ROBERT W. CAMPBELL HOUSE
Firm: J. A. Cawston and Associates
Address: 3819 10 Street SW
Date of final plans: June 1960
Status: standing as built
Bob Campbell's Elbow Park home is by far and away the most conservative design Cawston produced during his career. In fact, it may be the only traditional-style building Cawston designed. While his house for Mel Dalphond was also quite staid, the Campbell house is significantly more conservative. From the outside, the only giveaway the house is from the post-War era is the double-car garage.
The house sits on a 75' by 125' lot and is deceptively large. It is nearly 39' wide and 36' deep. The main floor mostly follows a standard four-square plan and the upper floor consists of four bedroom.
Around 2014 a room was added above the garage and the window shutters were removed. Aside from that the house looks mostly as it did when it was built in 1960.
As an aside, Bob Campbell had a uniquely intimate relationship with the architecture of Jack Cawston. An employee of Home Oil, Campbell also worked in Cawston's Brown Building downtown. Thus, from the completion of his house in 1960 to the time he left Home Oil in 1971, he spent most of his life in the built world of Jack Cawston.
THE CLIENT
Robert William "Bob" Campbell (1922–2008) was born in Valentine, Nebraska. He graduated from Valentine High School in 1940 and began his university studies at Creighton University. In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Army. During the War he served with the 101st Airborne Division in The Netherlands and Belgium. On 4 January 1945 he was severely wounded during the Seige of Bastogne and spent much of the next two years in hospital. After being demobilised in 1947, he returned to Creighton and earned a Bachelor of Laws in 1950. He began his career in Oklahoma with Shell Oil, and in 1952 moved to Calgary to take a position with Home Oil. Campbell stayed with Home until 1971, when he became Chairman of PanCanadian Petroleum. In 1982 he took the position of Chairman at Canadian Pacific Enterprises. Campbell retired in 1989.
Campbell married Joanne ____. They had six children: Michael, Timothy, Christa, Carey, Daniel, and Jane. Campbell died on 1 September 2008 at age 85.