Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge

Last updated
Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge
Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge.jpg
A view of the Japanese Bridge looking toward the east
Coordinates 41°03′02″N72°19′09″W / 41.050456°N 72.319041°W / 41.050456; -72.319041
CrossesPedestrian crossover from house grounds to Smiths Pond
LocaleSouth Ferry Hills, Shelter Island, New York
Heritage statusNRHP landmark
Characteristics
MaterialReinforced concrete
Width6ft
Longest span60ft
No. of spans1
History
DesignerErnest L. Ransome
Opened1900
Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge
USA New York location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in New York
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in United States
Location24 Merkel Lane, Shelter Island, New York
Coordinates 41°03′02″N72°19′09″W / 41.05063°N 72.3193°W / 41.05063; -72.3193
NRHP reference No. 100002080
Added to NRHPFebruary 2, 2018
Location
Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge

The Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge of South Ferry Hills on Shelter Island, New York is one of the first 'reinforced concrete construction' structures built in North America by engineer Ernest L. Ransome for the mineral prospector known as the "Borax King", Francis Marion Smith. Installed in the late 19th century at Smith's East Coast estate, 'Presdeleau', it is an example of ferro-concrete construction enabling an elegant design of what was a popular early 20th century period piece, the Japanese style bridge. It is listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places as a significant historical landmark and one of the last surviving two by Ernest Ransome. [1]

Contents

Early history

Presdeleau was one of Francis Smith's mansions away from his main estate in Oakland, California called Arbor Villa. [2] Between 1895 and 1898 he also commissioned Ransome to build at the estate in New York a Japanese style bridge and seawall similar to the two underpass bridges that he had already constructed out west. [3] In 1886 Ransome built the two small underpass bridges in the Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, one of which survives today. [4] They are the first reinforced concrete bridges in North America, and among the first three or four in the world. [5] :p.33 In 1897 he completed the Pacific Coast Borax Refinery in Bayonne, New Jersey and Smith had him work on the 60 foot x 6 feet wide bridge at Presdeleau. The architect would achieve fame for the east coast refinery building after it caught fire in 1902 and the concrete framed industrial architecture was shown to have a key superiority over competing steel and iron framed structures, as the buildings frame was only slightly damaged. Ransome's two other buildings that used the same experimental style at Stanford University survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake essentially without damage while surrounding buildings crumbled.

Conservancy

One hundred years later the estate at Presdeleau had been apportioned and sold in smaller parcels, leaving the Japanese bridge in need of restoration. The Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge Conservancy was created in 2015 to support the preservation and maintenance of the concrete bridge and associated sea wall which is set in a lagoon that is in current use as a boat basin called Smiths Pond. The small bridge is just behind the beach at Smith Cove on the Peconic River and it looks out at the upper Sag Harbor bay from South Ferry hills. In 2017 it was nominated to the state historic register and in 2018 it was placed on the NRHP as significant for the type of construction and its significance to the history of Shelter Island. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sag Harbor, New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelter Island, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Shelter Island is an island town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, near the eastern end of Long Island. The population was 3,253 at the 2020 United States census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key System</span>

The Key System was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when it was sold to a newly formed public agency, AC Transit. The Key System consisted of local streetcar and bus lines in the East Bay, and commuter rail and bus lines connecting the East Bay to San Francisco by a ferry pier on San Francisco Bay, later via the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles (106 km) of track. The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the commuter trains to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. The Key System's territory is today served by BART and AC Transit bus service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Marion Smith</span> American Mining businessman

Francis Marion Smith was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Oakland, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Coast Borax Company</span> United States mining company founded in 1890

The Pacific Coast Borax Company (PCB) was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis Smith, the "Borax King".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvord Lake Bridge</span> Bridge in San Francisco

The Alvord Lake Bridge was the first reinforced concrete bridge built in America. It was built in 1889 by Ernest L. Ransome, an innovator in reinforced concrete design, mixing equipment, and construction systems. The bridge was constructed as a single arch 64 feet (20 m) wide with a 20-foot (6.1 m) span.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State Route 114</span> State highway in Suffolk County, New York, US

New York State Route 114 (NY 114) is a state highway, including two ferry crossings, on the far eastern sections of Long Island in New York in the United States. It serves as a connector between the two "forks" of Long Island, crossing Shelter Island in the process. This is the only connection between the North and South forks east of Riverhead. NY 114 is the easternmost signed north–south state route in all of New York. Additionally, the route is the last in a series of sequential state routes on Long Island. The series begins with NY 101 in western Nassau County and progresses eastward to NY 114.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank C. Havens</span>

Frank Colton Havens was a real estate and water developer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaman and Smith Company Mill</span> United States historic place

