Historical Exhibit

PUEBLO DEL RIO:
LET'S NOT FORGET THE PAST

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
CHAIR Michael Nogueira, Jr.
Maria Del Angel	David Rubin
Lovie Jackson	Manuel Salas
Jane McGlory	Elenore Williams

Executive Director
Don Smith

Exhibit Credits:
Research/Writing: Bill Davis, Dianne Wright

Editor:
Dianne Wright

Thanks To:
Hugo Garcia, Don Parson, Julius Shulman

"Architecture sums up the civilization it enshrines."

|Pueblo del Rio| |Housing Conditions in Depression-Era| |The Establishment| |WWII Era Public Housing| |The"Transformative Effect"| |A Period of Experimentation| |"Biological Realism"| |The Design of Pueblo Del Rio| |The Garden City Style| |Innovative Low-Cost Building Tech.| |African American History| |Housing Discrimination| |Winning Housing Rights| |Fairness in Housing Choice| |The Community| |Bibligography|

Pueblo Del Rio and the National Register of Historic Places

Social hall as it appears today. "The playground within the curved wall has been paved over, and the wide entrance to the social hall, left, has been reduced to a single door." (Ouroussoff)]

Photo credit: Bill Davis

Pueblo del Rio is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places for many reasons. First, for its association with trends in public housing that originated in the New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt. Second, for the fact that the plans for Pueblo del Rio evolved to meet the housing needs of defense industry workers during World War II. The need for defense worker housing was so great, and the response to that need (by federal and local government agencies as well as the private sector) was so massive, that this period in U.S. architecture and social history has been specially designated as "World War II Era Public Housing." Pueblo del Rio also has historical importance for its place in the fair housing movement of that era, as it was one of the first public housing developments in Los Angeles to accept African American residents.

"Pueblo del Rio then: Shortly after the complex opened in 1942, the grassy playground featured a sandbox, and large sliding-glass doors led to the social hall." (Ouroussoff)

Photo credit: Julius Shulman

In relation to architectural history, Pueblo del Rio is significant for several reasons, and is noted by experts as "a fine example of its functional type, retaining an excellent level of integrity." Pueblo del Rio exemplifies low-cost construction techniques that were ahead of its time. The design of the buildings incorporated a unique, experimental blend of elements drawn from the "international" and "modern" schools of design. The "superblock" layout of the buildings, surrounded by lush landscaping, incorporated innovative planning principles from the approach known as "Garden City." "The designers who created Pueblo del Rio were among the most prominent and influential architects of their time, including Paul R. Williams, Richard Neutra, Adrian Wilson, Gordon B. Kaufman, Wurdeman and Becket, and landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell" (Slawson 2).

Lewis Mumford, in Ovnick: Los Angeles: The End of the Rainbow.

Housing Conditions in Depression-Era Los Angeles

Housing conditions in the neighborhood replaced by Pueblo del Rio.

Photo credit: Leonard Nadel

The need for affordable and decent housing was severe in Depression-era Los Angeles. "As of 1937, 30% of all dwellings in the city had no inside toilet, 50% had no bathtub, while 20% were considered unfit for human habitation" (Parson 1986 35). Overcrowding was common in depressed areas, including the neighborhood destined to include Pueblo del Rio, as were high levels of deteriorated and substandard housing. A 1940 Housing Authority report of 250,107 housing inspections found that 23.5% of those dwellings were unfit for human habitation: "These substandard units were found so numerous in certain congested areas, that such areas might well be defined as 'slums'" (Parson 1986 36).

The Establishment of Public Housing

Housing Authority officials and community leaders review the site layout plan for the development.

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

Housing crises such as the one in Los Angeles dotted the landscape across the Nation during the Great Depression. In response to the crisis and as part of the New Deal, the Roosevelt administration established the United States Housing Authority, founded to develop low-cost public housing to alleviate overcrowding in inner cities and replace deteriorated housing stock in depressed areas. A US Housing Authority report issued in 1942 had this to say about the value of public housing: "Public housing is an opportunity for men and women to help build and manage their own homes. Its low rents mean more money to the tenants for food and clothes and a better standard of living. Its close association in well-planned communities means more organization, more cooperative action, and more democracy" (Parson 1985 60).

