Camp, William and Medora, House

The Camp House is perhaps the most substantial and intact example of an early 20th-century Classical Revival residence in the northeast Texas city of Greenville. Built for bank president William R. J. Camp and his wife Medora, the house was constructed of the finest materials by expert craftsmen and served as their home for 11 years. The combination of classical features on the exterior and Arts and Crafts elements on the interior makes an additional statement about the domestic interests of the Camp's. It fully retains its historic integrity and somewhat dramatic siting.

The first house to occupy this prominent site at the head of St. John Street was built in 1873 for Dr. J. Scoonover. The property is remembered as a substantial, 2-story residence with wraparound porches. It was locally known as the "Steamboat House." Dr. and Mrs. Scoonover owned the property until 1905. Two years later it was sold to William R. J. Camp (1862-1929), a native of Cass County, Texas, and his Virginia-born wife, the former Medora (Dora) Hillie (1857-1941).

Mr. Camp had moved to Hunt County as a child with his parents and settled west of Greenville in the Floyd community. He married Dora Hillie in 1884. The couple had four sons, all of whom were later involved in their father's business ventures. Mr. Camp achieved success in Floyd as a livestock raiser and moved to Greenville around 1903. He was identified with a number of prosperous business activities, including helping to charter the Commercial National Bank in 1904. This bank proved to be one of the most successful early 20th-century banks in Greenville. Camp was appointed director of the bank in 1909, and served as its president for many years thereafter. In addition, Camp was an officer or part owner of the Empire Bottling and Manufacturing Company, the Camp Drug Company, and Camp and Ellis Cotton Merchants in Greenville.

Dora Camp was active in Greenville social activities and had a special interest in the Presbyterian church. Their sons became locally prominent businessmen, and their grandson William Bacon Camp later achieved national fame as Comptroller of the U.S. Currency under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

In 1914, at a time when W.R.J. Camp was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of Greenville's citizens, he decided to replace the Steamboat House with a modern and imposing residence. The Scoonover residence was moved to the rear of the property and turned to face Bourland Street, leaving the original site open. The Camps chose to build their new home in the Classical Revival style. In Texas at that time, the style was most often associated with the construction of public buildings and, appropriately, banks. The wealthiest citizens of many Texas cities and towns selected the Classical Revival style as a means of advertising their prosperity, associations with the Old South, and the Beaux Arts classicism of the Northeast and Europe. Their design efforts were frequently more ambitious than correct, but the legacy has been a selection of large and sometimes vigorous houses with a few found in most Texas communities of any substance.

The Camp House was a more successful design than many others of the period. It was almost certainly architect-produced, but the identity of the designer is not known. The prominent siting of the house and its finely crafted detailing, giant-order Roman Doric columns, and large rooms certainly provided a proper setting for the bank president and his wife. The contrasting Arts and Crafts interior elements, however, are equally interesting in that they comment on the desire of the Camps to produce a simple indoor living environment rather than continuing the exuberant classical detailing of the exterior.

Mr. and Mrs. Camp sold the house to their son Kenneth in 1925 for $18,000, at the time the Commercial National Bank unfortunately went into receivership. Three years later the house became the property of the Greenville National Bank. It then was sold a number of times with the longest ownership being that of James and Belle Hull and her daughter Thelma (Mrs. Moody D.) Cunningham from 1940 to 1967.

Although it was divided into three apartments by the Hulls during the later years of World War II, the removal of a perimeter balustrade above the front porch was the most visible change to the house over the years. Slowly, the structure deteriorated until its acquisition by Walter and Juanita Tracy in 1975. The Tracys initiated rehabilitation work that continues under the ownership of William and Theresa Cowling. The Camp House has fared much better than the majority of large houses in Greenville and this neighborhood. Many have been destroyed, making the William and Medora Camp House a locally important survivor. The rehabilitation of the Camp House has attracted much publicity and renewed interest in the neighborhood, and it is hoped it will act as a catalyst for the rescue of other Greenville landmarks.