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Overview

The Portland, OR-based architect Warren Heywood Williams (1844-1888) designed at least two large commissions in Seattle during the decade following the US Centennial, the 1st Presbyterian Church #1 (1876) and this Second Empire mansion for the railroad lawyer James McNaught and his wife Agnes Hyde.

Building History

Built for a wealthy lawyer working in the railroad industry, the James McNaught House was a three-story eclectic Second Empire dwelling, fitted with a central four-story tower on its front facade. McNaught, along with Joseph F. McNaught, Elisha P. Ferry, and John H. Mitchell, Jr., was a partner in the legal firm of McNaught, Ferry, McNaught and Mitchell, that had offices on Seattle's Commercial Street (later 1st Avenue South) between Main and Washington Streets in 1884. (See Oregon, Washington and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1884-5, vol. 1, [Chicago: R.L. Polk & Co., and A.C. Danser, 1884], p. 526.) One of the firm's main clients during the 1880s was the Northern Pacific Railway, for which it served as western regional representatives.

James McNaught (born 09/09/1843 in Lexington, IL-d. 10/15/1919 in Tarrytown, NY) and Martha Agnes Sheldon Hyde (born 03/31/1855 in OR--d. 05/13/1918 in Seattle, WA) married in King County, Washington Territory, on 11/28/1871. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Washington, U.S., County Marriages, 1855-2008 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, accessed 07/06/2022.) They would have two children together, Alice McNaught Ling (born 07/01/1875 in Seattle, WA-d. 03/23/1952 in Menaggio, Lombardia, Italy) and Roy Hyde McNaught (born 08/05/1876 in Seattle, WA-d. 01/18/1951 in Tarrytown, NY)

The McNaughts had moved back to West Point, NY, by 1890, and thereafter, their house functioned as the first Rainier Club Clubhouse from c. 1890 until 1893. The Rainier Club, named for the British naval officer Admiral Peter Rainier (1741-1808), a friend of the explorer George Vancouver (1757-1798), formed in 1888 to provide a “boarding, lodging house, and restaurant" for a small elite group headed by Thomas Burke, William A. Peters and John Leary. The club paid $100 per month rent to use the 22-room house. (The club moved its activities to a building next door to the Seattle Theatre, c. 1893, and thereafter, the McNaught Residence went on to become a rooming house. See Rainier Club.com, "Then & Now,"accessed 07/01/2019.)

In its last years, the house was remodeled into the Hotel Hillcrest.

Building Notes

Writer Frank R. Atkins wrote of the McNaught House in 1937: "The McNaught home was surmounted by a huge tower, with perhaps half as many rooms of the Yesler mansion [which had 40], but the upper story was utilized as a ball room. It commanded a fine view of the bay and mountains. After its owner was transferred east to make his future home, the Rainier club, among others, used it as its headquarters for several years. Later on the two lots on which it stood, together with the balance of the block was sold to the city for our Carnegie Library. Afterwards, the building was moved anorth cross tSpring Street. Subsequently it was demolished and the Hungerford hotel now occupies its old location." (See Frank R. Atkins, "Henry Yesler Home One of Early Show Places," Seattle Star, 08/07/1937.)

In 1900, the McNaughts lived on West End Avenue in Manhattan. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1106; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 0549; FHL microfilm: 1241106, accessed 07/06/2022.) Ten years later, they resided with their daughter Alice McNaught Ling and her husband Ernest E. Ling (born c. 1870 in England), and three servants, on Bedford Road in Mount Pleasant, NY. Ernest did not have to work apparently, as he had his "own income" according to the 1910 US Census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: MT Pleasant, Westchester, New York; Roll: T624_1089; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 0052; FHL microfilm: 1375102, accessed 07/06/2022.) Interestingly, Agnes Hyde McNaught died in Seattle on 05/13/1918, not in NY State.

Alteration

In order to make room for Seattle's main Carnegie-financed Library, the McNaught House was moved to a new location on the northeast corner of Spring Street and 4th Avenue in 1904.

Demolition

The McNaught House was demolished in 1928. The Seattle Public Library Main Library #3 (2004) later occupied the site.

PCAD id: 8031