World War II Era Public Housing

Local governments in Southern California resisted public housing initiatives in deference to the bourgeoning real estate industry. That obstacle was assuaged somewhat in 1937 with the passage of the National Housing Act [also known as the "Wagner Act"] which diminished the perceived threat to private landlords by establishing income ceilings that were substantially below the average income of renters of private housing (Slawson 8). The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was established in June, 1938. Soon after, the Authority issued contracts for design and construction of its first federally funded public housing complexes. Pueblo del Rio, in South Los Angeles, was one of the first projects to be built.

A war worker returns home to temporary housing after her shift.

Photo credit: HACLA file photo

The approaching war boosted defense-related manufacturing in Southern California in the late 1930's, providing well-paid jobs which, in turn, drew a multitude of unemployed workers into the region. This shift in target population -- from housing the poor to sheltering defense workers -- aided public efforts to expand affordable housing, as evidenced by President Roosevelt's description of the place of public housing in a nation at war, in a speech in May of 1942:
"This war involves a total national effort and industrial mobilization. Industry cannot effectively mobilize the plants and plants cannot expand with sufficient rapidity unless there are enough houses to bring the worker to the job, keep him on the job and maintain his efficiency and morale. The allocation of war funds for the shelter of men and women leaving their homes to serve our war industries is a wise and established national policy." (1943 California Arts and Architecture)

Construction workers pouring concrete at Pueblo del Rio.

Photo credit: HACLA file photo

The historic significance of WWII era defense worker housing is noted by both architecture historians and social scientists, in part because this housing was built up so quickly. "Between 1940 and 1950 the population of Los Angeles County increased by 49%… The physical magnitude of this wave of newcomers had a more dynamic impact on Los Angeles than that of any previous era." (Ovnick 253-254). In fact, this phenomenal growth was the largest decennial population increase of any state in the nation's history (Horne 381). In response to this growth, the government-led push to build housing for workers in Los Angeles created unprecedented opportunities for diverse sectors of the community, especially those heretofore virtually shut out of sustainable employment and decent housing. Many African Americans, Chicanos, women, and poor whites from the south were hired into defense-related - and other - industries. Thanks to public housing, some of these defense workers were provided access to nice affordable housing for the first time in their lives (Parson 50).

The "Transformative Effect" of Good Architecture

The Groundbreaking ceremony for Pueblo del Rio on December 7, 1941. At the center of the photo is HACLA Commissioner Jessie Louise Terry. At the far right is architect Paul Williams

Photo credit: Jackie Green

According to noted art critic Robert Hughes, "Modern architecture was to be a democratic answer to social crisis" (The Shock of the New, in Parson 1986 80). The design of structures such as Pueblo del Rio was meant to reveal "architecture's role as an important instrument of social change… born of the idea that buildings can do more than provide shelter. They can embody our best values as a society" (Ouroussoff).

A family moves into their brand-new unit at Pueblo del Rio, before landscaping has taken place.

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

The outbreak of World War II era economic opportunity also extended itself to Los Angeles-based architects, many of which quickly grasped the potential of a government-sponsored housing boom to explore new social and aesthetic approaches to building communities. In fact, the collapse of the housing market during the Great Depression had already left many architects without clients and thus unemployed. Many of the younger and progressive architects used this time to critically examine the developing theories in their profession and to develop a new perspective on social architecture. Architects such as Richard Neutra saw public housing as "a practical means to vindicate theories of Modern Architecture by demonstrating its applicability to the accelerated pace of life brought about by the war. Production bottlenecks… were to be addressed by new building technologies that would reduce construction time. Sanitary and healthful housing would be the foundation for a vigorous, more productive work force, while social planning, cooperative living, and minimal housework would allow more free time for public housing inhabitants" (Parson 1986 196-197).

