Alvar Street Library – New Orleans LA
Built by the WPA in 1940. The library flooded during Katrina, but has since reopened.
Anseman Avenue Bridge – New Orleans LA
As part of a massive $12-million project to improve New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges between 1936 and 1939 throughout the expanded grounds. Spanning Bayou Metairie near the southwest corner, the Anseman Avenue Bridge replaced… read more
Audubon Zoo – New Orleans LA
“The Audubon Zoo is a zoo located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is part of the Audubon Nature Institute which also manages the Aquarium of the Americas. The zoo covers 58 acres (23 ha) and is home to 2,000 animals. It… read more
Audubon Zoo, Monkey Hill – New Orleans LA
“Perhaps the highest return on investment ever earned on a few thousand federal dollars came in the form of a pile of dirt in a rather forlorn park at the depth of the Depression. The agency behind it was the… read more
Banks Street Sidewalks – New Orleans LA
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks in New Orleans, including along Banks Street in Mid-City. WPA workers often marked their work with “sidewalk stamps” pressed into the fresh concrete — a common practice by private contractors in the early… read more
Bayou St. John Improvements – New Orleans LA
“In the early 20th century, commercial use of the Bayou declined, and the Carondelet Canal was filled in. A number of New Orleanians started living in houseboats on the Bayou. Complaints from people in nearby neighborhoods and sanitation concerns led… read more
Booker T. Washington Courts – Lake Charles LA
The Booker T. Washington Courts was one of two rural public housing projects constructed in Lake Charles in 1939-1941. Architects G. Lewis Dunn and Gustave G. Quinn designed the complex initially as barracks-type housing, which was rejected for one-story duplexes…. read more
Cabildo (Louisiana State Museum) Renovation – New Orleans LA
The Cabildo has a long and notorious history. It was constructed in 1795-99 as the seat of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans. The name of the governing body who met there was the “Illustrious Cabildo” or city council. It… read more
Calliope Street Public Housing – New Orleans LA
The Calliope projects were constructed as the fourth of six housing projects developed for New Orleans, 1939-1941. The original boundaries were South Dorgenois Street, Erato Street, Calliope Street (now Earhart Boulevard), and South Prieur Street. The George A. Fuller Company… read more
Canal Street Branch Library (former) Mural – New Orleans LA
An exceptional mural, “History of Printing,” was painted by Edward Schoenberger for the Canal Street Branch Library in New Orleans. The library building was a pre-existing structure from the early 1900s, in a quirky Caribbean style of uncertain origins. The mural… read more
Charity Hospital (Derelict) – New Orleans LA
Charity Hospital was constructed between 1936 and 1940 in central New Orleans, about a mile north of the downtown by today’s Interstate 10. Charity Hospital was one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of… read more
City Park Improvements – New Orleans LA
The Wikipedia entry on City Park provides a good summary of park history, including the role of the WPA in making improvements to the park: “City Park, a 1,300 acre (5.3 km²) public park in New Orleans, Louisiana, is the 6th-largest… read more
F. Edward Hebert Federal Building – New Orleans LA
The F. Edward Hebert Federal Building was built from 1935 to 1939 and is still in use. At the time it was built, the Treasury Department was responsible for all federal buildings. Formerly home to the New Orleans Main Post… read more
F. Edward Hebert Federal Building: Lang Sculpture – New Orleans LA
This limestone sculpture “Flood Control” by Karl Lang was created for the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It still graces the southeastern corner of the building.
F. Edward Hebert Federal Building: Proctor Sculptures – New Orleans LA
This marble eagle statue — one of four at the entrances to the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building — was produced with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds by Gifford Proctor.
F. Edward Hebert Federal Building: Scheler Sculpture – New Orleans LA
This limestone sculpture “Harvesting Sugar Cane” by Armin Scheler was created for the F. Edward Hebert Federal Building and paid for with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It still graces the northeastern flank of the building.
