Alfred McCune Home
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The Alfred McCune Home is one of the turn-of-the-century mansions on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City, Utah. Built for Alfred W. McCune on the inclined south side of Capitol Hill at the northeast corner of 200 North and Main Street, the mansion has 21 rooms.
McCune, born in Calcutta, India, immigrated with his family to Nephi, Utah. By the time he was 21, he had contracted to build portions of the Utah Southern Railroad. He was a highly successful railroad builder, and became well-connected to other late 19th century millionaires. He was a partner in the Peruvian Cero de Pasco mines along with J. P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, and Frederick William Vanderbilt.
McCune wanted his home to be an extravagant display and to these ends he financed a two-year tour of America and Europe for his architect S. C. Dallas to study designs and techniques. The design chosen was a Gothic revival plan with East Asian influence.
The site was chosen to rise up impressively over the nearby streets, and little expense was spared on decoration. McCune had mahogany shipped from San Domingo, oak from England, and a rare white-grained mahogany from South Africa. The red roof tiles came from Holland, and an enormous broad mirror wall was transported from Germany in a specially made railroad car. The walls were adorned with moiré silks, tapestries, and Russian leather. The exterior of the home was built of red Utah sandstone although some details like the lavish fireplaces used more exotic stone like Nubian marble. The home was completed in 1901 at a cost of over one half million dollars.
Afred W. McCune and his wife Elizabeth lived in the home until 1920 when they donated it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was used as the McCune School of Music until 1953 when it became the Brigham Young University Salt Lake City Center which ceased to exist in 1973. Since then, the building has been privately owned, often used for wedding receptions and other short-term rental.
Philip McCarthy, part of the Kearns-McCarthy family which published the Salt Lake Tribune until recently, bought the building in early 1999 and began restoring it. This process was complicated by the August 11, 1999 Salt Lake City Tornado, which toppled one of the building's smokestacks. McCarthy completed the restoraction in November 2001.
External links
- Official McCune Mansion site (http://www.mccunemansion.com/)
- Utah City Guide - McCune Mansion (http://www.utahcityguide.com/utbound/details.asp?ID=58135912182) - Salt Lake Tribune description of the mansion.
- The McCune Mansion (http://www.prairieghosts.com/mccune.html) - A page that claims the mansion is haunted.