The old is mixing with the new.
University of South Florida researchers are using 3D technology to map out the historic Jackson Rooming House in Tampa, after receiving a $1 million grant from the Vinik Family Foundation.
The Jackson House, built in 1901, served as lodging during the Jim Crow era to Black travelers. Preservation has been long in the works: USF began working on the project from an archeology and historic standpoint in 2004 and then began looking into the preservation side in 2011.
"We started working to see what we could do with the 3D strategies and we saw how much detonation was happening," said Lori Collins, USF associate professor and co-director of the Digital Heritage and Humanities Center. "Around 2011 that was when it was heightened to, 'We better do something soon with 3D or we won’t be able to get all of this.'"
USF began doing pro bono work with the Tampa Bay History Center, capturing data before funding was secured for fear of the home's deterioration. After garnering some attention, the Vinik Family Foundation stepped in. Work was set to begin and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
"Ironically with Covid we thought we couldn’t do anything," Collins said. "But with the 3D data, we did a virtual tour we could share with everyone on the team and were able to do a lot remotely."
Progress has moved steadily since the Viniks got behind the project. The roof was inspected with the help of a drone and the structure itself has been stabilized. The group is finishing up capturing the details of the structure, which can be done to the accuracy of a few millimeters thanks to the technology.
"It's different than most consulting projects because you have to consider preserving everything with the integrity of it," Collins said.
Some pieces that are deemed historical but in need of repair, such as a piece of a fireplace, will be recreated in models and used for replica reproduction.
"We are going with the [rooming house] concept design, where each room has a number and each room you walk into tells a different story of Tampa ... especially the vibrancy of the Black community, just trying to bring it back virtually," Collins said.
The ultimate goal for the building is to become a museum, showcasing light Tampa's history.
"Today the house just sits there alone; the train depot is around the street but what would it look like if you would have been in the Black business district?" Collins said. "With the vibrancy, with the arts and music ... so working with Tampa Bay History Center, that's the idea. To bring those elements back to life, to understand what that community both meant in the past and what it means today."
