Austin in 3D

An Italian man "rebuilds" historic central Nevada town using Google warehouse program.

By NEVADA MAGAZINE | May/June 2012

Photo: Claudio Grassi

In mid-March, we received an interesting e-mail from architecture and history buff Claudio Grassi, a Venice, Italy man who has rediscovered Austin, if you will.

The town, named for Austin, Texas, was first settled in 1862—which of course means it is home to a number of historic buildings. “A few weeks ago, I was studying American architecture, and I found a web image of the St. Augustine’s Church in Austin,” Grassi wrote. “From that day, I explored the web looking for pictures and information about Austin.”

It was an intriguing find for Grassi for another reason. “As I am also passionate [about reconstructing] buildings to be placed on Google Earth, I thought it would be amazing to reconstruct at least in part the interesting Austin.”
In one day, using a program called Google 3D warehouse, Grassi had “built” such Austin icons as the Stokes Castle, Gridley Store, Austin Garage, and International Café & Bar (pictured), in addition to the aforementioned St. Augustine’s. See more examples of Grassi’s work here.

While we are already more than impressed, Grassi says he has only just begun his re-creation of the burg. “It would be great to be able to reconstruct the entire Austin,” Grassi wrote in a follow-up e-mail. “I hope someday to come to Austin…and Carson City!”