Tuesday, October 16, 2018

The New Deal Around DC: Jacob Baker's apartment

Above: Jacob Baker (1895-1967), at a theatre house in Washington, DC, December 1, 1936. Baker was an important administrator in the work & construction programs of the New Deal, especially with projects involving plays, music, writing, and art. He wrote in the New York Times: "It has been recognized that when an artist or musician is hungry he is just as hungry as a bricklayer and has the same right as a bricklayer has to be employed at his own trade. For the first time in our history, our government has become a patron of the arts, officially and quite unashamed" (November 11, 1934). Read Jacob Baker's biography on the website of the Living New Deal. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: According to the "New Deal Washington Walking Tour Guide" (Humanities Council of Washington, DC, 2009), Jacob Baker lived in apartment 903 at the "Park Central Apartments," 1900 F Street, NW (above). The building is now the "Mabel Nelson Thurston Hall," George Washington University. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: A closer look at the front of the building. The walking tour guide (see previous caption) notes "the fine Art Deco details over the front entrance of this building, constructed in 1930." Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

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