HistoryLink Tours

Walk eastbound one block to East Grand Avenue, then turn right (south) for two blocks to 26th Street.

2528 East Grand Avenue – McManus Mansion – Anthes House (1893). Architect: Frederick Sexton. John McManus ran the Bank of Everett, the Everett Herald, was secretary of the Mitchell Land Company, and was a state senator. This two-and-a-half-story frame house with basement cost $10,000 to build, more than three times the cost built of other homes for affluent Everettites. Construction of Everett’s first large mansion began in the spring of 1892, and was completed by April 1893 just before the Panic of 1893, the worst depression in the U.S. at that time. McManus’s bank and newspaper businesses folded. McManus and didn’t live in it for more than a few months and soon moved to Seattle.

The house type is Queen Anne and Shingle style. The two-story round tower is balanced by a one-story round atrium. Originally it had two large porches on the south and east sides. There is a large skylight over the main stairwell. The upper story had seven full-size rooms surrounding a large hall. The ground floor with its 45 windows and 22 doors had a kitchen, pantry, dining room and conservatory, plus a parlor, music room, den, and sewing room. At the turn of the century, it became the rectory for Trinity Church.

This house was commonly known as the Anthes House for years. Jacob Anthes came from Germany at 14 and lived on Whidbey Island starting about 1880. He founded the town of Langley, operated a store, and was the postmaster. At 43, his family moved to Everett in 1908 and bought the McManus mansion. During World War I, the family was careful to hide their German language books in the attic. At that time, all the female members of the house contacted the terrible Spanish flu. The family fortune dwindled during the Great Depression, but they survived by growing and canning vegetables. The Anthes family resided in the house until 1943. Many of the homes across the street were built by Anthes and for rental properties.

In the 1950s, the house was divided up into six apartments. In recent times, some work been undone to restore the house.