The Campbell House Museum

The Campbell House Museum was built in 1851 and was the first home in the Lucas Place neighborhood, St. Louis' first private neighborhood that was once the hub of social and cultural life. It is now the last surviving building from the neighborhood and is preserved as a museum that educates visitors on the life of the Campbell Family, the immigrant experience, and 19th century St. Louis and American history.

The Campbell House represents an important transitional period in housing design. Noted St. Louis arcitect Thomas Waryng Walsh designed the house. The original ouse was of a large townhouse design — a rectangular plan, three floors with an attic and English basement and a two story flounder wing at the rear. The house is of no particular architectural style. The cast iron balcony on the front of the house is Gothic in detail, while the front entryway is in the Greek-Revival style popular during the 1840s. All facades are of finished and painted brick, except the unpainted west facade. Although it looks like a row house, it was never attached to anything.

The Campbells

Robert Campbell was a renowned fur trader and entrepreneur who lived in the house from 1854 to 1938. He immigrated to the U.S. from Northern Ireland and entered the fur trade , climbing the ranks of companies until he became co-owner of one. In 1835, he married Virgina Kyle and shifted careers, focusing on dry goods, real estate, banking, and river trading. He soon became one of the wealthiest men in Missouri, allowing them to move into Lucas Place and climb the social ladder. Their dinner parties were considered one of the most sought-after social engagements, attracting figureheads such as President Ulysses S. Grant and General William Sherman.