TAMPA, Fla. – It may be nearly 120 years old, but the historic Jackson House is being seen in a whole new way.

Researchers from USF are now using 3D technology to map out the house, which is helping with the ongoing restoration.

Lori Collins, head of the USF Digital Heritage and Humanities Collections, is leading the team that brings history alive.

“We felt we needed to respond and do this before it was too late,” Collins said.

She has been working on the house for years, but recently her team started doing 3D mapping to help with the restoration efforts. 

Specialists use tech like laser scanning and drones that can pick up even the most minor details. 

“Think of things like the mantle on a fireplace that may be in fragments. Maybe we are missing part of it. We’re actually able to document that in three dimensions so that we can work with fabricators to produce parts that are missing,” Collins said.

That work has been crucial to the groups fixing up the building to preserve its place in Tampa history. The Vinik family gave a $1 million grant to the Jackson House Foundation to help restore it.

The historic house was used as place for black travelers to stay in Tampa during the Jim Crow era. It was built in 1901.

Collins feels working on it now comes at a crucial time.

“We see this has being as being a project for the local community but really also for the national picture,” Collins said. “With all of the strife playing out on the national level, I see this as a touchstone project where you can see people really coming together as a benefit for the community and history.”

The plan is for the building to one day become a museum, which the virtual models will be important to building.