1901 Alfred W. McCune Home, Salt Lake City
200 N Main St, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Event rental pricing for receptions, weddings, and special events.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Three-story 1901 mansion with main-floor accessibility and historic interior details
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1901 · Gothic Revival with East Asian Influences · National Register of Historic Places · Alfred W. McCune Railroad and Trolley Magnate · Salt Lake Music School (former)
The McCune Mansion is a three-story, twenty-one-room residence built between 1898 and 1901 for railroad magnate Alfred William McCune and his wife Elizabeth, immediately north of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The building cost a reported $1 million. McCune financed a two-year study tour of America and Europe for his architect S.C. Dallas, who returned to design a Gothic Revival plan with East Asian influences modeled on a house the McCunes had seen along Riverside Drive in New York City.
Materials reflect the property's extravagance: red roof tiles from the Netherlands, a large mirror wall transported from Germany in a specially built railroad car, moiré silks, tapestries, Russian leather wall coverings, and exterior red Utah sandstone with fireplaces of Nubian marble and other exotic stones.
Alfred W. McCune was born July 11, 1849, at Fort William, Calcutta, India, where his father Major Mathew McCune was an officer in the British Army. The family converted to the LDS faith in 1851 and arrived in Salt Lake City in September 1857. Alfred became one of Utah's first millionaires and owned about one-third of Salt Lake City's early trolley cars, leading the conversion to electric service.
The McCunes lived in the home until 1920, then donated it to the LDS Church for use as a residence for church president Heber J. Grant, who preferred not to live in such an ornate building and converted the property to a music school. The McCarthey Family purchased the Mansion in 1999 and restored its original architectural features. It now operates as a private event and reception venue.
Sources
Regional Utah retellings of the McCune Mansion describe several recurring details: doors locking that have no locks installed, cold spots in interior rooms, and lights coming on at varied hours of the night including some that the property's owner has observed while driving away. The most-told figure is a young blonde girl of about eleven or twelve, described as walking the rooms and locking doors. In some retellings she is seen walking in and out of a large mirror on the west wall, which corresponds to the documented mirror wall transported from Germany.
Footprints reported in the dust of the building's interior have been described as beginning and ending in the middle of a room. Witnesses have associated the figure with a young girl depicted in a painting hung in the mansion.
These accounts circulate in Salt Lake City local-history and ghost-tour writing rather than in named-investigator publications. The McCune Mansion's primary identity is as a high-end Salt Lake City event venue.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View the 1901 Gothic Revival mansion from the public sidewalk on Main Street, just north of Temple Square. The mansion's red Utah sandstone, Dutch red roof tiles, and ornate detailing are visible from the exterior.
Interior access is by private event rental — receptions, weddings, and special events. Contact the McCune Mansion to schedule a tour or rental.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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