Architecture in government housingArchitecture in government housing

Date

1936

Publisher

The Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition URL

www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2084

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—

from our founding in 1929 to the present—is

available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,

primary documents, installation views, and an

index of participating artists.

© 2017 The Museum of Modern ArtMoMA

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Carl Mackley Houses, Philadelphia. Designed by Kastner & Stonorov, executed under the direction of W. Pope Barney.

Architecture in Government Housing

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

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Acknowledgements

The members of the Committee on Architecture andIndustrial Art wish to acknowledge their appreciation of the generous cooperation they have received from the Housing Division of the Public WorksAdministration and the Resettlement Administrationin making possible this exhibition.

Especial thanks are due the department heads and theindividual architects who have given their time andenergy in the preparation and assembling of thematerial. In addition the Committee wishes to thankMiss Catherine Bauer for contributing the forewordto this brief catalog.

Committee on Architecture and Industrial Art

Philip Goodwin, ChairmanAlfred H. Barr, Jr.Catherine BauerJohn CoolidgeHenry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr.George HoweJoseph HudnutPhilip JohnsonChauncey Stillman

Ernestine M. Fantl, Curator

The Museum of Modern Artctxjiora PAMPHLET BINdII

cuse. N. Y

?°jk4.SanS°tc.C0JJtin0 much lonSO^ on a temporary opportunist basisAnd tho U. S. Housing Bill, which would remove many legal uncertainties and set up housing on a permanent basis, will probablv

fSKw.a* �°"ion or conB""- " *Likewise, although a serious attempt to develop modern plannins

the p'lrr and Rcsct?^ nclSbb?rhood design has been made bythe k.Vl.A. and Resottlemcnt, certain other Federal agencios areamong tho bitterest enemies of these experiments. One of the so-callcd housing agencies provides Federal assistance to promotethe same old type of speculative subdivision which is responsiblein large measure for present slums and blighted areas.

All we have to go on, in shosfc, is a few moro or loss awlflpntoi

program.Pr°JOCt3' AS y0t th0rO 13 n° natlonal housing policy or'

We have achieved one thing in tho past four years. Wo have bosun

across almost" s mnnv'f f'l *S a coraplox Problem, which cutsa ross almost as many fields as there are special interests nubviewpoints in our society. The economic fact that Sost familiLdo not have enough income to pay a profitable rental fn-n n h +-

?n\hrbuullnthllnfStriaP "a0t tSat ^Slo^ontalis°stiiieri?osocial fact that ™hllG h0U3^ng shortage mounts; theociai fact thai slum living conditions are prevalent' in ait-inn

ha" ,opo; country; the technical fact that we know how to build a

wouldrprovide°theronoGgre^ t^opportunity^f that i housins movc^nt

tical fact' that ° an^ef f e c t ^n° h* U-"

by organkzefpLssurfLr^gn^ncol'rfn'ot^'L'of'tb ^°UgVnlyOf tho housing problem can be neglected. " ~X G°C lacets

But this exhibition is not a presumptious one. It does not aim tn

srikaF w&'&srs srss^^r^rs-ovontually bo judged by its houses and not by Us^Soories!

Catherine Bauer

» v J LL| | PAMPHIET BINDER

„.;J _IBr— Syracuse. N. Y.

The Museum of Modem Art

Pedsral Emergency Administration of Public Works, Housing Division

The Housing Division of the Public Works Administration was createdin July 1930 and $125,000,000 was set aside for slum clearance andlow-cost housing. Limited dividend corporation applications werethe first projects to be considered. Only a few of the hundredssubmitted were found to satisfy the requirements of low rent, goodplanning and s 1um c1ear ance, the objectives of the program. TheDivision then turned "to the alternative of public projects.

By the end of 1934 the Division was proceeding with actual plansand commitments totaling $143,728,000 officially allotted to projects when in December #110,000,000 of this amount was impoundedto finance direct relief. There remained only $33,728,000 withwhich to carry out projects already planned to utilize the fullamount. Uncertainty about appropriations continued until Anril1935 when Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act,allocating $450,000,000 to urban housing. As this action did not

authority for immediate action, it was not until Junethat the Division was able to proceed. Again in 1935 its program was

because of relief policies from 144 projects totaling$380,000,000 to 37 projects totaling $100,200,000 in addition to7 projects financed by the original PWA funds already under weigh.

After many readjustments and difficulties, the program now is beingvigorously pushed ahead. At present a total of 49 projects in 35cities in the United States and in two of its insular oossessionsare now m active construction. Approximately 25,OOOfamilies ofthe low income group will be housed and direct employment providedior about 50,000 ouilding workers. Seven housing developmentserected by limited dividend corporations and operating on PWA loansand under Division supervision are now occupied.

The information above was drawn from the December1935 Bulletin of the Rational Association of Housing Officials and the report of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Housing Division, 1936

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'-v-mm PAMPHLET BINDERThe Museum of Modern Art

1. Langston ierrace, Washington, D.C. Rohinson, Porter andWilliams, architects.

A project to house 517 Negro families of low income.e was chosen for its proximity to market, school,

recreation facilities and hospital. The buildings willbe two story flats, group houses and three story apartments. 17 ^

ExhibitsModel of developmentPerspective viewTypical living units and social roomsMap showing location of site

2. Cedar Central, Cleveland, Ohio. W. R. McCornack, architect.

A development of three story houses to house 654 lowincome families. The previous density of populationwas 67 persons per acre. The new buildings will house120 persons per acre but by orderly planning will provide increased light, air and recreation grounds.

