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. Rutherford purchased the lot from Laurent Garneau, a prominent
Métis businessman. 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 Arthur G. Wilson and David 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 into the home in February 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
Delta Upsilon fraternity chapter for $9500, corresponding to the cost of construction. The negotiations of the sale were handled by Cecil Rutherford and
Francis Winspear, a founding member of the Alberta chapter of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Between 1941 and 1969, the house was occupied by members of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Ed Bate was the first member to live in the home, moving in in late 1940 to serve as a caretaker for the home. He later married Ruth McCuaig, one of Rutherford's granddaughters. Roughly twenty to twenty-five members occupied the home throughout the year. Among the hundreds of Delta Upsilon alumni who called Rutherford House home are several individuals of note, including
Allan Warrack,
Lou Hyndman, and
Peter Lougheed, Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985. The Delta Upsilon fraternity vacated the house in 1969, following expropriation by the University of Alberta in 1968. The
Board of Governors of the University of Alberta agreed to lease the house to the Alberta government for forty years in late 1970 following an agreement with Minister of Public Works
Albert W. Ludwig, Many of the historic artifacts currently in the house are originals, donated by Hazel Elizabeth Rutherford and Helen Reid Rutherford (Cecil Alexander Rutherford's wife). A copy of
Victor Albert Long's portrait of Rutherford also hangs in the home's library. The site was designated a provincial historic resource on June 28, 1979. ==Friends of Rutherford House Society==