An old picture of the mansion from before 1.2
The lovely Governor's Mansion was originally built by Steller Sunshine way back during the Alpha (early, early testing) days of Second Life (at that time known as Linden World). All other resident builds created during Alpha were deleted, except for the Mansion and another build by Steller which was a cabin, her first home (The Man Statue being the only Linden build from Alpha). After being carried over to the main grid, the cabin was used by Robin Linden in Taber as her home for a while. The mansion, which resides in Clementina, was given by Steller to the Lindens to preserve it for the crossover from Alpha to Beta testing.
The mansion was home to Steller throughout the Alpha testing phases, and was the location for many of the first parties in Second Life and other memorable events.
Now the mansion is home to Governor Linden and, over time, has gained and lost some objects. The gained objects were plaques and namestones from Linden Lab and the residents of Second Life proclaiming thanks and gratitude -- these objects could have been seen in the grassy overlook. Also, a time capsule was added and later opened at a ceremony. Between 6/17/2003 and 6/25/2004, anyone was able to drop items into the time capsule if they wished to add to it. The time capsule could have been found in the ground near the guest house. The lost objects are objects that were deleted due to when Second Life switched to the new "Prim Allotment Via Land Amount" system in 1.2. Thankfully, land was purchased before all of the mansion was auto-deleted by the server--the main loss being the basement which is accessible through a hole in the pool and a door with a drop down inside the house.
Over time some more changes have happened. The plaques and namestones had been deleted. The time capsule also has, of course, been opened and deleted (see First Birthday Event for more information about the time capsule opening). Also, some objects have been restored, and others had been deleted.
With its beautiful view, great architecture, fantastic use of prims, and friendly environment, this mansion still stands as one of the greater builds in Second Life. And it will continue to do so because a group was put together (in large part by the efforts of Jake Cellardoor) to restore the Governor's Mansion to its former original glory. The team, under Linden Lab backing, has so far done a great job of replacing lost objects--even some that have been missing since 1.2 or earlier.
The mansion was also home to dual protests on June 6th, 2006, by factions both for and against stipends.
You can still visit this great work by Steller Sunshine here at Clementina (176, 118).
Images[]
Old Alpha era picture inside the mansion.
Far shot, plaque to LL, plaque to users, and time capsule.
See Also[]
- Clementina - Historical information about the sim the Governors Mansion is located in.
- Steller's own Lindenworld gallery with several mansion shots. [Archived]