William A. Rife House. Ca. 1910

Two-story frame Victorian house with asbestos-shingle siding and an asphalt-shingled gable roof with a two-story gabled front wing. The one-story front porch has turned posts, vasiform sawn balusters (identical in pattern to those of 668 Chestnut's ell porch), and sawn brackets. The front section has a parged stone foundation; a two-story ell has a brick foundation. Other features include an interior brick chimney, an exterior stair to a rear apartment entry, and 2/2 windows. Cinder-block and railroad tie retaining walls define the yard, and the house adjoins a modern Texaco station on Rife Road. William Alexander Rife (1848-1926) was a partner with his father-in-law George Schoppert in the construction of a foundry on the South River near this house about 1880. In 1884 Rife developed a hydraulic ram that formed the mainstay of the Rife Ram & Pump Works, one of Waynesboro's leading industries. Rife's widow lived in the house through 1935. (Hawke, History of Waynesboro, 140-142)

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form 2/4/02