The Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge of South Ferry Hills on

Shelter Island, New York 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 census. Geography Shelter Island is nestled between the North and South Forks of Long Isla ...

is one of the first 'reinforced concrete construction' structures built in North America by engineer

Ernest L. Ransome 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. Ernest was ...

for the mineral prospector known as the "Borax King",

Francis Marion Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ...

. Installed in the late 19th century at Smith's East Coast estate, 'Presdeleau', it is an example of

ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as a significant historical landmark and one of the last surviving two by Ernest Ransome.

Early history

Presdeleau was one of Francis Smith's

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

s away from his main estate in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

called Arbor Villa. 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. In 1886 Ransome built the two small underpass bridges in the

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

, San Francisco, one of which survives today. They are the first reinforced concrete bridges in North America, and among the first three or four in the world. In 1897 he completed the Pacific Coast Borax Refinery in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

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 At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

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 The Peconic River is a river within Suffolk County on Long Island, New York.Sag Harbor 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 2 ...

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.

Gallery

File:Map1906.jpg, Map of shelter island in 1906, lands owned by Francis Smith File:Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge and seawall.jpg, Single arch span Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge File:Presdeleau.jpg, 35 room mansion with colonial style columns File:Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge 20220820 163010388.PORTRAIT.jpg, Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge, Merkel Ln, Shelter Island, Suffolk County, NY File:Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge 20220820 162836914.jpg, Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge, Merkel Ln, Shelter Island, Suffolk County, NY

References

online biography
*

Japanese rock garden The or Japanese rock garden, often called a zen garden, is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. It creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and us ...

– Information on zen gardens

External links

Shelter-island.org: "Frank Smith, the Borax King, on Shelter Island" homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith-Ransome Japanese Bridge, bridge Buildings and structures in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, New York Concrete pioneers National Register of Historic Places in Shelter Island, New York Japanese gardens in the United States Japanese style of gardening Architecture in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populatio ...

Bridges on Long Island Bridges in Suffolk County, New York