Edison Courts, Miami, Florida

Edison Courts, is a Public housing 345-unit apartment complex in Miami, Florida. Edison Courts are located between NW 62nd and 67th Streets and 2nd and 4th Avenues in the Little Haiti area of Miami, Florida.

During the Great Depression, the works progress Administration (WPA) hired many local architects, contractors and workers to construct public works projects in Miami. The 345-unit low rent housing project Edison Courts, completed in 1941 and designed by the firm of Paist and Stewart with associate architects Robert Law Weed, Vladimir Virrick and E.L. Robertson, provided public housing for white people. It was similar in scale and design to Liberty Square for Blacks (1936) designed by the same firm. Both projects were integrated in the 1960s. Edison Courts has maintained most of its historic ambience and is a wonderful example of WPA craftsmanship and design. [ [http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=113347726&sid=3&Fmt=1&clientId=55008&RQT=309&VName=HNP] "Miami Gets Low-Rent Housing" New York Times,May 7, 1939. pg. RE6, 1 pg. ISSN 0362-4331 ProQuest document ID: 113347726. (subscription) viewed 9/30.2006]

Edison Courts is notable as the first low rent housing project to have free hot water provided by solar water heaters. Each dwelling unit was to have on its roof a shallow glass-covered box with copper pipes running through it. The sun's rays would heat the water in the pipes to 180 degrees F, after which it would be stored in an insulated tank for bathing and clothes washing. [ [http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=93940103&sid=4&Fmt=1&clientId=55008&RQT=309&VName=HNP] "Low-Rent Houses to Get Solar Water Heaters" New York Times Jul 10, 1939. pg. 27, 1 pg. ISSN 0362-4331 . ProQuest document ID: 93940103. (subscription) viewed 9/30/2006]

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