Life is full of quirky contradictions.

In Spokane, 19th-century mining magnate Amasa Campbell’s historic Browne’s Addition mansion is being closed because of cuts in state funding.

In Cheney, the city’s Historical Preservation Commission is searching for volunteers and matching funds to nail down $87,000 in state funding to restore a house built by cabinet maker Frank Sterling 13 or 14 years earlier than Campbell’s.

Campbell’s home was a showplace of wealth and splendor. Later, thanks to his daughter’s philanthropy, it served for a time as the Eastern Washington Historical Society’s museum. The so-called Sterling-Moorman house, if plans pan out, will become a branch of the Cheney Museum.

In contrast to millionaire Campbell’s residence (the one that has to shut down because of financial constriction), the Sterling-Moorman house is considered “a good example of just a working man’s home,” says Bettye Hull, chairwoman of the Cheney Historical Preservation Commission.

In this area, the difficulties faced by Campbell House are bound to get more attention. It is a popular visit for residents and visitors interested in a nostalgic peak at Spokane’s gilded era, when silver mines in North Idaho were building fortunes in Spokane.

Fortunately, the closure that will halt drop-in tours by the general public isn’t expected to halt school tours or cancel traditional holiday-season events there. And, closed or not, the treasured historical structure will be maintained.

Dennis Hession, former Spokane mayor and now chief executive officer of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, will head to Olympia in January, hoping to persuade the Legislature to restore funding. That’s a reasonable goal, but perhaps not a realistic one in a session when state government faces a $4 billion revenue shortfall and is likely to tighten up on every aspect of spending.

Still, historic preservation is more than just an idle interest in Spokane.

Consider the emotion and public interest associated with the Davenport Hotel, the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, the Steam Plant, the Turner Heritage Gardens, the Montvale Hotel, the Monroe Street Bridge, the American Legion/Metals Building, the Spokane County Courthouse, Lewis and Clark High School – not to mention proudly maintained 19th-century homes and other structures in many of the city’s more mature neighborhoods.

As Jane Jacobs wrote almost half a century ago in her landmark urban planning book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, “Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.”

Spokane’s appreciation of such structures clearly had something to do with last month’s decision by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to hold its 2012 national conference here rather than in Phoenix.

By the time the 2,500 expected conference attendees arrive to take a firsthand look at our history, let’s hope the Campbell and Sterling-Moorman houses are among the landmarks they can view.