The Campbell House Museum is open for tours Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum is closed on Monday, Tuesday and National holidays. Admission and a guided tour is $6 per person, children 12 and under are free. For more information about visiting and touring the Museum, including directions and parking please visit our homepage.
Take a virtual tour of the first floor of the Museum by clicking on the floorplan below the name of the room you wish to visit.
First Floor, Campbell House Museum
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
The entrance hall was a very important space in Victorian homes. Visitors were greeted in the entrance hall by servants‹making the entrance hall a quasi-public space as it served a social function. The hall was generally uncluttered and austere and doors were kept closed.
Campbell etnry hall circa 1885.
© Campbell House Foundation 2004 |
Placement of the main stairway was deliberate, allowing for a dramatic and gracious descent by the Campbells to met guests.
Decoration
About 1870 the Campbells redecorated the first floor hallway in the complex painted tripartite pattern seen today. This pattern was recreated using the 1880s photos and the pattern example. This painted wall decoration is in the Neo-Grec style and was quite unusual in a residence. The frost glass front door panels are also Neo-Grec in style.
Campbell entry hall, 2007.
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
The floors, including the stairs, are fitted patterned wall-to-wall carpet. The pattern is an Oriental design in deep earth tones.
Furnishings
As was the practice, the Campbell¹s hall is sparsely furnished‹four chairs, a marble bust of Caesar Augustus on a pedestal and a large pier mirror. With the hinged seats the four chairs were useful for storage.
The ornate four-arm gasolier dates to the early 1850¹s and was purchased by Virginia Campbell in Philadelphia in 1855. It was made by the renowned Philadelphia firm Cornelius and Baker.
The only picture in the hall is a landscape by noted Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. It is thought the painting depicts Pierre¹s Hole, in present day Wyoming, the scene of one of Robert¹s exploits during his Rocky Mountain days. Return to First Floor Plan
In the 19th Century, the parlor was the most formal and fashionable room in the house. This large formal parlor was the focal point of Campbell¹s house and would have been the scene of many extravagant social gatherings among friends and dignitaries and a place for special family occasions. This is also the room where Mrs. Campbell would have received callers on her day ³at home.²
Campbell parlor circa 1885.
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Decoration
In about 1867 the parlor was decorated in a painted Neo-Grec scheme similar to the hall. Whereas the painted waill decoration in the hall incorporates18 colors the parlor uses more than 45. The walls are painted with a continuous grape vine and leaf pattern surmounted by Greek keys.
The ceiling has a large painted central medallion with four corner ornaments. The ceiling cove molding is painted several colors and continued out into the ceiling with 12 painted stripes. The wall and ceiling are done in three distinct contrasting styles. The colorful fitted carpet is a large Rocco Revival floral pattern.
Campbell parlor, 2007.
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Furnishings
While the walls and ceiling are decorated with the most current fashion of the 1870s, the room is furnished with its mid-1850s Rococo Revival furnishings, including the extensive set of chairs, sofas, a center table, étagère and a piano.
Virginia purchased the majority of the parlor furniture in Philadelphia in 1855. She wrote Robert from Philadelphia in June 1855, "I have not done anything in the furniture line yet, I hoped you would be here by the 1st of July and could give your opinion about everything. I will go and select it before I go to Long Branch or rather order it to be made, I do not know exactly how to order it. Had we better get new dining room furniture or will the old answer?"
That summer in Philadelphia, Virginia bought gilt cornices and mirrors, a monumental pair of gilt bronze gasoliers, an elaborately carved square grand piano and a set of fine Rococo Revival parlor furniture.
The parlor furniture is hand-carved rosewood and consists of 12 side chairs, 8 armchairs, 3 settees and 8 tables. It is heavy, with deep, carved motifs. The original upholstery was deep red silk brocade. The paintings in the room are mostly family portraits, including a life-size portrait of Virginia Campbell.
Campbell parlor, 2007.
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
"The photographic documentation makes it clear the younger generation of Campbells preserved their parents¹ acquisitions and their memories. For example, the parlor gasoliers, over-mantel mirrors, pier mirrors, and window cornices purchased by Virginia and Robert Campbell in the 1850s remained in the parlor...the photographs show the chairs and settees were occasionally recovered, that new carpets and wall coverings were added, even stylish table covers and mantel scarves appeared during the 1880s‹but virtually nothing was discarded." (from the Campbell House Interior Restoration Plan, 1999)
Return to First Floor PlanThe Morning Room was created in about 1880 from a small porch that had functioned as the family exit to the garden. The family probably added the room to help accommodate guests at parties and to use as an informal space on the first floor.
Morning room, circa 1885
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Because it is an addition this room is very different from any other room in the house, not only in decoration but also in placement. This room was added between the existing Parlor and Dining Room, neither of which were altered in the process.
