Lockkeeper's House, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Extension
- Year
- 1835
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- federal washington
The Lockkeeper's House is the oldest building on the National Mall, a small Federal-style stone structure built in 1837 at the southwest corner of 17th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. It housed the lockkeeper who collected tolls, recorded commerce, and managed traffic where an eastward extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal met the Potomac River and the Washington City Canal.
the building
Life and death of the canal. The C&O Canal extension was built between 1832 and 1833 to link up with the Washington City Canal, and the 350-square-foot lockkeeper's house went up in 1837 to serve it. The canal lasted only about 30 years before it was overtaken by the railroads and abandoned in 1855, its channel deteriorating into an open sewer.
the style
Built in the Federal style typical of its early-19th-century construction date, the house is a modest, functional stone building rather than a showpiece — its interest lies in its age and survival rather than its ornament.
More on Federalsignificance
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated DC Historic Landmark #L_0086.
nearby
- Pan American Union (Organization of American States)
- Memorial Continental Hall
- Constitution Hall
- Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building
- American National Red Cross
- United States Public Health Service Building