The federal Public Works Administration of the 1930s saw unique projects in many New Mexico communities that supported traditional folk arts along with impressive public projects such as parks, community buildings, art and murals. Often these projects reflected local adobe architectural forms and craftsmanship.
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Old City Hall
Southeast Region: Artesia
Constructed 1939. The Old City Hall was built with WPA funds in 1939. It is currently being used as an office building and is managed by Artesia MainStreet. As WPA (Works Progress Administration, a depression-era program) building project, it brought several City departments together under the same roof, including the Read more…
Old Gallup Post Office
Northwest Region: Gallup
Constructed 1933. Built in 1933 and listed on the state and national historic registers, the blond brick building was constructed as part of the WPA project and still has the original carved beamed ceilings. It exhibits a mix of architectural styles, including Mediterranean, Decorative Brick Commercial, and Spanish Pueblo Revival. Read more…
Old Post Office Building
East Region: Clovis
Constructed 1931. Listed on the state and national historic registers, this building was constructed in 1931 as the post office. The two-story sandstone and brick building with a tiled roof combined Spanish-Colonial Revival and Neoclassical styles to created a dignified federal building that was still consistent with its southwest locale. Read more…
Old Post Office Building
Southwest Region: Silver City
Constructed 1934. The old Silver City post office was “built in 1934 by the Treasury Department. It is a one-story hollow tile construction with a basement. It has modified Mission-style arches, relief ornamentation and entablature with finials over front entrance, double-leaf front doors, transom covered by row of turned spindles, Read more…
Old Taos County Courthouse
North Region: Taos
Constructed 1932. The 1932 Spanish-Pueblo Revival style courthouse was built with partial funding from the PWAP and is located on the north side of the Taos plaza. The second floor courtroom was decorated with ten frescoes of subjects related to the use and misuse of the law. The frescos were Read more…
Otero County Administration Building
South Region: Alamogordo
Constructed 1938. The building, which was built in 1938 as a post office in the New Deal project, PWA (Public Works Administration), is the home of a beautiful Peter Hurd mural which is on the front exterior of the building. In Alamogordo, under the Art-in-Architecture program titled, “Sun and Rain”, Read more…
Peter Hurd Murals
South Region: Alamogordo
Constructed 1942. In the portico of the Forest Service building are three frescos painted by Peter Hurd in 1940, with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. “Yucca” and “Sorghum” measure 4’x 3′, and are installed on either side of the larger “Sun and Rain”. From Kathryn Flynn, Treasure Read more…
Portales Post Office
East Region: Portales
Constructed 1937. Funded by the Public Works Administration, Portales’ Main Post Office was completed in 1937 and is built with red brick in the Classical Revival style. The post office is part of a complex of administrative buildings downtown including the WPA constructed courthouse across the street. The post office Read more…
Quay County Courthouse
East Region: Tucumcari
Constructed 1939. The 1939 Art Deco style courthouse is a four-story concrete, granite and cast stone building with stone bas relief embellishments depicting faming, cowboys, and the railroad — significant symbols of the community’s economic base. The building, built with PWA funds, resembles other courthouses on the east side of Read more…
Raton Post Office
Northeast Region: Raton
Joseph A. Fleck was commissioned to paint two murals in the Raton Post Office, “Butterfield Mail” and “Unloading Mail at Raton”, the first depicting Taos Indians and Raton miners in 1849 reading mail delivered by a scout on a white horse. The other mural focuses on the local mail system Read more…