The Williamsburg Houses is a New York City Housing Authority development in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood, New York City, New York.
The Williamsburg Houses were built in 1937 under the auspices of the New York City Housing Authority, standing between Maujer and Scholes Streets, and Leonard Street and Bushwick Avenue, its four-story residential buildings occupying twelve city blocks. It was one of the first and most costly (in 1937 dollars) of New York City housing projects, and is on the List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn.
The chief architect of the project was Richmond Shreve, and the design team of nine other architects was led by the pioneering Swiss-American modernist William Lescaze. The 20 residential buildings are positioned to allow a sequence of courtyards, playgrounds, and ball courts between them; a school and community building are part of the site plan, and two curving pedestrian pathways cut through the grounds. The houses are oriented towards the sun at a 15-degree angle.
A $70-million-dollar renovation in 199[clarification needed] was done by the NYCHA's architect David J. Burney.
The projects also integrated art. Painter Francis Criss completed a 1938 oil-on-canvas mural (marouflage) of the Sixth Avenue L. An abstract mural by Ilya Bolotowsky has recently been re-discovered and is being restored. Both of these works were commissioned under the New Deal-era Federal Art Project.
New York City Council politician Rosie Méndez grew up in the development.
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