I planted some camellias 2' away and another one 3' away. I have a few about 1.5' away too.

I tend to separate acid loving plants from the house a little but my house is old and the cement does not leech lime much nowadays. Texas soil is naturally alkaline thought so I still keep them away a little. The camellias have never complained and/or showed signs if iron chlorosis. The azaleas have not 'complained' either but some hydrangeas in front of the house have 'complained' so I try to amend the soil for ALL once in Spring and again in Summer/Autumn for the hydrangeas.

Camellias, especially japonicas grow slowly but will eventually reach size of at least 8x8 feet if left unpruned. And older plants can be as large as 12x12 feet. I would not plant one closer than 4-5 feet from the wall and than I'd prepare myself for occasional pruning of those branches that reached the house. This being said, Camellias look best when left unpruned and allowed to grow to whatever size they want.
Which Camellia did you get?

Many camellias grow very slowly so the good news is that pruning may not become an annual chore. My shrubs have been planted for 10 years or so and I have not had to prune any yet. It all depends on which camellia did you get. You can also prune to give them a tree form if that is a look that you end up wanting.

I agree with Luis. Pruning camellias isn't a chore. My brother has a white camellia that was planted about 1 foot from the house. It is more than 50 years old, its trunk is about 7 inches in diameter. About every 4-5 years I come over and we trim it back to about 6' by 5' and thin out the middle. It's not an ideal placement but it thrives. Every year there are hundreds of blooms and it is on a west facing wall in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, hot dry summers and warm to cool wetter winters. And yes, it's a japonica, not a sasanqua. Also, he's not much of a gardener and it only gets occasional water and never fertilized. Established camellias are surprisingly tough plants.

Thank you all for the feedback. We planted the bush about 2.5 to 3 feet away from the house. We previously had a camellia bush that had been in the same spot for years, but my husband got pruning happy and cut it so far back, that it killed it. Hoping that this one is just as pretty!