December 11, 2013

 Preservation Virginia’s The John Marshall House

Google Street View – Draft

 

December 5th, 2013

For Immediate Release:

 

For More Information Contact:

Jennifer Hurst-Wender-Preservation Virginia

jhurstwender@preservationvirginia.org/ 804-314-7530

 

 

Step Inside The John Marshall House
with Google Street View Mapping Service

 

Richmond, VA: Starting today, with the assistance of Google Street View and without leaving the comfort of your home, you can walk through the rooms of the Great Chief Justice’s Richmond home.

 

Preservation Virginia is working with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) to utilize the Google Street View technology to provide 360º view of the home, available to all through Google Maps mapping service. “We are thrilled that the house will be accessible to everyone online,” said Jennifer Hurst-Wender, Associate Director of Museum Operations at Preservation Virginia. “This technology offers people around the world the opportunity to experience the home of one of the most influential figures in early American history. You can literally navigate through all the public spaces, even up and down the stairs! This Google Street View technology will help us to raise awareness of The John Marshall House and the Judicial and Preservation legacies the house embodies.”

 

Google Earth Outreach trained the VFH to collect indoor Street View imagery; VFH will be able to use the borrowed equipment – borrowed from Google Earth Outreach – to collect indoor Street View themselves, for future historic locations in Virginia. The images were matched to the geographic location on the map, and then “stitched” together to create a 360º image. Online visitors will be able to take a virtual tour through Preservation Virginia’s John Marshall House and garden.

 

“Google Street View technology provides a great vehicle for VFH to help promote some of the lesser known historic places that are incredibly important to the history and cultural fabric of Virginia,” said Matthew Gibson, Director of Digital Initiatives for VFH. “We’re always looking for new ways to share important history and culture with the public. Google Street View is a perfect vehicle for us. With it we can raise the profile of historic sites like The John Marshall House by making them more accessible to a larger audience.

 

To tour the John Marshall House on Google Street View go to www.maps.google.com, and search for “John Marshall House”. If you’re using the new Google Maps, click on the “See Inside” thumbnail directly under your search result. If you’re using classic Google Maps, click on the Street View thumbnail in the left hand panel. On either classic or new, you can also just drag and drop the pegman on the John Marshall House to begin your tour.

 

 

About The John Marshall House

This large two story brick house located in the heart of Richmond ‘s fashionable 19th century “Court End” district was home to John Marshall and his wife Polly, and their family from 1790 until his death in 1835.

 

Marshall is best known as the “Great Chief Justice” for his role in creating the modern Supreme Court. He served from 1801 until his death in 1835 and his influential decisions such as Marbury v. Madison helped shaped the principle of judicial review. Marshall was a true Founding Father, serving in local, state and national government as well as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the United States Government. He was also well known locally as a leading member of Richmond society and a gracious and jovial host.

 

Listed on the National and Virginia historic registers, the John Marshall House has undergone remarkably few changes since Marshall’s lifetime. The property remained in the Marshall family until 1911 when it was sold to the City of Richmond. Originally slated for destruction in order to make way for the John Marshall High School, the house was saved by local preservationists. Preservation Virginia has operated the John Marshall House as a museum since 1913 and is celebrating a century of preservation.

 

Open to the public Friday through Sunday, March through December

 

About Preservation Virginia

Preservation Virginia, a private non-profit organization and statewide historic preservation leader founded in 1889, is dedicated to perpetuating and revitalizing Virginia’s cultural, architectural and historic heritage thereby ensuring that historic places are integral parts of the lives of present and future generations. Preservation Virginia provides leadership, experience, influence, and services to the public and special audiences by saving, managing, and protecting historic places, and developing preservation policy, programs, and strategies with individuals, organizations, and local, state, and national partners. For more information, visit www.preservationvirginia.org, find us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter @preservationva.

 

For more information on the John Marshall House please contact Bobbie LeViness, Site Coordinator at (804) 648-7998 or johnmarshllhouse@preservationvirginia.org.

 

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Press Contact

Jennifer Hurst-Wender

Associate Director of Museum Operations and Education

(804) 314-7530

jhurstwender@preservationvirginia.org