While in Spokane, take the
City Drive and you'll be treated to most all of the city's sights, both downtown and as far out as Spokane Valley to the east and Mead to the north. This one, the Campbell House, is just west of downtown and is number 15 on the tour. This, like most buildings on the tour, is a National Historic Place.
One of the finest homes in Spokane when built in 1898, The Campbell house was donated to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society in 1925 as a memorial to her mother, Grace Fox Campbell (Mrs. Amasa B. Campbell) by her daughter, Mrs. William Weaver Powell, nee Helen Campbell.
The Campbells had come from Youngstown, Ohio and Amasa had invested $25,000 in successful mines near Coeur d'Alene, most notably the Gem and the Mace, turning it into a fortune. They resided in Wallace, Idaho, a wild mining town, until 1898 when Campbell and his partner, John A. Finch, both moved themselves and their mining operations to Spokane, a more genteel and secure setting offering better educational, social, and business opportunities.
They both commissioned
Kirtland Kelsey Cutter as architect and, while Finch chose a Neoclassical Revival style, Campbell chose a more picturesque English Tudor Revival exterior of stucco, sandstone, brick and heavy timbers. Both had been staples in Cutter's repertoire, and the results were magnificent. The two houses were built very near each other.
Restored and refurnished (the original furniture was auctioned in 1925 when the house was donated) by the Historical Society and the Arts Centre, this is one of the most original houses in Spokane, accomplished by studying the original cost inventory made in 1898, which included descriptions of furniture, draperies, and wallpaper.
Servants were indispensable to running Campbell House, which usually employed a coachman, a cook, two maids, and a gardener. Servants had their own dining room, as well as living quarters on the third floor or in the carriage house. During time off, they socialized at local parks and, if recent immigrants, studied English. As times changed, the coachman had to adapt to the automobile instead of the horse-drawn carriage. Other inventions made living easier: electric lights were cleaner than gas, central heating eased the burden of warming the house, and the call box quickly alerted the servants when needed.
The first floor interior, on two levels, provides a sense of drama. To the right of the dark wood-paneled entry hall is a light, gilded French reception room where Grace Campbell received her visitors. To the left, the library’s dark wooden beams and inglenook fireplace provide a cozy atmosphere for informal evenings at home as well as formal evens. Four steps lead to a large dining room with a fireplace surrounded by blue and white Dutch tiles. A deep veranda around the back of the house affords a view of the Spokane River below. Other features include a den, decorated in the popular Middle Eastern style, well-planned service areas, and four bedrooms upstairs.
From the Northwest museum of Arts and Culture
On the interior, the drawing room is done in Tudor style, with a Gothic arch framing a recessed fireplace. Throughout the house are ten original fireplaces in ornate tile. A Dutch Delft tile fireplace is located in the dining room. The beautiful woodwork of the ceiling beams and the walls is original and would be difficult to replace today.
The most unusual feature of the house is the gold reception room, done in the French rococo style. This room has a handsome gold and onyx fireplace walls covered with old rose moire silk panels edged in gold-leaf moldings, and windows hung with old rose velvet draperies.
From The Register