The Philadelphia-born and educated manager of the railroad company and dock, who was also a speculator in mines, built this parapeted Gothic Revival house. Its random ashlar walls are of rock-faced, variegated brown sandstone from the quarries of the Marquette Brownstone Company. Struck (1842–1905) was a Norwegian-born architect who practiced in Marquette from 1872 to 1875, before moving west to Minneapolis and eventually to Tacoma, Washington. In the Ripka house he demonstrated his skill in the use of the Gothic Revival style and his knowledge of Andrew Jackson Downing's principles.