John

Just slightly outside your 100 mile radius is the First Government House site in Sydney, Australia.

The site was largely excavated in 1983-4, with subsequent seasons in the early 1990s.  The footprint of the front [oldest] section of the house is now preserved as public plaza, with the floorplan delineated by different paving.  At the rear of the ite is a high rise tower, with a museum about the site occupying the first few levels, operated by the Historic Houses Trust.  Sections of the footings are preserved inside and outside the museum beneath glass or lexan.

The installations themsleves appear to be robust and do not appear to require regular touching up, although I dont know what sort of maintenance regime is required.

It kind of works, but is hampered in that a lot of the interperetation does not try to explain in simple terms what you are looking at - this may be a more general criticism of cutting edge interpretation assuming audiences have a greater literacy and ability to read fabric and text than my parents for example, or people with no historical knowledge of the place, have.

One other difficulty is that the display areas are pretty small and I have listed to people try to make sense of three lines of wall footing zooming off in all directions, in the bottom of a square hole.  Most people are not used to looking at archaeological features and intuitively credit the sides of our trenches as being as 'real' as the footings, and as part of the thing on display.

The Historic houses Trust also operates the Hyde Park Barracks building, which retains excavated floorscapes that are visible from an elevated walkway.

For more information try Susan Hunt from the Museum - <[log in to unmask]> or the website at <www.hht.nsw.gov.au>.

Denis

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** 
Denis Gojak
Heritage Asset Manager
NSW Department of Urban Affairs and Planning
2-10 Wentworth Street
Parramatta NSW 2150
PO Box 404 Parramatta 2124
Ph:    +61 2 9895 7940
Fax:   +61 2 9895 7946
Email: [log in to unmask]

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/20 1:29 am >>>
Our firm has been retained by a client in Los Angeles to assist them in
developing an outdoor interpretive display for a Spanish colonial site with
stone foundations and tile floors. The objective is to display the
foundations and tile floors in a manner that will allow the public to view
them in situ. The viewing area that is being considered currently is a set of
transparent viewing panels within a sidewalk, protected by a barrier to
protect the installation from both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The
resource is about 10 cm below the current grade.

What we are currently seeking are similar viewing examples (either good or
bad). We would appreciate advice, suggestions, or comments on the following
questions:

Do you know of any comparable outdoor interpretive displays ?

If so, where ?

Do you know what environmental or maintenance controls are used and/or
necessary ?

Do you consider the installation(s) successful as interpretive displays ? Or
as a physical form ?

Can you suggest any displays of in situ historic materials within 100 miles
of downtown Los Angeles which we can visit ?

Do you know of any engineering/architectural or other firms which have
created such displays ?

We will be grateful for any advice, comments, and suggestions.

John M. Foster, RPA