Fire Station – New Orleans LA
Constructed in 1939-40, the former New Orleans Fire Department Station Number 2 is one of three firehouses built by the WPA in the Crescent City in the late 1930s. Located in the Lakeview neighborhood, south of Lake Pontchartrain, it consists… read more
Fort Pike Restoration – New Orleans LA
WPA photos and captions from the 1930s show that the WPA helped restore the historic Fort Pike site in the 1930s. The 1938 WPA guide to the city of New Orleans describes the site: “Fort Pike, 36.1 m., occupies the… read more
Fountain of the Four Winds, Lakefront Airport – New Orleans LA
One of the results of the 1936 Works Progress Administration (WPA) airport beautification project was the Four Winds fountain and bas-reliefs by sculptor Enrique Alférez. The airport, originally Shushan Airport, was renamed New Orleans Municipal Airport, and then Lakefront Airport… read more
French Market – New Orleans LA
The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds for the restoration and expansion of the historic French market along the waterfront of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans. Short and Brown’s 1939 compilation of important PWA projects has the following… read more
Grandjean Bridge – New Orleans LA
As part of a massive $12-million project to improve and expand New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges across the grounds between 1936 and 1939. Located behind the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Grandjean Bridge… read more
Harrison Ave. Bridge, No. 1 – New Orleans LA
Constructed in 1939, the Harrison Avenue Bridge spans a lagoon developed by the WPA. The bridge is a single-span, reinforced concrete, closed-spandrel arch design. Approach spans, flanked by heavy parapet railing, lead up to the crossing. In elevation, the low,… read more
Huey P. Long Bridge – New Orleans LA
This bridge across the Mississippi River was started under President Hoover’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1931, and completed in 1935 with PWA funds. “Opened in December 1935 to replace the Walnut Street Ferry, the bridge was named for the extremely… read more
Iberville Public Housing (former) – New Orleans LA
The Iberville Projects public housing was the third of six low-rent public housing developments in New Orleans funded by the United States Housing Act of 1937. The Housing Authority of New Orleans was the first housing administration approved in the… read more
Jackson Barracks Improvements – New Orleans LA
Jackson Barracks was established in the early 19th century. It was transferred from the US Army to the state National Guard in the 1920s. “From 1936 to 1940, Louisiana adjutant general Raymond H. Fleming utilized the federal Works Progress Administration… read more
Jackson House Restoration – New Orleans LA
It appears that the historic Jackson House was restored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the mid 1930s as part of a larger historic rehabilitation project in the Jackson Square area (source #1). The plaque on the building confuses… read more
Jackson Square Renovation – New Orleans LA
During the New Deal, the Work Progress Administration (WPA) restored the historic buildings at the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, forming three sides of Jackson Square: the Upper and Lower Pontalba Buildings, the Cabildo and the Presbytère… read more
Lafitte Avenue Public Housing – New Orleans LA
Lafitte project was constructed 1940-1941 and included 896 units. It was the fifth of six local housing units constructed in New Orleans following the Housing Act of 1937. The project was bounded by Lafitte Avenue, Orleans Avenue, North Claiborne and… read more
Lautenschlaeger Market (former) Improvements – New Orleans LA
Located in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, downriver from the French Quarter, Lautenschlaeger Market was constructed in 1901 as a public open air market. In the late 1930s, the City of New Orleans owned 19 public markets, many of which had… read more
Lower Pontalba Building Renovation – New Orleans LA
The Pontalba Buildings flank Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The Upper Pontalba Building lies on the west side of the square along St. Peter Street, the Lower Pontalba Building on the east side… read more
Magnolia Public Housing Project – New Orleans LA
The Magnolia Housing Project was one of the first two planned for New Orleans. The original 740 units in one, two, and three story buildings included one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The chief architect was Moise H. Goldstein, with… read more
McFadden Cottage Improvements, City Park – New Orleans LA
The McFadden Cabin was built by a City Park benefactor in the 1920’s as a recreational facility for New Orleans Girl Scouts (still in use today). The WPA made improvements as part of its many works projects in the park,… read more
Presbytère (Louisiana State Museum) Renovation – New Orleans LA
The former Presbytère or Rectory of the late 18th century St. Louis Cathedral is now part of the Louisiana State Museum complex, along with the old Cabildo Building. The Cabildo flanks St. Louis on the west and the Presbytère on… read more
St. Bernard Avenue Public Housing – New Orleans LA
St. Bernard Projects were constructed 1940 as one of New Orleans’ “Big Four” high-density urban public housing projects. Initially comprised of 744 units in 74 buildings constructed on 30.9 acres, the project was bordered by St. Bernard Avenue to Gibson… read more
St. Roch Market Improvements – New Orleans LA
Established in 1875, in a Creole neighborhood northeast of the French Quarter, St. Roch Market is one of several public markets improved by the WPA in New Orleans in the late 1930s. By that time, the city supported 19 public… read more
St. Thomas Public Housing – New Orleans LA
St. Thomas was one of six public housing projects constructed under the Housing Act of 1937. It was constructed 1938-1941 and contained 920 units of two or three story brick buildings. The architect’s rendering for the St. Thomas Street project… read more
Tad Gormley Stadium, City Park – New Orleans LA
Constructed in 1935-37 with WPA labor, the 26,500-seat stadium came as part of a massive New Deal project to expand New Orleans’s City Park. Richard Koch, an architect on the park board and the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and… read more
Upper Pontalba Building Renovation – New Orleans LA
The Pontalba Buildings flank Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The Upper Pontalba Building lies on the west side of the square along St. Peter Street, the Lower Pontalba Building on the east side… read more