A Period of Experimentation

Architect Paul R. Williams, "Designer of Individuality" (1894-1980)
"The Pueblo del Rio public housing complex [was] the result of a unique wartime collaboration between a number of Los Angeles' most acclaimed architects, including Gordon B. Kaufman, (Walter) Wurdeman and (Welton) Becket, Richard Neutra, Adrian Wilson, and landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell, with Paul R. Williams appointed chief architect" (Slawson 2).

Selected to lead the design team for Pueblo del Rio was Los Angeles architect Paul Revere Williams, who had already designed (with Hilyard Robinson) the first federally funded public housing development in the U.S.: Langston Terrace in Washington, D.C. Pueblo del Rio was the first public housing project he was responsible for in Southern California. He went on to lead the teams that designed the Gonzaque Village and Nickerson Gardens developments. Williams had been appointed a commissioner of the National Board of Municipal Housing in 1933, and was a member of the Housing Commission of Los Angeles from 1933 through 1941.

Lead Pueblo del Rio architect Paul Williams, speaking at the Dedication ceremony in May, 1942.

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

Born in Los Angeles, Williams was orphaned at age four but taken in by foster parents who encouraged and supported his intellectual and creative endeavors. His talent for drawing blossomed in his youth. His desire to become an architect began while he was still in high school, where his aspirations were greeted by a counselor's admonishment, "Who ever heard of a Negro architect?" Yet, he endured, and studied architecture at the University of Southern California and the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York, among others. Williams was one of the first African Americans to join the American Institute of Architects and the very first to become a Fellow of the Institute.

The world-famous "Theme building" at Los Angeles International Airport, designed by Paul Williams.

Photo credit: HACLA File

In his lifetime Williams designed more than 2,000 building projects in the U.S., France, and Colombia. Known as "the architect to the stars," he designed lavish homes for the Hollywood elite, such as Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra and William "Bojangles" Robinson. In fact, he was designing homes in places (such as Bel Air and Beverly Hills) where -- due to racial covenants -- he was barred from owning a home. He also designed many small homes and high profile commercial and municipal buildings. Notable Southern California buildings designed by Williams include:

-	The famous LA International Airport Theme Building
-	The Shrine Auditorium
-	The LA County Courthouse and Hall of Administration
-	The Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel

His residential designs were regularly published and he received numerous awards. In 1953, the NAACP awarded Williams the Spingarn Medal for his achievements. His own home in Hancock Park is designated as a historic cultural monument, and carefully watched over by his granddaughter Karen Hudson, who has written two books about him and his work.

"Biological Realism"

Richard J. Neutra (1892-1970).
Richard Neutra was an Austrian-born architect who established a practice in Los Angeles in 1926. He believed that people were happiest when linked closely to their natural environment, an idea he called "Biological Realism." This principle is reflected in Neutra's use of windows, moats, roofs, and terraces arranged in simple geometric forms, as well as his reliance on glass, light-weight steel, and thin concrete walls. Southern California's climate was ideally suited to this approach.

The von Sternberg house, designed by Neutra in 1935 and demolished in 1971

Photo credit: Julius Shulman

One of Neutra's most famous homes was designed in 1935 for film director Josef von Sternberg, built in the San Fernando Valley. Note how the elliptical wall on the left of the von Sternberg house curves out and away from the flat structure to the right, which is simply adorned with steel-framed windows. Compare these shapes to the playground wall at Pueblo, which juts forward - to the left - and away from the main building. Note how the flat façade of the social hall is also adorned simply (like the von Sternberg home) with large steel-framed windows and sliding glass doors.

HACLA's Channel Heights public housing development, built for San Pedro ship workers in 1942 and designed by Richard Neutra.

Photo credit: Julius Shulman

Like Paul Williams, Richard Neutra designed for a wide variety of persons and purposes, including public housing. Neutra's experimental approach with mass-produced prefabricated construction can be seen in the design of Pueblo del Rio and also in photos of the Channel Heights Housing Project (1941-1943). His concept of biorealism can also be seen in both developments, especially in the lovely, open-air, child-friendly façade that was the Pueblo Social Hall circa 1942. Although Channel Heights and the von Sternberg house have since disappeared, scores of modernist Neutra homes and office buildings may still be seen in Southern California, including his own residence in Silver Lake, which is open to the public.

