Tacansina Ranch

A ranch house on 480 acres of foothills between Calgary and Banff, with views of the mountains of Banff National Park. Co-designed by DESIGNhaus, it is what we call the ranch: our base for hiking, skiing and adventure. See the photos, or contact us.

The space

The ranch house is two buildings, a main house and a guest house, joined by an 800 square foot covered patio we call the breezeway.

Main house: one open space with massive log beams arranged in two adjacent hexagons, 12-inch cement walls and floor-to-ceiling windows on the south and west sides. A large wood-burning fireplace and in-floor heating keep it warm, and there are couches and a murphy bed.

Kitchen and bath: a fully functional kitchen built around a 15-foot island, and a tiled main bathroom with a huge bathtub and shower area.

Guest house: four bedrooms with two king beds that can each separate into two singles, one queen and four single beds, plus warm cork floors, high ceilings and its own half bath.

Outdoors: a rundlestone patio with a firepit and seating on the southwest side, and in the breezeway a 16-foot handcrafted table with benches, made from timber on the property, with patio heaters.

The ranch history

According to the Cochrane Historical Society, Tacansina Ranch was first created in 1889 and was known then as ‘The Ripley.’ The first family to own it raised Galloway and Hereford cattle in the valley and built a house, a stable and a lime kiln by what they called Ripley Creek, now known as Baymar Creek, which empties into the Ghost River.

Old First Nations trails cross the ranch, as do old and current wildlife trails. When the Palliser expedition came from the north in 1858 on its way through the Banff area, it crossed Deadman’s Hill, the ridge where our house and cabin sit. The name comes from a First Nations story of a major battle along the Ghost River, formerly Deadman’s River.

Axel and Joanne Steinmann bought the ranch in the mid-1980s and spent weekends in a teepee they put up before Axel built a handcrafted log cabin. The modern chalet was started in 2005 and finished by 2013.