Decoration
The decoration of the room reflects the latest fashion of the early 1880s‹now called the Aesthetic Style. This style embraces abstract designs and exotic motifs. The stylized fireplace tiles, carved walnut mantel and wallpaper all reflect this taste. This style is also generally seen as more masculine than the Rocco Revival decoration and furnishings prevalent throughout the museum.
Morning room, 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Restoration began in this room in the early 1980s. At that time the wall treatments were copied exactly by enlarging the 1880s photos. The false walnut graining is also largely original, and was exposed by chipping off later graining and 20th Century white paint.
The walnut mantel is typical of the late Victorian period. The glazed tiles surrounding the hearth are from J. & J.G. Low of Chelsea, Massachusetts. One of the tiles has a patent date of 1881. The oak floors are original to the room, making this the only room with finished wood floors during the 19th Century.
Furnishings
Morning room, 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
The largest piece of furniture in the room was a sofa. Other furnishings include a plaster bust of Napoleon¹s sister Pauline Bonaparte Borghese. This room is the only space in the house that had leaded glass windows in the 1880s. Three of the windows were recreated from one original that was discovered in the attic.
Overall, the room reflects the ³cluttered² look often associated with the late Victorian decor, from 1875 to 1910.
Return to First Floor PlanThe Dining Room was the scene for everyday meals and the center of glittering social dinner parties. All meals, big and small, were taken in the Dining Room, making it the most used family room in the house. An elaborate dinner could have has many as 12 courses and take more than three hours.
Dining room, circa 1885
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
After the Morning Room was added in the 1880s the two rooms functioned as a unit. While meals were eaten in the Dining Room, retirement after dinner would have occurred in the Morning Room. This is supported by the fact that the rooms were decorated in a similar, very complimentary fashion.
The windows of the Dining and Morning rooms are outfitted with shutters but no other window treatments. The marbleized cast iron mantel is probably from the original 1851 room.
Dining room, 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Decoration
The pattern for the ceiling was recreated by putting together various elements visible in 1880s photographs. The ceiling was recreated during the 1987 restoration, as were the large mirrors.
The ogee-type pattern wall paper is very similar to the pattern that existed in this room in the 1880s.
Like the Morning Room, Hugh Campbell added an oak floor in this room around 1900, replacing the earlier fitted carpeting. On top of that oak floor was a large oriental carpet. This carpet was recently returned to the museum.
Dining room, 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Furnishings
This furniture, like the parlor set, dates to the mid-1850s and it was probably made in Philadelphia. The table has 10 leaves and can be extended nearly the entire length of the room, seating 18 people comfortably.
The chairs are upholstered in black horsehair. Also notable is a framed wax still life. A porcelain basket holds hand molded and painted wax fruit in a deep gilded frame.
Return to First Floor PlanThe Panty and Kitchen were the domain of the Campbell¹s servants. Between the 1860s and 1880s there would have been seven to ten servants working and living in the house. The Campbell family (excepting the young children) would have rarely entered these rooms.
Pantry, 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
The 1880s false graining in both rooms is well-preserved and large pieces of 19th Century linoleum flooring also exists
Pantry Functions
The main purpose of the Butler¹s Pantry was for the storage and care of china, glassware and flatware. Originally there was a sink in the Butler¹s Panty and all the washing of the fine tablewares would have occurred here. This room would have also been used as a staging area for serving the family at meals.
In the large cabinets are some of Virginia Campbell¹s finest tablewares. The rose-colored porcelain consisted of over 300 pieces when brand new. Today about one third remains. Each piece has a fruit, nut, vegetable, or flower painted on the center. The set was imported by the firm Tyndal and Mitchell of Philadelphia. Other highlights include 18 four-piece place settings of hand-cut crystal, a Tiffany and Company silver tureen.
Kitchen Functions
This Kitchen would have been the height of domestic technology during the mid-19th Century. It had a sink with running water, hot water tank, large cast iron coal-fired range and an icebox. Using these new appliances, the Campbell¹s cook would have been responsible for making the three daily meals for the family and the other servants‹on average about 50 meals per day. Extra preparations were undertaken for special meals.
Kitchen 2006
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
Until about 1890 most of the food for the household would have been purchased at Lucas Market which was just three blocks to the east on 12th Street. Most of the fresh food was probably stored in one of the built-in cabinets, while goods were stored in the basement.
Above the Panty "pass through" window are the servant call bells. The bells in this mechanical system were connected with wires to the wall pulls in each of the family¹s rooms. The copper sink is original and the oak false graining dates to 1880s. The walls and ceiling have been painted sanitary green, a color that helps hide dirt. The cooking implements in the cupboards are typical of the period and many are original to this Kitchen.
Kitchen cabinet, 2007
© Campbell House Foundation 2007 |
To access the second floor servants would have used the back staircase in the Kitchen.
Return to First Floor Plan