The Design of Pueblo Del Rio

Richard Neutra and Paul Williams were not the only top Los Angeles-based architects to have a hand in the design of Pueblo del Rio. "Immediately prior to and during WWII, large individual residential commissions were rare," so "many top LA architects turned their talents to federally supported public housing" (Slawson 2). In addition to Williams and Neutra, the designers of Pueblo del Rio included Adrian Wilson, Gordon B. Kaufman, Wurdeman and Becket, and landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell. Known as the Southeast Housing Architects, Associated, the team began work on the project in 1940 and completed it in 1942, with 57 two-story buildings located on the 17.5-acre site (Slawson).

"The flat concrete roofs with overhanging eaves and well proportioned bands of vertical steel casement windows are believed to be among Neutra's contributions to the design." (Slawson 11)

Photo credit: Luckhaus Studio

Of all of the public housing built in Los Angeles in this period, "the buildings of Pueblo del Rio perhaps best express the ideals of the Modern movement and come nearest to fully formed International Style design. The complex is the only known local defense housing project in which concrete and masonry alone were used, without any wood framing" (Slawson 11). The bare simplicity of Pueblo del Rio's lines reflects Neutra's style, with its minimization of shapes and materials, elimination of extraneous detail, and maximally functional layout. The unifying repetition of a few, crisp, geometric shapes was effected with economy and clarity by employing only three materials: concrete, steel, and glass (Parson 1986).

A "compact, practical, and modern kitchen."

Photo credit: Leonard Nadel

The experimental, modern elements of Pueblo del Rio included the abandonment of historical style; a rationalized floor plan; the integration of indoor and outdoor space; and a compact, practical, and modern kitchen to minimize the unnecessary toil of housework. Separating vehicular and pedestrian traffic, Modern housing would be sited so as to engender a neighborhood with 'social gathering space' and 'communal play areas for children'", emblematizing "humanitarian visions of a modern Los Angeles in a fundamentally different direction than the cityscape of the actual Modern City" (Parson 1986 181).

The Garden City Style

"Federal standards for public housing projects did allow for climate, local social institutions, and building customs to play a role in shaping the architecture and site design; in areas where land costs were lower, projects could be built at a lower density." While Housing Act standards limited the forms and materials possible in the architecture of the units themselves, site design drew upon the principles of the "Garden City" movement. This innovation in urban design was pioneered by the likes of noted designer Clarence Stein "who prescribed the use of 'superblocks,' oversized blocks with groupings of multi-family dwellings arranged around a large communal park area that formed the community's heart and was faced by all houses" (Slawson 9).

An aerial photo of present day Pueblo del Rio illustrates the architects' deployment of the "Garden City" and "superblock" design concepts. The social hall, with its distinctive elliptical wall, can be seen in the upper right portion of the photo.

Photo credit: HACLA photo

The "superblock" concept involved "a fluid site plan which ignored lot lines, separated pedestrian and vehicular circulation, and oriented the buildings toward inner open space instead of street boundaries." This innovative use of space evolved into the norm for public housing in Southern California (Parson 1986 84). "Fiscal constraints and the generally conservative outlook of the controlling agencies prohibited the full realization of garden city planning principles in the design of Los Angeles' wartime public housing projects, but the attempt to employ these principles is recognizable in nearly all of them. The direct influence of the garden city models [on the design of Pueblo del Rio] cannot be fully assessed, but certainly the typical layout and allocations of space suggest that these concepts had been well assimilated" (Slawson 11).

Innovative Low-Cost Building Technologies

Innovative and practical pre-fabricated building techniques were used at Pueblo to help speed construction.

