Lavender Walls

Rutherford House

I visited Rutherford House after I finished my last class of the day this afternoon. It is located across the Tory Building and Tory Lecture Theatres. I pass by the house quite often on my way to and from my classes, but I never knew what the purpose of the house was so I decided to pay a visit today. I was pleasantly surprised for I greatly enjoyed the history behind it. Built in February of 1911, it stands as a museum and restaurant today, but it has not always been this way. Before it was designated as a provincial historic site, it was home to Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and the first chancellor of the University of Alberta.

When I entered the house, I was immediately greeted by a female guide who was dressed in the garb of the early 1900s. She sat behind a desk to the side of the entrance and introduced me to the place. She asked whether I preferred to have an introduction before I went on a self-guided tour. When I expressed my preference for an introduction, she led me to the parlour and gave me a brief and entertaining history of the Rutherford family. As I have a Chinese quiz to study for and am feeling rather lazy at the moment, I shall recount the interesting facts I learnt of the Rutherford House in point form.

• The parlour was Mrs. Mattie Rutherford's domain while the library was Mr. Rutherford's domain.
  
• Mrs. Rutherford passed away in 1940. Her husband followed her a year later.
  
• Almost all of the artifacts within the house are original except for a few that were replicas of the originals.
  
• Mr. Rutherford's library collection amounted up to 4000 books at one time. Currently, there are 1000 books in the library. His wife asked him to refrain from buying more books. Of course, he didn't listen and began to hide his newly bought books. =)
  
• In 1915, many students were prone to borrowing books from Mr. Rutherford's collection because there was a rumour that he used money as bookmarks and that some could be found between the pages of the books as he tended to forget about them
  
• Mr. Rutherford was very popular among the students and he loved them too! Until 1938 (3 years before his death), he would host annual graduation parties. My guide's grandmother was part of the last graduating class to attend the party.
  
• The University of Alberta was founded in 1908 and was the first co-ed university in Canada. In other words, it was the first Canadian university to admit both men and women into their fold. =)
  
• Mr. Rutherford sold the house to the Delta Upsilon Fraternity shortly after his wife died.
  
• In 1968, the fraternity was evicted from the house because the university was planning to demolish it to make way for the HUB. Fortunately, the decision was overturned.
  
• Top-Luxus-Hotels BordeauxThe house had been renovated by the fraternity. When they began to restore the interior of the house to its original state, they had Mrs. Hazel McCuiag, Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford's daughter, assist them with the restoration. She was 14 or 15 when she moved into the house with her family and lived there until she got married so she remembered most of the details of the interior and the placement of furniture, etc. The house was opened as a provincial historic site in 1973.
  
• Bilbao luxury hotelsThe breakfast room/den/sunporch is the restaurant. They only serve lunch, high tea and dessert and close at 4:00 pm. I plan to have dessert and/or tea there one day. The gift shop is located in the basement. =)

If I knew I was going to visit the house, I would have brought my digital camera along to take some pictures. Oh well. Next time. =)