Rutherford House
Rutherford House is a historic building and museum in the Strathcona area of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The structure was the home of the first Premier of Alberta, Alexander Cameron Rutherford, from 1911 to 1941, and has subsequently been designated as an Alberta provincial historic site. Overview Rutherford House was built by Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1911 on a large lot in the former City of Strathcona near the University of Alberta campus for $25,000. The residence, initially called Achnacarry by the Rutherford family, after their ancestral castle in Scotland, is now known as Rutherford House Provincial Historic Site. In 1966 the house was designated for demolition as the University of Alberta made plans for expansion. It quickly became a public concern to save the structure. The University Women's Club played a key role in saving this historic resource and in 1970 the Alberta government announced its decision that the house would be preserved. The Rutherford House is operated by Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Sites and Museums Branch and is assisted by the Friends of Rutherford House, a non-profit, charitable society, formed in 1985 to assist the province with the preservation and presentation of this historic site. Architecture The two-storey structure features Elizabethan and Jacobean motifs, with red brick exterior with sandstone trim, tall chimneys, columned porches and two-storey bay windows. The interior of Rutherford House was designed to serve as both a residence and for reception, with ceilings, and a grand central hall staircase detailed in oak, with oak panelling and a stained glass skylight. The dining room is the largest room in the house at featuring a bay window with fir wainscotting and decorative fir ceiling beams. History On 29 May 1909, Alexander Cameron Rutherford became the owner of a superset of the lot now occupied by Rutherford House. The description of him on the certificate title of ownership reads "a gentleman of Strathcona". By late 1909 plans for the house were drawn up by the firm of A.G. Wilson and D.E. Herrald, British-trained architects and civil engineers, and excavation completed by Strathcona contractors James Smith and J.T. Radford. During the following spring of 1910 Thomas Richards, another Strathcona contractor and master bricklayer, prepared the foundation, which was poured by the end of May 1910. The double brick walls were built during the summer of 1910, with some of the work being done by Thomas Richards himself. Work proceeded on the elegant hardwood interior over the winter, with the house being fit for occupancy by February 1911. Rutherford House when completed in 1911 had a number of modern features including hot running water, electric lighting, flush toilets, and telephones. The Rutherford family of four, including Alexander Cameron Rutherford, Mattie Birkett Rutherford, Cecil Alexander Rutherford and Hazel Elizabeth Rutherford moved in by the end of March 1911. The Rutherfords occupied the house until September 1940, when Mattie Birkett Rutherford died on September 13, 1940. In June 1941, Rutherford House was sold, by Alexander, to the University of Alberta