A History and Tour of The Campbell House: The Story of a Past Life
by Annalie Nachriner
In the middle of Browne’s Edition lies a historic house: the Campbell House. Helen Powell, née Campbell, sold the house in honor of her mother, Grace, in 1924. Campbell House, or “The House That Silver Built,” spent time as the actual museum before the MAC buildings were built. Currently, it serves as an opportunity to experience life in the early 20th century, with original furniture donated by Helen’s descendants.
The house, designed by famed Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter (whose other works include the Glover Mansion, the Patsy Clark Mansion, and the Finch Mansion), was finished in 1898, when the Campbells —Amasa, Grace, and their daughter Helen — moved into the house. They regularly employed five servants, often immigrants, comprised of two maids; a cook; a gardener; and a coachman; who would later be a chauffeur when the Campbells got their first electric car.
“The house is ‘an Arts and Craft Tudor Revival Home’,” Linda Strong, the volunteer coordinator and Campbell House expert explained.
The Campbells, taking a risk compared to their more conservative neighbors, created the house to look back to pre-industrial craftsmanship. Though the Campbells were not “famous” by any means, the house today shows what life was like in the early 1910s as the MAC’s largest artifact.
Amasa “Mace” Campbell was a businessman who cofounded the Hecla Mining Company, a company that mined silver in Idaho’s Silver Valley. His wife, Grace, ran the household and kept the finances.
The ladies of that time were expected to keep their husbands’ social statuses, so Mrs. Campbell “called on” the other ladies of Browne’s Addition every week, with Thursdays being her day to receive visitors.
According to Mrs. Strong, after Mr. Campbell’s death in 1912, Grace mourned for two years before growing ill. Grace Campbell died in 1924.
Their daughter, Helen, grew up in a very exciting time for women. As a child, she went to a public school in the neighborhood, but once she grew up, she attended a finishing school in Paris, France, following suit as to what was common for young ladies of the time.
She loved music and played piano, as encouraged by her parents. Mr. Campbell even gave her a baby grand piano for her 16th birthday. Any time she didn’t spend reading or playing the piano she spent with friends. She loved to go to the movies, on day trips, to sewing circles, and she involved herself with many charities such as the Red Cross as well as societies including Spokane’s Historical Society.
The house itself is divided between the servants’ areas and the Campbells’ area—the section of the house that they would present to their visitors. Walking into the main hall, visitors are greeted with an entryway styled after a medieval castle with the elegant living room presented to the left, called the Library of the house, and Mrs. Campbell’s reception room to the right.
Mr. Campbell, who wanted to hide any signs of technology in the house, hid the only telephone in the house behind a panel of wood near the door, next to which visitors can flip through a photo album of the Campbells’ travels through Europe. As guests walk farther into the house, they can see the dining room—with original Campbell china!
After visiting the dining room, I’d recommend walking down to Mr. Campbell’s game room in the basement. In this room, the Campbells stored their valuables in a fireproof safe. It was also the only room with a liquor cabinet— specifically, in the side room with the rock collection— as Mrs. Campbell was a temperance woman and did not allow alcohol in any other area of the house.
Connected to the game room, the rest of the basement is where the servants did many of their chores. This included the laundry room, as well as the vegetable pantry, plus an area for ice to be delivered for the upstairs ice box.
If guests travel up the servants’ staircase, the kitchen and servants’ dining room greets them, along with a porch constructed for the servants corriders. Then, they can make their way through the door to the main section and take the grand staircase up.
On the wall of the grand staircase, three portraits of the Campbells hang, each of them hand painted. On this floor, the Campbells’ bedrooms and guest rooms are all in view of the staircase, with Mr. Campbell’s office in the servant section of the floor.
This floor would’ve been where the maids did their main sewing. It also has a staircase connecting to the third floor where the maids and the cook slept, while the coachman and gardener slept above the carriage house.
The carriage house is right next door to the main house, and it holds piles of information about the lives surrounding the Campbells such as their servants’ lives, their travels to Europe, and even the information on their grocers, which we know through Mrs. Campbell’s checking book.
The carriage house also holds a carriage and a car to show the changes in technology in the Campbells’ time.
I may be biased, but the house is one of my favorite places in Spokane. The bedrooms and the main floor feel like a castle, with a grand staircase and comfy benches to sit on all around the historic house. With the current Minecraft exhibit, many children come through with their families, and I love getting to teach these children about the history, especially young girls who often compare the upstairs bedrooms to “princess rooms.”
The basement holds all of the main curiosities with a more hands-on exhibit, for instance: the poker table. Each room has some wonderful hidden gems, like the Yellow Room’s all-original furniture or Helen’s favorite cookie recipe in the kitchen (which the house bakes around Christmastime!) The house even hosts events, such as their Halloween-themed Death and Dying tour in October.
The house shows how we got from where we were back then, to where we are today, through different lenses such as immigration, technology, and general life in the early 20th century. It’s a wonderful piece of Spokane history and is always worth your time. Come visit!
