New Deal Pointless Prize
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@JoM 207478 wrote:
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Home –
2131 R Street NW, Washington, DC, 20008From 1917 to 1920, while FDR was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the Roosevelts lived at 2131 R Street NW. Today, there is a plaque by the front door that acknowledges the Roosevelts period of residence here.
Now it’s the home of the Ambassador to Mali.
But do you know the story about the bombing across the street? A. Mitchell Palmer (of Palmer Raids fame) lived across the street. A bomber blew himself up on Palmer’s doorstep. The explosion knocked the windows out of the Roosevelt house and scattered body parts on their doorstep. ER and FDR had just parked around the corner and were returning home, and some of their kids were in the house (no one was harmed except the bomber)
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The Old Greenbelt Theatre is a historic single-screen movie theater built between 1937 and 1938 in the Roosevelt Center within the Greenbelt Historic District.it was renovated in 2014, but is closed due to the pandemic.
Howard University Founders Library
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 housed most of the functions of the university.
The Georgian-style edifice, designed by African-American architect Albert Cassell, recalls Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The walls are red brick and the trim is limestone. The roof is slate. The clock tower soars 167 feet high and is topped by a golden spire.
Congress appropriated the money to build the library in 1929 and Cassell prepared designs for nine buildings, but those plans ran into the Great Depression. So, in the mid-1930s the PWA gave $800,000, or 4/5ths of the required funding, to carry out the plans for the new library.
The Howard University website says this:
“Built at a cost of $1,106,000, this was one of the most important academic structures of the period. It was the largest and most complete library among the historically black colleges and universities. It was considered one of the most modern and sophisticated facilities of its type in the nation. Intended to house 200,000 volumes with future capacity reaching 500,000 volumes, it was a marvel.
Founders Library made use of the current technological advancements such air conditioning and mechanical elevators for moving books. Its high ceilings, long hallways and vast reading rooms were the rival of those of the Ivy League. Its Georgian facade, oak paneled rooms and stately entrance way beckoned students and faculty into the tranquil realm of intellectual life.
Harold Ickes, U.S. Secretary of the Interior and advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, spoke at the May 25, 1939 dedication ceremony. Newspaper accounts often described Mr. Ickes as the Ex Officio Patron of Howard University. His role in providing Federal funding through he Public Works Administration was crucial to the project.” (http://www.howard.edu)
In his dedication speech, Ickes said:
“A library is more than a building, it is more than the volumes that rest upon its shelves… Let us hope that the library, by ever remaining an inexhaustible well of human wisdon and experience, shall help one of the genuinely creative sectors of our population to achieve the more abundant life.”
The library currently has a grant from DOI for Handicap Accessibility Renovations.
Washington Monument Restoration
The Washington Monument, one of the best-known and most-loved memorials in the country, was renovated with the aid of a 1934 grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The monument is built of granite with an exterior cladding of white marble. No repair work had been done since the monument was finished in 1884 and the exterior had cracked and spalled, resulting in leaching of mortar and leaking through the walls.
In 1934, a tubular steel scaffold was erected, which completely covered the shaft of the monument. Workers repointed, repaired and cleaned the entire shaft from top to bottom. The work was completed in February 1935. The cleaning, pointing, and repair work cost $19,042, the scaffolding cost $67,333, for a total project cost of $86,375.
The Washington Monument was designed by Robert Mills as an Egyptian obelisk, a style much in vogue in the first half of the 19th century. Construction began in 1848, with funds provided by popular subscription. It had reached a height of 150 feet by 1854, when the money ran out. After the Civil War, Congress appropriated funds for its completion and work was resumed in 1878 under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers. The Monument was finally completed in 1884.
Diamond Teague Park
In 1936 Work: A Journal of Progress reported that in 1933-34 the Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief workers constructed 245 feet of seawall at the Sewer Division property yard and a cable shed at the garage. The exact site was not specified, but the Water and Sewer Authority (then known as the Sewer Division) has a waterside property just southeast of the National Mall that would be a likely place for such a seawall.
