Marshall House HVAC

In the spirit of using this blog to keep you current on some of the background of the properties, this is an update on the pending need to replace the aging heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system in the John Marshall House. From the beginning of our involvement with the Marshall House in 1911 until 2005, it (the Marshall House) was actually owned by the City of Richmond. After pressure from local preservationists forced the City to abandon its plans to demolish the house to make way for a new John Marshall High School in 1911, the City of Richmond passed an ordinance giving APVA the right to operate the property as a museum. It also served as the headquarters office of the then all-volunteer organization throughout the middle decades of the 20th century. The City gave the deed of the House to APVA in 2005 as part of the 250th anniverasay of John Marshall's birth.

The major renovation of the House into the condition we know it today was undertaken between 1974 and 1976. This was also around the time of the construction of the adjacent City Hall tower. The City agreed to install piping between the two buildings so that the chilled or heated water from the City Hall mechanical equipment would also feed a then state of the art air handling system in the basement of the Marshall House and provide interior heating and cooling. This system worked pretty well for 30 years.

Now the major systems in City Hall are nearing or just past their useful life as is the air handler in the Marshall House. The other challenge has been that the way the system is designed, we get either chilled water for air conditioning or hot water for heating, but not both. And once the switch is made, it stays that way for the next six months or so. With the variable Richmond weather, this often leads to uncomfortable days during the transition periods in the spring and fall. The Historic Structures Report (HSR) completed for the Marshall House three years ago recommended we install our own stand-alone system, which would allow us to control the temperature ourselves to reflect the actual weather conditions, and provide humidity control which the current system cannot do.

As the retreat ended yesterday, we received the first actual cost proposal for doing this. It came in at $120,000. This would involve completely removing the 1976 equipment in the basement mechanical room, capping off the pipes from the City Hall and running a natural gas feed line into the basement. We would have a two zoned system allowing each floor to be maintained at a constant temperature, and the ability to maintain the humidity inside the house at a constant range of 45 - 50%. It would require two outside condenser units, likely placed at the far corner of the backyard, near the enclosed area for trash cans.

This is a system that we will have to install in the next couple of years as the City changes its systems and we lose what we have, and as our equipment ages even more. We will secure additional proposals but the $100K range is about where we will likely end up. Another fund raising challenge, but an opportunity to provide a more museum friendly interior environment for the house and its remarkable collection. I'll keep you posted! - Louis