The Campbell House Revised Again

Amasa B. Campbell was sent by wealthy Ohio speculators to investigate mining opportunities in the west in 1878.  In 1892 Mr. Campbell made the front page of the Lawrence Daily Journal when he was caught in the midst of a mining dispute between unioned and non-union miners.  Mr. Campbell and his business partner John Finch were ultimately very successful in founding the Standard and Mammoth mines in the vicinity of Wallace, Idaho.  These mines became so successful that by 1903, they sold the mines for $3,000,000 to a joint venture backed by the Rockefeller and the Gould families.



The Campbell House was built in 1898 and constructed for $30,000, although estimates for the house and the custom furnishings place the home at a total cost of $70,000.  The Campbell House was home for Mr. Amasa B. Campbell, his wife Grace and their daughter, Helen.  Renowned architect Kirtland K Cutter designed not only the architecture but the furnishings as well.  One of the interior highlights of the home is the renowned gold reception room, which Cutter borrowed from the rococo French style.  Life in the Campbell home was rigid, with social cues and interactions being paramount.  To be invited to dinner at the Campbells was no small feat, the elite would dine formally, their meals prepared and served by servants, the men and women dressed in evening gowns and black ties accordingly.  No house of this stature would be complete without a game room.  The game room simply belonged to the men, who used the room to play cards and billiards, the game room was the 19th century equivalent of a modern man cave.  

The house been restored from 1984-2001 by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, who aimed to restore it as best they could.  Unfortunately the original furniture was sold and the MAC has done its best to use photographs and accounts of the home to re-create the furnishings.  In 1924 W.W. Powell (formerly Helen Campbell) donated the house to the Eastern Washington Historical Society, who is now known as the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.  Guided tours of the house are available and are included in your entrance fee to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, inquire at the admissions desk.