Modernizing Main Street: Architecture and Consumer Culture in the New Deal

摘要

Between 1934 and 1943, American retailers modernized their storefronts with the help of $4 to $6 billion in low-interest loans and cash payments from federally secured private lenders. In this book, architectural historian Gabrielle Esperdy takes a close look at the Modernization Credit Planrn(MCP) authorized by Title I of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), showing how it transformed both the physical appearance and the cultural meaning of commercial buildings on Main Streets across the country, from Anaconda, Montana, to Reading, Pennsylvania.