Photo credit: Luckhaus Studio

The architects of public housing in Los Angeles in this period were somewhat thwarted in their social aims by federal housing budgets that "viewed public housing in a cost-minded, utilitarian way which prevented public housing from ever being considered a success on strictly architectural grounds." Thus, architects turned their attention to technological problems and new building techniques needed due to wartime building material shortages and the constraints of quick construction schedules mandated by the sudden and urgent need for defense worker housing. "Project designers often had to change material specifications for the projects because of materials shortages." To speed construction, builders used new pre-fab building techniques. At Pueblo del Rio, builders used precast reinforced concrete slabs for ceilings, which shaved days off of the construction schedules for each building (Parson 1985 88).

African American History in Southern California

"Being able to find work, own a home, and raise a family relatively free of discrimination would cause many unknown African American pioneers to try their luck in the Golden State." Mulroy xii

Photo credit: Leonard Nadel

Los Angeles had a black minority since the earliest settlements. Yet, few Blacks moved from the Southern states (where 90% of black Americans lived until 1920) to the far West before the First World War (Ovnick 233). The cost of transportation was high and the poverty of Southern Blacks was severe. None of the tourist literature was aimed at them, nor was it easily accessible to rural black Southerners. Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, and later, Filipinos already filled the lowest-paying jobs in California. Most Southern Blacks who fled the economically troubled South prior to the Depression headed for the band of Northern industrial cities east of the Mississippi, in what has been called the "Great Migration." Between 1915 and 1918, a series of economic disasters hit the Deep South. The tide of displaced Black Southerners who had responded to job opportunities in Northeastern and North-Central industrial centers found themselves "compressed into ghettos and increasingly subjected to antagonism over strike-breaking controversies and neighborhood segregation. It was then that Black attention was drawn to what Los Angeles offered…" (Ovnick 233-234).

Housing Discrimination

Pueblo del Rio resident recipient of the "Garden of the Month" award.

Photo credit: Louis Clyde Stouman

Housing was the single most attractive aspect of the vision guiding Blacks to Los Angeles during the hard times of the '30s: "The widely reported ability of Black Angelenos to purchase a house, either for their own residence, or for investment as a rental property or profitable resale, was unparalleled… [I]n 1930 over one-third of L.A.'s Black families owned their own houses, whereas only 10.5 percent in Chicago, 15 percent in Detroit, and 5.6% in New York did so" (Ovnick 235). California's "…Spanish and Mexican heritage, the beauty of its landscape, the warmth of its climate, and a reputation for tolerance and inclusion make it an attractive place for almost everyone, but it holds a special appeal for the adventurer, the entrepreneur, the pioneer… Yet it would be the more modest prospect of being able to find work, own a home, and raise a family relatively free of discrimination that would cause many unknown African American pioneers to try their luck in the Golden State" (Mulroy xii).

Winning Housing Rights

The relatively high homeownership rates among African American Angelenos were not matched by fairness in housing choice for, in this period, "racial covenants" and other discriminatory practices restricted Blacks to living in only 5% of the city. The massive migration of workers, including men and women of color, into Los Angeles during WWII "posed a tremendous challenge to the existing pattern of racial segregation. Not surprisingly, racial tensions were extremely volatile" (Parsons 50). "The allocation of scarce housing, particularly public housing, among the various ethnic groups… brought the issues of segregation and integration to the fore of public debate and activism" (Parsons 52).

Actress and fair housing advocate Louise Beavers at Pueblo del Rio dedication ceremony. Appearing in 152 films between 1923 and 1960, Beavers is most widely known for virtually co-starring with Claudette Colbert in the 1934 version of Imitation of Life.

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

The struggle in Southern California against housing discrimination intensified during this period when white homeowners in the upscale "Sugar Hill" neighborhood tried to prevent African American families from moving into homes they had already purchased. Renowned actresses Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, and Ethel Waters joined other local leaders to overturn the demeaning racial covenants: "Their efforts resulted in the dismissal of the [discriminatory] injunction by the Los Angeles Superior Court. Thus, women who founded careers playing docile and submissive servants helped fire the opening shots in the legal battle against residential segregation in California - a battle that would culminate in the landmark Supreme Court decision… which outlawed restrictive covenants in 1948" (Moore 214-215).

