Shifting Foundations

Tabletop Wayside Exhibit:
Moving the Lockkeeper’s House
712 words / Total Audio Description: 3 minutes, 57 seconds

Site Information
106 words / 1 minute, 16 seconds

This is an audio description of an interpretive sign titled Shifting Foundations. This table-like sign is 4 feet (1 meter) wide by 2 feet (0.5 meters) tall, and 3 feet (1 meter) off the ground on black painted aluminum legs. Behind the table is a 1-foot (0.3 meters)-high, 2 feet (0.6 meters) deep gray stone, a wide concrete sidewalk, then Constitution Avenue NW. To the right, on the other side of the stone wall is a wide concrete sidewalk and then 17th Street NW. To the left is the Lockkeeper’s House, a 2-story weathered stone building with a gable roof and brick chimneys at each end.

Exhibit Panel Content
201 words / 1 minute, 7 seconds

The title reads Shifting Foundations.This sign depicts a site map of the Lockkeeper’s House and two separate locations where the house once stood. In the map, a dark gray T-shape represent the intersection of 17^th Street and Constitution Avenue. A light gray area on either side of the street represents the sidewalk. Light green is used on the far right and far left sides of the sign, denoting grass.

Dark text at the bottom of the sign reads:

The Lockkeeper’s House has stood for over 175 years, but it hasn’t always stood right here. The original location of the house blocked traffic after 17th Street was built, so it was moved in 1915. In its original location, the house was built onto a slope and had three stories. The first time it moved, the lower level was left behind and buried under 17th Street. The house moved to its current location in 2017 to ensure its preservation. Two outlines in the sidewalk in front of you show the past locations of the house.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the sign, a maroon circle lined in light yellow with white text reads:

Why is it important to protect historic buildings?

Tactile Model
97 words / 32 seconds

The tabletop map features a small, bronze replica model of the Lockkeeper’s House in the lower left-hand corner, as well as dashed lines representing its former locations in the center of the map. On the far-left side of the sign, towards the middle, you’ll find a tactile legend with raised letters and braille that indicates two different textures: the former house locations as well as for grass.

Moving from left to right, the map is labelled with the following captions:

Lockkeeper’s House1915-2017
You Are Here
17^th Street
Constitution Ave
This legend also includes an arrow that points north for orientation.

[End of description.]