Governor's Mansion Museum - Marshall, MI
N 42° 15.924 W 084° 57.267
16T E 668705 N 4681269
The Governor's Mansion is a NRHP listed property built in 1839 in Marshall, Michigan.
Waymark Code: WM187W5
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 06/15/2023
Views: 0
The Governor's Mansion at Marshall is a two story white frame building constructed in the Greek Revival style. Built in a side-hall plan, it also has a one-story rear extension and a wide Doric portico at the front. The four columns of the porch support an unadorned Greek entablature. The center pair of columns are thought to be part of the original set, which were crafted in Detroit and hauled overland by ox into Marshall. The central mass has clapboard siding at the sides and horizontal plank siding at the front. At the front there are also two vertically elongated sash windows, while the front entrance is framed by inner and outer pilasters. The inner pair are decorated with carved acanthus leaves, somewhat unusual in a Greek Revival building, and there is a frieze window atop the door. A row of dentils adorns the cornice of the main portion of the house.
The interior, distinctly Greek Revival, contains a number of interesting features. The front and side parlors, the latter of which also served as a formal dining room, retain their original dark-stained hardwood floors and high ceilings. The rear extension contains the kitchen and a large pantry. It also has a side porch with four squared columns. A delicate wooden staircase with carved ornamentation leads to the second floor, which contains three bedrooms with sloping ceilings. The wall of the master bedroom has a trapdoor leading to the servant's quarters, a small ~apartment that has a staircase leadiing directly to the kitchen below. Restoration exposed the original hand-hewn beams and floorboards there, as well as the or1g1nal lath.
The extensive restoration project of the Mary Marshall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the present owners, has included the furnishing of the house with pieces appropriate to the mid and late nineteenth centuries. Alterations have been few over the years, the concrete foundations of the porches being the only noteworthy ones. Though it never served as Michigan's Governor's Mansion, the house is a reminder of both Marshall's pioneer heritage and Michigan's early political history.-
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