This is further confirmed by a later report in Work: A Journal of Progress that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was soon to complete a seawall at First and O Streets SE. This is at the same Water and Sewer Authority property. The WPA workers were either completing or extending the previous seawall.
Today, the Diamond Teague Park occupies the waterfront at First and O Streets.
National Postal Museum: Zorach Sculpture – Washington DC
I wasn’t able to go inside, but inside the Postal Museum is the Zorach Statue of Benjamin Franklin.
William Zorach was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the statue “Benjamin Franklin.” The statue was made out of marble, and Zorach was paid $8,000 for the job. This artwork was created for the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department—today’s Clinton Federal Building—and now resides in the National Postal Museum (and the museum itself served as the main post office—not to be confused with the headquarters building—for Washington, DC from 1914-1986).
The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then the “Treasury Section of Fine Arts”; and finally just “Section of Fine Arts” when it was moved under the jurisdiction of the newly-created Public Buildings Administration (PBA) in 1939 (the PBA itself was a subdivision of the Federal Works Agency). The Section adorned many post offices and other federal buildings with murals, sculptures, carvings, and reliefs.
Smithsonian Institution
In 1936, WPA funded workers to help the Smithsonian organize and preserve historical artifacts and help to maintain the grounds.
Langston Terrace Dwellings Community Building
The Langston Terrace Dwellings Community Building was part of the New Deal’s overall effort to provide more community and recreation facilities for Americans. The WPA, for example, built 8,696 new recreation facilities between 1935 and 1943.
Navy & Marine Memorial
The Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial, located in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island, is a statue honoring sailors of the United States Navy and the United States Merchant Marine who died at sea.
Completion Date: 1934, 1941
Old Municipal Fish Market Renovation (demolished) – Washington DC
The Fish Market was built in 1918, and refurbished by WPA in 1935. In the 60s, it was demolished to make way for I-395, and the Fish Market was rebuilt on Maine Ave.
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Wow!
I cannot tell you all how much I enjoyed seeing all of your pictures and reading the descriptions of all of the New Deal sites. I wasn’t sure if anyone else would jump on my geeky train, and I really loved seeing all of the fascinating sites you all came up with. I didn’t post as much as I’d planned to originally since many of the sites I would have posted about were getting covered and I didn’t want to steal anyone’s thunder.
Okay, I just got totally distracted by the Living New Deal map and thinking about trips to the arboretum that involve stops at ND sites.
On to the prizes.
While I had intended to give New Deal themed prizes for this, the FDR Library’s shop is still closed, and I hate to just order things from Amazon if I can avoid it. So all prizes will be in the form of gift certificates to your favorite restaurants or museums.
Jo M blew it away with the sheer number of photos. and her descriptions were consistently fabulous. This, she won the prizes for most pics and the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Prize for best historical description. I will spare you the slightly creepy Eleanor Roosevelt doll I thought about sending as a reward for the latter, and just award you $70 in gift certificates (split however you would like) to the local business or museum of your choice.
Consularrider took my favorite photo– the pic of the Triborough Bridge. You will also receive a $30 gift certificate to the local business or museum of your choice (I looked online to see if the Tenement Museum has gift certificates, but they don’t seem to. I’d be happy to send $ for any of their walking tours, though, since you seem to be NY-based. But seriously– local coffee shop or restaurant is also a totally valid option– I jost love the Tenement Museum). Boomer2U’s pentagon photo and JoM’s pic of the Greenbelt Community Center were also excellent.
And to any participant in the DC area– if you’d like to come along the next time I lead a tour of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Washington, let me know. I expect to do this at least once this summer (and it will be a small group rather than a big scheduled tour, since it’s for my interns and not for Atlas Obscura). When such things are possible, I also regularly take my students to see the New Deal murals inside the Department of the Interior, and would be happy to invite a guest or two along for that (that is led by Dept. of Interior museum staff).
Thank you all, again, for your pics and thoughts on these historic sites. It makes me so happy to see so much history!
Christy (Historygeek)
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