Liddell-McNinch House
(ca. 1890s)
This Queen Anne/Shingle style home of a former Charlotte mayor was visited by U.S. President William Henry Taft in 1909.
511 N. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28202
Considered by many to be one of North Carolina’s finest examples of the Queen Anne/Shingle architectural style, the nineteenth century Liddell-McNinch House was built for Vinton Liddell (b. 1859), owner of the Liddell Company, a successful local foundry and machine works, for the then-exorbitant cost of $35,000. His daughter, Vinton Liddell Pickens (1900-1993), was a well-regarded American artist – Charlotte’s Mint Museum featured her work in a 1954 solo exhibit – who later served as the chair of the first county planning board in Loudoun County, Virginia, from 1941-1964.
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Samuel Sylvanus McNinch (1867-1929), who served as Mayor of Charlotte from 1905 to 1907, purchased the house in 1907. On McNinch’s invitation, U.S. President William Henry Taft spoke at the 1909 Charlotte-Mecklenburg May 20th celebration. While in Charlotte, Taft visited McNinch in his North Church Street home. Before his tenure as mayor, McNinch served as alderman for Charlotte’s Fourth Ward and founded both the Charlotte Brick Company (of which he was President) and the S. S. McNinch Real Estate Company. McNinch also served three terms as Charlotte’s chief of police, as well as a fifteen-year term as a trial judge. Elected as the first chief of the Pioneer Fire Company. McNinch later became chief of the local Volunteer Fire Department. McNinch’s descendants continued to live in the house well into the 1970s.