Tour gives a look at Christmas past
How a body stayed warm during a Spokane winter in the early 20th century depended upon whether one was a mining magnate, his wife or one of their live-in servants.
Grace Fox Campbell, the wife of mining entrepreneur Amasa Campbell, might have worn leather gloves and a seal fur muff to keep warm during social calls.
Meanwhile, downstairs maid Elsie kept warm by scrubbing soiled sheets, socks and undergarments with a washboard in the basement laundry room.
Amasa Campbell, who made his fortune investing in the lead and silver mines of North Idaho, kept warm beside a roaring fire in his game room where he and other men played cards, smoked cigars, drank whiskey and talked about their troubles with labor unions.
Campbell House in Browne’s Addition was the home of both rich and poor, the wealthy family and their maids, cook and gardener.
This year’s holiday open house at the 1898 mansion features the traditional tree and other Christmas decorations, plus displays of period coats, gloves and hats. Visitors can tour the 19-room home, designed by architect Kirtland K. Cutter for the Campbells.
On the weekend after Thanksgiving, and starting again on Dec. 18, the home fills with the aroma of gingerbread and the sound of piano music for the annual holiday open house.
Each day Dec. 18 through Jan. 2, there will be a scavenger hunt for children, cooking demonstrations and, at 3 p.m., a reading of
” ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Music students will perform in the library, which features leaded windows, a grand quartzite sandstone fireplace and inglenook seating. Elsewhere in the house, visitors will see the gizmos that made the house modern in its time: a dumbwaiter, concealed radiators and a signaling system that included a floor button in the dining room so the Campbells could buzz the servants for the next course of the meal.
On Sunday, Campbell House curator Patti Larkin mixed together ingredients for gingerbread cookies in the kitchen.
Although she wore a cook’s white apron, she said volunteers who greet visitors in other rooms of the house won’t be wearing period costumes this year. It became too troublesome to outfit everyone and the costumes weren’t always historically accurate, she said.
“I don’t want to costume the entire home unless it’s well done,” she said.
The home, which is on the National Historic Register, was donated as a museum in 1924 by the Campbells’ daughter, Helen. Year-round tours of the home are included with admission to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.
Like any old home, Campbell House keeps its owners busy with restoration and maintenance. Exterior painting and sandstone repair is done when there is enough money allocated by the state Legislature.
Interior restoration projects are supported by money raised locally by museum supporters, Larkin said.
“Come into the servants’ dining room,” the curator said. On the wish list here: replica wallpaper.
Twenty-first century children will color greeting cards this month in this room during the holiday open house. If these walls could talk, they would tell about the Swedish and Irish immigrants who kept warm serving the Campbells while living under their roof.