Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension

The Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension is the oldest building on the National Mall,[2] built in 1837[2] at what is now the southwest corner of 17th Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW, near Constitution Gardens.

Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension
South side of Lockkeeper's House in August 2018
Location17th Street, and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Coordinates38°53′31″N 77°2′23″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1835
NRHP reference No.73000218[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 30, 1973
The Washington City Canal, circa 1851

The building dates to a period when the south end of 17th Street, NW was a wharf and Constitution Avenue, NW was the location of a section of the Washington City Canal, which connected the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. An eastward extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal) met the Potomac River and the Washington City Canal at a canal lock.[2][3][4]

The 350 square foot house served the canal lock keeper, who collected tolls, recorded commerce, maintained the canal and managed traffic.

History

The C & O Canal was extended between 1832 and 1833, to connect to the Washington City Canal.[3] The lockkeeper's house was built in 1837 for toll collecting and record keeping, only to be abandoned in 1855 with the demise of the canal 30 years after its construction — which by then had ceded transportation of heavy goods to the nascent railroads and deteriorated into an open sewer.[3]

In disrepair, the building became a squatters' tenement[5] and in 1903 was partially renovated as a headquarters for the United States Park Police, with a holding cell. The house was relocated west in 1915 and aligned in its original east-west orientation parallel to B Street, NW (now Constitution Avenue, NW), which had been constructed above former sections of the Washington Canal and of the C&O Canal Extension after the covering of the two canals. Changes made to the structure at the time included removal of the original brick chimneys and their replacement with shorter stone chimneys.[6]

On July 4, 1928, the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks installed a historical plaque on the building's exterior.[7] In 1940, the first floor of the building was used as rest rooms then used as storage.[8] It ultimately sat boarded up for forty years.[2] As the intersection grew, street and sidewalk traffic encroached increasingly on the house until the traffic became adjacent to the house.[2]

In October 2017, a National Park Service (NPS) contractor moved the building 36 feet (11.0 m) to the south and 35 feet (10.7 m) to the west (away from Constitution Avenue, NW, and 17th Street, NW) while retaining the structure's east-west orientation.[9][10] The NPS restored the building's exterior to its pre-1915 modifications and replaced the structure's brick chimneys, thus restoring the building to its original 1800s appearance. The building reopened temporarily in late August 2018 and permanently on September 13 of that year.[6][10][11] The house now serves in its new location as an NPS education center as part of the first phase of a renovation of Constitution Gardens.[2][12]

Pictures

1900s
  • Lock Keeper's House, Facade
  • Exterior of Lock Keeper's House
    Between circa 1920 and circa 1950
  • Lock Keeper's House from across Constitution Avenue

2000s
  • North side of Lockkeeper's House facing sidewalk of Constitution Avenue in 2008
  • Lockkeeper's House plaque photographed in 2009
  • North side of Lockkeeper's House facing Constitution Avenue in 2012
  • South side of Lockkeeper's House in 2013
gollark: No, but simplify shop can handle it.
gollark: n64c: yes, it was entirely unused and a worthless cobble junk.
gollark: Sorry, crashiness.
gollark: οκαy.
gollark: You could sell nonmending ones for the ultracheapo consumer.

References
  1. "Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension". Natonal Register of Historic Places: NPGallery Digital Asset Management System. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  2. Weiner, Talia (July 5, 2018). "181-Year-Old Lockkeeper's Tiny House Ready For Its Next Chapter". NPR. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  3. Dillon, Helen, National Capital Parks (November 17, 1972). "Lockkeeper's House, C & 0 Canal Extension". National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  4. "Why is there a Lockkeepers House on the Mall?". Mallhistory.org. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  5. "Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  6. "We're Moving the Lockkeeper's House". Lockkeeper's House: Phase I of the Rehabilitation of Constitution Gardens. Trust for the National Mall. Archived from the original on July 22, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  7. Pfingsten, Bill (ed.). ""Lock Keeper's House" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  8. "Lockkeeper's House". Washington, DC: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. National Park Service: United States Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  9. (1) "Constitution Gardens – Historic Lockkeepers House Relocation". Wolfe House & Building Movers. October 2017. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
    (2) "Lockkeepers House Move at the National Mall in DC". Wolfe House & Building Movers. October 16, 2017. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  10. "Historic Lockkeeper's House Opens on the National Mall Following Major Renovation". Washington, D.C.: Trust for the National Mall. October 23, 2018. Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  11. (1) Ruane, Michael E. (August 29, 2018). "'No one famous lived here,' but the old stone house on the Mall has endured". Retropolis. Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 3, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
    (2) Palka, Liz (August 30, 2018). "Historic lock keeper's house reopens to the public on the National Mall". WUSA9. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  12. "Come see the restored Lockkeeper's House". Lockkeeper's House. Washington, D.C.: Trust for the National Mall. Archived from the original on December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
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