The Beaman and Smith Company Mill is an historic factory complex at 20 Gordon Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. It consists of two masonry buildings at the junction of Gordon and Saratoga Streets in south Providence. The older of the two buildings is a one-to-two story brick structure, built in 1898 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. It has a steel frame, and is about 250 feet (76 m) long. The second building is an early example of concrete slab construction, built in 1917. It was designed by local industrial architecture firm, Jenks & Ballou. It is four stories in height, and is attached to the older building's south face. It originally had a brick surface, but much of this was stuccoed. The brick building presents four bays to Gordon Street, while the concrete one has two. The complex exemplifies two notable early modern construction methods, and is a symbol of the industrial development of south Providence in the late 19th century. Beaman and Smith was a manufacturer of precision machine tools; they went out of business in 1926. The complex was occupied for many years by the James Hill Manufacturing Company, who produced metal containers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beebe Windmill</span>

Beebe Windmill is a historic mill located at the southeast corner of Ocean Road and Hildreth Avenue in Bridgehampton, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windmill at Water Mill</span> United States historic place

Corwith Windmill at Water Mill is a historic mill on NY 27 and Halsey Lane in Southampton, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trico Plant No. 1</span> United States historic place

Trico Plant No. 1 is a historic windshield wiper factory building located in Buffalo, New York. It is an example of a style of architecture sometimes referred to as the daylight factory, a style for which Buffalo is well known. The building was mostly constructed in the 1920s and 1930s of reinforced concrete and features curtain walls of metal sash windows and brick spandrels, although a portion of the plant incorporates an historic brewery building from the 1890s. It was the original home of Trico Products Corporation, the first manufacturer of windshield wipers, and was an important factory during a period when Trico was the largest employer in the city of Buffalo. The building is also known for once being the office of John R. Oishei (1886–1968), the company's founder and an industrialist who went on to become one of the most important philanthropists in the Buffalo Niagara Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Smith Wharves</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Howard Smith Wharves is a heritage-listed wharf on the Brisbane River at Boundary Street, Brisbane City and Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from c. 1934 to 1940s circa. It is also known as Brisbane Central Wharves. The 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) site is one of the most culturally and historically significant riverfront locations in Brisbane. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 4 February 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith-Taylor Cabin</span> Historic house in New York, United States

Smith-Taylor Cabin is an historic Adirondack style log cabin located in Coecles Harbor on Taylor's Island at Shelter Island in Suffolk County, New York. The original cabin was built around 1900 by Francis Marion Smith of "20 Mule Team Borax" fame. In 1937 S. Gregory Taylor added a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, foyer, and landmark tower with catwalk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest L. Ransome</span>

Ernest Leslie Ransome (1844–1917) was an English-born engineer, architect, and early innovator in reinforced concrete building techniques. Ransome devised the most sophisticated concrete structures in the United States at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homersfield Bridge</span>

Homersfield Bridge is a road bridge across the River Waveney between Norfolk and Suffolk, and stands partly in the civil parishes of Alburgh and Wortwell, Norfolk and partly in Homersfield, Suffolk. It is one of the oldest surviving concrete bridges in Britain and is a grade II* listed structure.

The Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha complex was the main support base of the Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha (NKKK) on the island Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands. The NKKK was an economic development company established by the Empire of Japan to develop the territories of the South Seas Mandate, which it oversaw between the First and Second World Wars. In the Northern Marianas, the company aggressively developed arable areas for sugar cane farming, importing workers from Japan, Okinawa, and Korea. Each of the three major islands had major support facility. On Tinian, this area, now roughly where the island's largest community, San Jose is located on the south coast, consisted of an extensive development, most of which was destroyed during the Battle of Tinian in the Second World War. Of this large complex, only four buildings or structures remain, all of which have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, as rare surviving examples of pre-war Japanese architecture on the islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellows Falls Times Building</span> United States historic place

The Bellows Falls Times Building is a historic newspaper plant on Bridge and Island Streets in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The complex of three buildings was developed in the 1930s by the Vermont Newspaper Corporation, and served as home for the Bellows Falls Times newspaper until 1965, when it was consolidated with other local newspapers. The main building is a particularly fine local example of Colonial Revival design. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse and Blockhouse</span> Historic site in Ontario, Canada

The Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse and Blockhouse is a National Historic Site of Canada located in Ontario on Bois Blanc Island, one of the islands in the Detroit River. It consists of a lighthouse, owned by Parks Canada, and a blockhouse, which is privately owned.

References

  1. Sampson, Christine (3 January 2018). "Shelter Island's Ransome Bridge Listed on State Register of Historic Places". Sag Harbor Express. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. "Francis Marion 'Borax' Smith". Oakland Wiki. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  3. Shillingburg, Edward and Patricia. "Frank Smith, the Borax King, on Shelter Island". Shelter Island. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 Clancy, Ambrose; Lane, Julie (21 February 2018). "Shelter Island bridge on National Register". Shelter Island Reporter. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  5. Banham, Reyner (1989). A Concrete Atlantis: U.S. Industrial Building and European Modern Architecture 1900-1925. Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN   0-262-02244-3.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge at Wikimedia Commons