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Online Heritage Inventory

R.G. Ransford House

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of R.G. Ransford House
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Ransford House
Address: 10700 Railway Avenue
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: c. 1931
Current Owner: Private
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The house at 10700 Railway Avenue is a two-storey, rectangular, Craftsmen inspired farmhouse bungalow, with a side gable roof, hipped gable front dormer, and modest proportions. It is oriented towards the major thoroughfare of Railway Avenue and has a detached garage of the same style and era.

 Statement of Values
Constructed between 1931 and 1936, the house at 10700 Railway Avenue evokes a sense of place reminiscent of a time in Richmond's history when the construction of modest farmhouses and the aspirations of the middle class were creating new and distinct neighbourhoods in Richmond. Originally located on a large tract of farmland at the corner of Steveston Highway and Railway Avenue, and oriented towards Railway Avenue the B.C. Electric Railway, and Branscombe Station, the house reflects the historical pre-World War I small-lot residential subdivision occurring in parts of the municipality.
The house and garage structures are important as the last traces of the original agricultural pattern prevalent in West Richmond in the early 20th century, and the transition from farming to residential land use. Both buildings are in their original locations while the surrounding lands have been subdivided, land uses changed, and characteristic internal circulation patterns have been developed.
The house has heritage value in its connection to Robert G. Ransford and the Ransford family’s commitment to their community through both politics and business enterprise. It also represents a connection to the small-scale agricultural pursuits of modest farming families in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a connection to the fishing industry which was so important to the Steveston community.
Now becoming rare, the house is a good representative example of a Craftsman-influenced bungalow, a housing type both compact and convenient, that became popular in Richmond in the first decades of the twentieth century. The house represents the modest and hard working farming and fishing families in Richmond, at a time when the Arts and Crafts movement was making good design available to the middle class. The two storey, rectangular from of the building moderately pitched gable roof, dormer windows and decorative leaded glazing reflect these Craftsman origins.

 Character Defining Elements
· Its setting, which still retains traces of mature trees and the original subdivision layout
· Its location of the house in Steveston, and its proximity to Steveston Townsite which reflects it agricultural roots and the settlement patterns in Steveston, its relationship to Steveston Highway and Railway Avenue, and its proximity to the B.C. Electric Railway route and, originally, Branscombe Station
· The setback of the building from the street, which recognizes its original context of farmhouse with open fields and agriculturally related buildings to the rear
· The rectangular form, horizontal massing and modest scale of the house that reflect both its Craftsman influenced style and its small farmhouse origins
· Wood construction as expressed by its wood frame and exterior cladding of horizontal lapped siding above and cedar shingles below
· Decorative elements that reflect the Craftsman style, including wide painted fascia boards and scrolled brackets below the shed dormers
· The roof, which is a moderately pitched side gable overall transitioning to a shed roof at the rear and with a shed roof with hipped porch overhang on the front façade
· Numerous dormer windows, including a prominent hipped roof dormer on the front façade, and shed dormers on the two side façades and the rear roof
· The two offset right brick chimneys
· Window fenestration, which is symmetrical on the front façade, asymmetrical on the remaining facades, and which indicate the interior layout of the house
· Mix of decorative window styles, which include vertical casement, two sashes, 1/1 with vertical leaded glass pattern; horizontal casement, one sash with diamond leaded glass pattern; and casement windows with one pane and sidelights with diamond leaded glass pattern
· Molded trim around the windows
· Landscape features including mature trees, detached garage and front hedge

 History
The house at 10700 Railway Avenue is a two-storey, rectangular, Craftsmen inspired farmhouse bungalow, with a side gable roof, hipped gable front dormer, and modest proportions. It is oriented towards the major thoroughfare of Railway Avenue and has a detached garage of the same style and era.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Craftsman influenced bungalow

 Building Type
Domestic

 Name of Architect or Builder
James Spargo, carpenter

 Design Features
The house is rectangular in plan with a concrete foundation. The roof is a side gable with a hipped roof dormer on the font façade, and which transitions to a shed roof extension at the rear. The house is symmetrical from the front, with windows spaced equally on either side of the hipped porch roof, and one centred above; the front door has been realigned which interrupts the symmetry of the front façade. The north façade has two symmetrically spaced shed dormers, each with a horizontal window, with a vertical casement centred above. The south façade has a concrete enclosed brick chimney with one vertical window on each side and a shed dormer with horizontal double hung, wooden sash window.
All of the windows except for the wooden sash window have decorative leaded glass detailing, in diamond or vertical patterns. The windows in the front façade are horizontal with diamond patterned leaded glass sidelights.
The building cladding is horizontal lapped siding on the first floor, with a course of cedar shingles below.
The roof cover is asphalt shingles, presumably covering original cedar shingles. It is painted grey-green with white black and white trim.

 Construction Method
Wood frame construction

 Landscape Significance
Landscape Element
While the shrub planting and garden structures surrounding the house are recent, the place exhibits traces of its early roots, including mature trees to the rear and traces of agricultural structures including the detached garage and small shed on a neighbouring lot.

 Integrity
Alterations
The house is virtually the same in appearance on the exterior as when it was first built, with the exception of the front staircase and vestibule which were re-aligned and enclosed in the late 1950s and the addition of a rear sun deck. The rear garage was built the same time as the house. The roof line of that building was modified in the 1980s to accommodate the suite. Both buildings are in their original locations.
While the interior of the house has not been investigated, it is known that the original hardwood floors remain.
The house retains much of its original character, and alterations are considered to be minor.

 Original Location
Yes

 Condition
The house is in very good condition.

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Denise Cook, BLA, PBD (Public History)

 Date
Friday, October 28, 2005

 Documentation
Personal Communication with Bob Ransford, October 2005
“Robert Gilbert Ransford 1912-1985”, City of Richmond Archives Biography Files
City of Richmond Archives Reference Files, Heritage Buildings
Historical airphotos from the Geographic Information Centre, UBC
British Columbia Directories
Waterworks Atlas 1936, CRA
History of Canadian Architecture, Hal Kalman
“Steveston Recollections, the History of a Village” at www.virtualmuseum.ca/
Steveston Cannery Row by Mitsuo Yesaki/Harold and Kathy Steves
Richmond, Child of the Fraser by Leslie J. Ross 1979

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