and Park contains tennis courts, a soccer field, basketball court, skate spot, baseball field, and play areas, plus a notable field house on the...

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews had done work on the Park View playground. This would have been part of a  nearly $1 million WPA program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36. The playground had been built in 1932 using district unemployment funds, prior to the New Deal but in the same spirit.  The attached photo dates from its original construction, not the WPA work.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of the Parkside Dwellings in Washington, DC, between 1941 and 1943. This housing project was described being at Kenilworth Avenue and Barnes Lane, N.E., and “near the old Benning race track” (Evening Star, 1942). Today, that location is in the vicinity of Parkside Playground, Thomas Elementary School, Cesar Chavez Public Charter School, and Mayfair Mansions Apartments (the latter sits on the site of the old Benning race track). Barnes Lane is now called Barnes “Street.” It is unknown to the Living New Deal if Parkside Dwellings still...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Parkside Dwellings and surrounding area, ca. 1941-1943. 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 Parkside Dwellings Community Building was part of the...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funded improvements at the Payne Playground in Washington DC between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Removed old shelter and wrecked it; replaced with shelter moved from Lincoln; remodeled, repaired, and painted.”

In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a short Water Main on Pennsylvania Avenue, west from 26th Street, NW. The Annual Report of the DC government provides details:  “A 12-inch main in Pennsylvania Avenue NW, west from Twenty-sixth Street, to replace an old 6-inch main. This work, totaling 240 linear feet, was undertaken as a W. P. A. project and is a part of the work necessary to convert the 30-inch gravity main in M Street to the first high service.”  The main may still be in place, but it would be unknown and invisible to everyone but the staff at DC Water...

In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a short Water Main on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Thirty-Third Place and Carpenter Street SE The Annual Report of the DC government provides details: “A 16-inch main in Pennsylvania Avenue between Thirty-third Place and Carpenter Street SE. This main, totaling 340 linear feet, was undertaken as a W. P. A. project and was extended to serve property being developed. It will ultimately be extended to the Anacostia pumping station at Eighteenth Street and Minnesota Avenue SE to provide a second feeder line from the pumping station to Alabama and Pennsylvania Avenues to augment the Anacostia second high service...

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers on Pennsylvania Avenue, Thirty-Eighth Street, and Alabama Avenue in the district's southeast 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 1936, the Washington Post reported improvement work at several city playgrounds, the Petworth 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 Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded improvements at the Phillips Playground in Washington DC, between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Graded ground, removing 200 cubic yards dirt; fencing (700 feet, 8-foot); 4 gates.”

In 1933, the Public Works Administration allotted $400,000 for the construction of the Piney Branch Relief Sewer, a storm sewer running from Arkansas and Iowa avenues NW to 5th and Ingraham streets NW, for a distance of 4,600 feet. A contract for the work, in the amount of $326,020, was awarded to the M.A. Cardo Engineering Corporation of New York City. (Washington Post, June 28 and Sept. 1, 1933) In its June 28, 1933 edition, the Evening Star explained that the Piney Branch Relief Sewer was “needed to prevent floods during heavy rainstorms at Fifth and Ingraham streets and to prevent sewer...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Porter Street NW from Klingle Road to Connecticut Avenue. This was a “roadside beautification” project that likely involved the planting of shrubs for erosion control, and was described as follows: “This roadway carries a heavy rate of grade and after hard rains it was found that considerable dirt and debris were carried onto the surface of Klingle Road. Temporary sidewalk has been constructed for school children. This project was approximately 2,500 feet long.”  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Potomac Avenue NW, from Nebraska Avenue to Sherrier Place. 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 Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Potomac River Band Shell in 1938-39. Audiences would sit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and watch concerts taking place on the band shell, which floated on a barge. Only the band shell, not the barge, was constructed by the WPA. The Baltimore Sun (1938) mentioned that $25,000 in federal funds were allocated for a new acoustical shell and an article, "The World of Music" in The Star Press (1938) reported that: "The orchestra's acoustic shell, anchored 30 feet out, has been built by the WPA on a steel barge lent by the U.S. Navy." In 1939,...

In 1936, relief workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built emergency flood levees to stop the overflow of the Potomac River. The photographs show WPA crews erecting the levees in the vicinity of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. 

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $21,010 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and improvements to the Powell Recreation Center on 16th Street NW.

The Works Progress Administration built a grade crossing under the Pennsylvania Railroad at Minnesota Ave, in Washington DC.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was charged with two rounds of improvement of the parks and recreational facilities in Washington DC.  A major program of parks improvement was undertaken in 1935-36 and a second, lesser round occurred in the early 1940s, when the WPA was under the Federal Works Administration (FWA). The approved works in the second round were tennis courts at Palisades Playground, Edgewood Playground, and Reservation "C" on the Mall; grading, filling, and constructing tennis courts at Turkey Thicket playground; excavating cinders from west parking area and surfacing east parking lot at Takoma Recreation Center; spreading topsoil on south...

According to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites (2009 edition), the history of Rawlins Park dates back to about 1872, when Congress authorized $10,000 for a statue of Union General John Rawlins.   From 1935 to 1938, Rawlins Park was redesigned and renovated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  This work included a reflecting pool and new landscaping, and probably more.  (There are two reflecting pools at the park today). A recent walking tour guide to New Deal Washington reports that Rawlins Park “is typical of Works Progress Administration projects that rehabilitated parks throughout the U.S.” (NEA, 2009) A Historic American...

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA)  crews had done unspecified work at the Raymond Recreation Center, which was likely constructing the playground. This work was part of a  nearly $1 million WPA program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36. In 2013, the playground was renovated again; the image shows this construction underway.

The old Recorder of Deeds Building is a three-story structure built 1941-1943 by the municipal government of the District of Columbia.  Funding was provided in 1940 by the Public Works Administration (PWA), which was by then part of the Federal Works Agency (FWA). The building was designed by the Office of the Municipal Architect under Nathan C. Wyeth. Its severe Classical Moderne style echoes that of the District of Columbia Municipal Center (Herman J. Daly Building), one block east.  Both were meant to be components of a large municipal complex planned for the Judiciary Square area, but never realized. A third companion building,...

“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...

“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...

In 1936, three WPA artists—Henry Wadsworth Moore, Velma Buckner, and Alan Flavelle—painted portraits of 11 former Washington, DC Recorders of Deeds, for placement in the Recorders’ office space at 412 D Street NW.  When the new Recorder of Deeds Building was constructed in 1941-1943, at 515 D Street NW (and funded by the New Deal’s Public Works Administration), the portraits were moved there. The current location(s) of these portraits is unknown to the Living New Deal, but they could still be in the 515 D Street NW building (the building has been closed to the public for many years, after the...