Born in Calcutta, Alfred W. McCune had this 21-room mansion built on the inclined south side of Capitol Hill. This 21-room house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, speaks to the wealth and reach of a man who began life far from Utah. McCune was born in Calcutta, India, while his father, Matthew McCune, was stationed with the British Army and converted there to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The family immigrated to Utah Territory, settling first in Farmington and later in Nephi. Alfred William McCune joined the LDS Church in Farmington in 1857. He and Elizabeth, childhood sweethearts, were married on July 1, 1872, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
Though not very active in church service, McCune donated a great deal of money, and Heber J. Grant’s notes (April 1, 1927) record that he was always in good standing. By age twenty-one he had contracted to build portions of the Utah Southern Railroad and went on to be a highly successful railroad builder. McCune's railroad contracts began at age twenty-one, and their reward is this 21-room house on Capitol Hill.