Evening star., 1940-07-07
Housing Plan
Asks Bids on
313 Homes
Project in Southeast
Washington Is Aid
In SIum Clearance
BY NELSON M. SHEPARD.

fifth public housing project under
Federally aided program were an
nounced yesterday by the Alley
Dwelling Authority, which invited
bids for 313 new homes on a vacant
30-acre site on the northwest side Of
Alabama avenue southeast, between
Stanton road and Twenty-frst
street, intended for colored families
of low income.
The tract of high. rolling land is
located in the long established COL
ored community of Douglass Heights,
also known as Garfield. Schools,
churches and recreational facilities
for the families to be housed there
are conveniently located nearby.
Financed by U. S. Loan.
Financed with a Federal loan of
81 .479 900 from the United States
Housing Authority, representing 80
per cent Of the estimated cost of
construction and development. the
plans for this new project embodv
some of the latest ideas in low-rent
housing architecture. Bids are to be
opened at the Office of the A. D. A.
on August 6, and it was expected
that completion would be called for
within 300 days after construction
starts. The total development cost
was estimated at approximately
81 .604 900.
The new project. which will be
known as the Frederick Douglass
Dwelling, will compensate in part for
slum structures razed by the A. D. A.
and other governmental agencies
in various sections within the past
year. The ! D. A. estimated yester-
day that 496A antilles had been forced
| to move from t'eir homes as result
OF the demolition of houses and
apartments on three slum clearance
sites now being developed.
Tenants Are Waiting.
Most of these families were as
sisted by the Authority in obtaining
living quarters elsewhere. Since the
fundamental idea behind the whole
public housing program is the re-
housing of slum dwellers, it was ex-
pected that as many of these fam
lilies as possible will eventually be
accommodated in the new A. D. A.
homes. There is no definite assur-
ance on this score. however. as rigid
rules of tenancy are set up for public
housing projects and families must
meet certain requirements OF low
income.
The Frederick Douglass Dwellings.
it was announced, are to be semi
detached and community typed, two
stories In height, with some one
story structures for architectural
purposes. Each dwelling will be
equipped with gas for cooking and
electricity for lighting. Space and
connections are provided for re-
frigeration. Most of the units will
be heated by individual hot-air cir
culators, fueled by coal although oil
circulators are provided for AZ of
the houses.
Convertible Arrangements.
A novel feature provided by Hill
yard r. Robinson, architect under
contract with the Authority. is a
system of convertible room arrange
ments. This will permit the shift
ing OF the use of one bedroom from
any flve-room dwelling in a group
to the adjoining three-room dwell
ing. thus providing two four-room
dwellings. The living accommoda-
tions for the 3l3 units will range
from three to six rooms to meet the
housing needs of families of yari-
Gus sizes and compositions. The
convertible" bedroom will be used
to avoid the necessity of a family
from moving for lack of adequate
living quarters.
Associated with the architect in
planning the development were
James Posey, mechanical and elec-
trical engineer, and David A. Willis
ton. landscape architect. Rents,
which are to be established after al
costs are known, are to be graded
so as to provide for families of vari-
GUS income levels in the lowest
groups. Generally, a ceiling of
about S1,100 year is applied to
such incomes at public housing prof.
ects financed with u S. H. A. loans.
The planning of this new project
was difficult one for the A. D. A.
1t is the first large outlying project
for Negro occupancy. According
to John Ihlder, executive officer of
the authority, the planning suf-
fered one DELAY after another.
Accord Was Problem.
The chief trouble seemed to be
in obtaining accord on the type of
| houses in terms of site development.
Then, too. was involved the routing
OF the Fort drive, part of which
will extend along one side Of the
property. This was worked out with
the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission through
mutually satisfactory exchange of
some land. The exchange gave the
A. D. A. sites for three buildings
in place of two, and frontage on
both sides of Bruce place instead
of one only.
When work starts on the site the
authority will have under actual
construction approximately 842
dwellings. The program is gradu-
ally rounding into shape. although
1t calls eventually for nine projects.
The first project was started last
November on Ridge road in Ana
costa for 326 white families.
More Are Planned.
Two slum clearance projects, one
for white and the other for colored
occupancy, also are under construc-
ton. They are the Ellen Wilson
Dwellings at Navy place in the
Southeast where about 218 homes
are being built for white families.
Adjacent to the Navy Yard, a COL
ored project for 314 families is being
built. These two developments en-
tailed the demolition of numerous
sub-standard dwellings.
A third slum site is being de-
molished just south of Howard