New housing developments constructed under the Federal Housing Act. July 23, 1937. The nearest building at left is 185 Scholes Street. The 2003 Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation Report notes that the Williamsburg Houses (formerly the Ten Eyck Houses) “are notable as one of the earliest housing developments in the United States to reflect the ideas of the modern movement in architecture.” In April, 1937, the former Bauhaus director Walter Gropius observed “\[the plan] seems to have solved the problem of space and light very successfully and economically.” Development began in 1935 and would require the demolition of some 568 buildings and the relocation of 5,400 neighborhood residents. In September, 1937, residents moved into the first of 1,620 low-rent units. History has been kind to the Williamsburg Houses’ modernist design; in 2000, the American Institute of Architects Guide to New York called the development “the best public housing project ever built in New York.”

Meserole Street and Bushwick Avenue, 1934. Both buildings in the background, located on the north and south west corners of Bushwick Avenue and Meserole Street, bear the street names of the intersection in decorative corner-blocks. On the signs, Bushwick Avenue is referred to as "Boulevard," likely a colloquial name for this portion of the street when these buildings were erected in the late 19th century.

The Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP), part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal to stimulate the economy and create jobs during the Great Depression, employed thousands of artists between 1935 and 1943 to create artworks for public spaces. This groundbreaking democratic experiment celebrated and supported American art and artists by providing a source of income, enhancing public buildings, and enriching the lives of Americans in the throes of the Great Depression. The Art Commission reviewed hundreds of Federal Art Project commissions during this period, including murals, sculpture and mosaics. A significant portion of the WPA/FAP commissions in our collection were installed in public health and hospital facilities. There is a noticeable shift in theme and tone depending on the location of murals. Murals in children's wards often focused on nursery rhymes and fanciful themes, while those in nurses' recreation rooms were "relaxing" and focused on familial scenes. Murals in doctors' recreation rooms focused on the history and progress of medicine, while those in psychiatric wards sought to provide therapy for mental distress.

Shops on Graham Avenue at Grand Street: Price & Quality Malt Extract; Shoe Shine & Hat Cleaning Parlor; Sam Aronoff Shoes. September 11, 1930. Graham Avenue has long been a commercial thoroughfare in Williamsburg. The malt extract storefront at No. 282 Graham is a symptom of Prohibition: many beer producers shifted to production of nonalcoholic malt extract while beer sales were banned. The building was sold at auction in 1880 and later became a meeting place for Thirteenth Assembly District Democrats. Today, the building’s frame remains intact but its brick exterior has been painted over.

The Williamsburg Houses were the largest and most expensive project built under the auspices of the PWA at their completion in 1937. The complex was realized by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and received funding from the Federal Public Works Administration (PWA). An American Institute of Architectures regards the Williamsburg Houses as “the best public housing project ever built in New York." According to plans from 1935, the project cost a total of 12.5 million dollars to complete. Siting for the property was decided by a slum clearance committee, which was formed in 1933 under the PWA to study housing conditions throughout the city. The committee decided "where the most good could be done in wholesale clearance work," eventually settling on a nine-block area bound by the street of Maujer, Scholes, and Leonard and Bushwick Avenue as an optimal clean slate to build the Williamsburg Houses.

151-157 Maujer Street was designed by Henry C. Pelton in the Art Deco style. The first cornerstone was laid in 1935 and the building opened in 1937. Its facade bears the words "Department of Health New York," and the entryway is covered in low-reliefs depicting medical scenes. The facility was opened as the "Williamsburg-Greenpoint Health Center," and was the fourth of eight of such facilities to open in working-class neighborhoods across the city. The health center offered a wide array of services, including maternity care, infant care, dental and oral health facilities, TB and venereal disease clinics, a space for visiting nurses, and an auditorium. Designed as part of the WPA's push towards providing greater access to healthcare, the project was funded, in part, by the federal government. At its opening, Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia said to a crowd: "If you can’t afford your own doctor, this will aid you." The Williamsburg-Greenpoint Health Center was strategically placed adjacent to the Williamsburg Houses, a brand new low-income housing development (though one of the more expensive ones at the time), and a new high school. Children and teenager's health was considered of utmost importance, and the clinic provided working-class families with the medical attention they needed. La Guardia called the intersection “one of the greatest social projects anywhere."

Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, June 1, 1937. St. Nicholas (center, at the intersection of Powers and Olive Streets) formed the center of the 19th century German immigrant community in Williamsburg. The 1866 church building seen in this photograph was converted to a school run by Dominican nuns who lived on the grounds. While the storefronts are gone and the remaining buildings have been re-sided, the school, without its belfry, still stands.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, viewed from the site cleared for the construction of the Williamsburg Houses. December 22, 1935. The St. John’s congregation was founded in 1844, as a coalition of German Protestant worshipers. In 1853, the church adopted a Lutheran doctrine and continued to grow as a fixture of Williamsburg’s German community, with members worshipping at a church at nearby Wyckoff Street (now Ten Eyck Street). Construction on a new Gothic church began in 1883 to accommodate the congregation’s growth. In the early 20th century, German immigrants were arriving in Williamsburg in smaller numbers, leading St. John’s parishioners to establish a satellite mission in Glendale, Queens. From mid-1930s on, the continued demographic changes in the neighborhood and the construction of the adjacent Williamsburg Houses led to the decline of the original Williamsburg Church. In 1953, the original congregation shifted to the Glendale mission. At the same time, The Lutheran Church of St. John the Evangelist, a new congregation, was established among local worshippers. Today, the church continues to conduct Lutheran services and shares its facilities with Kingsland Ward a performing arts organization best known for its immersive theater project “Then She Fell.”

Graham and Metropolitan Avenues, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; shot by Berenice Abbott. June 1, 1937. The corner building includes intricate cornice work with raised panel, dated 1893, topped with a lute sculpture, and a hipped pyramidal tower. Today, the wooden clapboards have been replaced by vinyl siding and the facade has been stripped of any ornamentation. At lower left is the entrance to the Graham Street Station of the BMT Canarsie Line (today’s L train).

Congress Brewing Company Building, 1916. The complex of the Congress Brewing Company included a brewery and ice plant and encompassed 75,000 square feet of floor space. Established as the Williamsburgh Brewing Company before 1881, the beer purveyors legally changed their name to the Congress Brewing Company in 1895. Little can be discovered about Congress Brewery or why it closed circa 1916.