Slum Clearance of 12 Williamsburg Brooklyn blocks in 1936 ( top) that would become the site of the WPA constructed Williamsburg Houses (1939)(bottom). Originally known as the Ten Eyck houses, #WilliamsburgHouses was one of the first three #publichousing projects in NYC (together with First and Harlem River Houses) and the most expensive to date! From a 1939 survey of projects constructed by the WPA: “Williamsburg Houses, the ‘city-within-a-city’ slum-clearance project, erected in the heart of the historic Williamsburg section of the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, is one of the largest low-rent housing projects undertaken in the United States. It provides homes for 1,622 families in the low-wage brackets. This project occupies 20.2 acres and supplants twelve of the most blighted and congested slum blocks in Greater New York City. The 5,719 rooms which make up the Williamsburg project are located in 20 fireproof, 4-story walk-up apartment buildings. These structures, covering about 32 percent of the 20.2 acre site, are set at a slight angle from true north and south giving each building a maximum of recreation space, ventilation, sunlights, and the benefit of prevailing summer breezes... All rooms open on landscaped courts and park areas. Within the project 49 stores and shops have been leased on private individuals... The average shelter rent, which includes cold water only, is computed on the basis of $6.52 a room per month. The total actual rent averages $8.47 a room per month, which includes all charges for heat, hot and cold water, and electricity for light, cooking, and refrigeration... The entire development, including land and miscellaneous costs, was fully financed with P.W.A. funds. The total project cost was $12,912,600, which approximates a total cost of $2,258 a room and $7,961 a family-dwelling unit.” #NYCHA #williamsburg #affordablehousing #WPA (at Williamsburg Houses)