ExhibitsSite before demolition vs. site as plannedNight view of facade

3. Williamsburg Housing Development, Mew York. R. H. Shrove Chiefarchitect; James F. Bly, N. W. del Gaudio, Arthur L.liolden, William Lescazo, Samuel Gardstein, John W. Ingle. * �> Harmon Gurney, Paul Trapani and Harry Leslie " 'Walker, associated architects.

Foundations are being laid for thidevelopment which will cover an ar10 city blocks. The development wsuper-blocks, each of which will bpark area. Each super-block willnursery school and two play groundstores are also included in the piwill be housed in two, three, fourments.

s low cost housingea of approximatelyill consist of 4e surrounded by aInclude a social room,s. Neighborhoodan. 1614 familiesand five room apart-

ExhibitsPerspective renderingFacadeDetails

Pian of typical building: basement, first floor andtypical floorSite plan

Photographs of site before and afterMap showing Williamsburg In relation to New York

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Carl Mackley Houses, Juniata Park, Philadelphia. Designed byKastner & Stonorov, executed under the directionof W. Pope Barney.

The first project started by the Housing Division,it houses 284 families in two and one half, fourand five room apartments. It is a limited dividend corporation organized by the American Federation of Hosiery Workers. Rentals are not, however, limited to hosiery workers only and the aimof the management is that the majority of tenantsform a cross section of the industrial populationof Northeast Philadelphia. Rental includes electric light and refrigeration, heat and use oflaundry. For the kindergarten and swimming poolnominal fees of 5^ arc charged. The average rental is $9.35 per room per month. It was ready foroccupancy January 1, 1935.

ExhibitsView from swimming poolDetail of housesView toward poolGeneral viewBath houseSite planPI ans

Westfield Acres,Camden,New Jersey. Associated architects ofCamden, New Jersey." Joseph N. Hettel, Chief architect. Designed by Oscar G. Stonorov.

Westfield Acres is a Federal Housing Developmentfinanced entirely by the Federal Government'. Itis sponsored by the Camden Labe»r Housing'Committee,a committee in which all organized labor, i.e. theAmerican Federation of Labor and Industrial Unionsarc represented. It will house 598 families Inthree, four and five room apartments.

ExhibitsFacade renderingsPlansModel of development

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SUBURBAN RESETTLEMENT

Suburban Resettlement is a- division of the Resettlement Administration. This Administration, like the Public Works Administrationwas created under the Emergency Relief Act. Unlike the Housing 'Division, however, Resettlement is set up to do its own buildingand has a construction division. Its objectives as stated byJ. S. Lansill, Director, are:

(a) to secure a large tract of land and thus avoid the com-plications ordinarily due to diverse ownerships;

(b) in this tract to create a community, protected by an encircling green belt upon which there will be no building;

(c) to design a community for people of predominatly low income, and so arranged and administered as to encouragethat kind of community and family life which will bebetter than they now enjoy;

(d) the dwellings and the land upon which they are located tobe held in one ownership, preferably a corporation to whichthe Federal Government will transfer title, which corporation will rent the dwellings and not sell them;

(e) to set up a municipal government in character with suchgovernments now existing or possible in that region;

(f) to provide those public services of educational and othercharacter which the community will require;

(g) to accomplish these purposes in such a way that the com-munitv may be a tax paying participant in the region,that extravagant outlays from the individual family income will not be a necessity, and that the rents will besuitable to families of modest income; and,

(h) concurrently with these efforts to develop a land useplan for the entire tract, and under the direction ofthe Administrator, to devise a system of rural economycoordinated with the land use plan for the rural portionsof the tract surrounding the Suburban community, - and tointegrate both the physical plans and the economies of therural area and the Suburban community.

Four complete towns, each with its protective greenbelt of small! and gardens, are being built with relief labor by the

¥'!!m fm0n t Administration. They are near Cincinnati, Milwaukee,Washington*. D.C, and Bound Brook, New Jersey.

Eightstown, New Jersey. Alfred Kastner, principal architect,Louis I. Kahn, assistant architect and co-designer.

A town for garment workers to be completed September 1,A cooperative holding corporation will purchase

the project from the Government and through supervisedmanagement will opc-rate the community until the fullamount is amortized. Several subsidiary cooperativesare already being organized.

ExhibitsMap showing location of project in relation to marketing centers and transportation facilitiesMap of town site, farm area and woodlandTown planRendering; one story house, foreground studyRendering: one story house, background studyRendering; two story house, in perspectiveRendering; Swimming poolRendering; Community CenterPlansModel of development

Greenbrook, New Jersey. Henry Churchill and Albert Mayer, archi-t e c t s .

iho total area contemplated for this project was 3,900acres for the town site and agricultural belt. Of this125 acres was the approximate area of the first unit tobe built for 750 families, but planned for an ultimatepopulation oi 5,000. The dwelling units are one, two,three and four bedroom houses in groups of two to sixa lew single family one story houses/ a small percentageoi flats and one three story apartment house. " Orientation was given great consideration so that in general allmajor bedrooms and living rooms face park areas ratherthan streets and receive as much sunlight as possible,iho population was to be drawn from the surrounding in-&ial towns, the income range being probably between#900 and #1500 a year. A town center for the firstunit was planned to take care of eventual growth. The

n °f the cultural belt would probably haveincluded a cooperative farming system.

ExhibitsMap showing relation to adjacent centersMap showing relation to New YorkPanoramaBusiness centerRenderings and plans of one story houseModel of double house by Henry ChurchillPlans

Model of double house by Albert MayerPlans

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