Greenbelt, Maryland -
New Deal Art Deco Architecture

The little suburb of Greenbelt, built by the federal government in the 1930's as part of a New Deal housing project, is studded with cool art deco architecture and statuary. Much of it is very Rooseveltian-socialist in inspiration; check out the Depression-era relief carvings alongside the Greenbelt community center downtown, esp. at night when they're illumninated. They depict several phrases of the preamble to the US Constitution, stuff like "Insure Domestic Tranquility," and, alarmingly, "Provide for the Common Defense." The stolid, Stakhanov-like figures make you want to go reread a Steinbeck novel and start calling everyone "Comrade." [Josh, 04/01/2005]