 The house was built by William A. Clark (1839–1925), the copper magnate after whom Clark County, Nevada, was named, as a memorial to his mother Mary Andrews Clark (1814–1904).The home was operated by the YWCA from 1913 to 1987, when it was closed as a result of damage sustained in the Whittier Narrows earthquake.The building reopened in 1995 as housing for low income single workers.