Fairness in Housing Choice

Actress Theresa Harris speaks at Pueblo del Rio dedication ceremony. Harris appeared in 59 films, most notably in Miracle on 34th St (1947), Jezebel (1933), and Horse Feathers (1932).

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

Twentieth-Century black women "…preserved and extended the work that had begun two centuries earlier, establishing churches and voluntary organizations, fighting for education and voting rights, and seeking employment and social opportunities beyond the boundaries of race and gender. While their lives would remain circumscribed by those boundaries, they shouldered their personal and community responsibilities with determination and an abiding belief in the inclusivity of the California Dream" (Moore 210).

The Pueblo Del Rio Community

African American military band performs at Pueblo dedication ceremony

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

Pueblo del Rio resident youth perform in "The History of Dance," choreographed by Archie Savage. Savage was an actor, dancer, choreographer, appearing in such reknowned films as Cabin in the Sky (1943), South Pacific (1958), and the 1960 Felinni film La Dolce Vita.

Photo credit: HACLA file photo

Pueblo del Rio resident youth basketball team, sponsored by A&D Market.

Photo credit: HACLA file photo

Local choir performs at Pueblo dedication ceremony.

Photo credit: Jackie Greene

Pueblo Del Rio "Let's Not Forget The Past"

Bibliography

African American Registry. "Paul Williams Was a Brilliant Architect." Media Business Solutions. www.aaregistry.com.		Hines, Thomas S. Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture. NY: Oxford UP, 1982.

Barton, Craig Evans, Ed. Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race. NY: Princeton Architecture Press, 2001.		Hudson, Karen E. Paul R. Williams: A Legacy of Style. NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 1982.

California Arts and Architecture. "Pueblo del Rio: A Low Rental Housing Project." Vol. 59, May 1942, 32.		Jones, Frederick W. "Pueblo del Rio, Los Angeles' Most Recent Housing Project." Architect and Engineer. September 1942, 11-20.

California Arts and Architecture. "The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles." Vol. 60, May 1943, 32-66.		Moore, in L. De Graaf, K. Mulroy and Q. Taylor, eds. Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. LA, CA: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2001.

Cornell, Ralph D. "Landscaping of Pueblo del Rio." Architect and Engineer. September 1942, 21		Mulroy, Kevin, in L. De Graaf, K. Mulroy and Q. Taylor, eds. Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. LA, CA: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2001.

Cromley, Elizabeth. Gender, Class and Architecture. Knoxville: U. of Tennessee Press, 1995.		Ouroussoff, Nicolai. "Back to the Housing Lab: The restoration of L.A.'s Pueblo del Rio, built to acclaim in 1942, will say much about our society and its ideals today." Los Angles Times, Nov. 4, 2001, 6.

Cuff, Dana. The Provisional City: Los Angeles Stories of Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000		Ovnick, Merry. Los Angeles: The End of the Rainbow. LA, CA: Balcony Press, 1994.

Davis, Mike. City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. NY: Vintage Books, 1992.		Parson, Don. Urban Politics During the Cold War: Public Housing, Urban Renewal and Suburbanization in Los Angeles. Unpublished manuscript, 1985.

De Graaf, Lawrence B., Kevin Mulroy and Quintard Taylor. Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. LA, CA: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2001.		Parson, Don. Making a Better World: Public Housing in the Direction of Modern Los Angeles. To be published by University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Dunning, Brad. "A Destruction Site: The demolition of an important Neutra house kicks up a desert storm." New York Times Magazine, April 21, 2002, 67-73.		Slawson, Dana N. for Greenwood and Associates. "Historic Architectural Survey Report." July, 2000.

Greenstein, Albert. "Paul R. Williams." Historical Society of Southern California web site, www.socalhistory.org, retrieved September 5, 2003.		Wojlowicz, Robert. Lewis Mumford and American Modernism: Utopian Theories for Architecture and Urban Planning. Cambridge; NY: Cambridge U. Press, 1996.