In 1880, McNally took his fortune and family and moved west[2] They lived for a time in Pasadena, California before building their mansion in Altadena in 1887.

McNally paid Pasadena architect Frederick Roehrig $15,000 to design the Queen Anne Victorian house.

[4][5] Facing south, away from the street, the house offered vistas of the Los Angeles Basin, the Pacific Ocean, and Santa Catalina Island.

[6] The grounds were lavishly landscaped, with an aviary along Mariposa St. His gardener also looked after the deodar cedars that grew along Santa Rosa Avenue.

[7][8] Starting in 1921, the house was repeatedly used as a filming location for media productions, beginning with Max Linder's Seven Years Bad Luck.