His studio was on the second floor in back, overlooking the garden. On warm, sunny days, he would set up his easel and paint in the garden. Two of his larger works were inspired by views from this area, the south lawn, which would have had brick walkways around the edge and a planting bed along the fence. The paintings are “From the Garden of the Chateau”, now in the collection of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and “Welcome to Our City”, in the Terra Foundation's Daniel J. Terra collection in Chicago.

The vantage point for “From the Garden” would have been further back, roughly space #25 in the parking lot.

The view included the Demuth Snuff Factory, the brick building at the rear of the property along Mifflin Street, and the rear windows of a home on King Street. There is some disagreement as to whether the home is Demuth’s—in which case the windows represent his studio—or the house at 110-112 E. King Street. To me, the colors are more consistent with the wood siding at 110 E. King than the brick façade of 118, but as you can see, Demuth was not a slave to reality since he brought both buildings closer together on the canvas. You can also see the way he incorporated the telephone and power lines into the ray lines and cubistic planes in the painting.

Dr. Alvord Eiseman wrote: “From the Garden of the Chateau has the most checkered history of any of Demuth’s works. Around 1930, Demuth gave it on assignment to the Downtown Gallery in New York, under the aegis of Edith Gregor Halpert. Mrs. Halpert was unable to find a buyer, and she placed it, also on consignment, at the Boyer Gallery in Philadelphia, along with several other of Demuth’s works. Juliana Force of the Whitney Museum of American Art became interested in these works at the Boyer and purchased, among others, From the Garden of the Chateau. Demuth was never paid.

”The Whitney Museum then sent the painting on a traveling exhibition to South America. During the exhibition’s travels, a fire broke out and From the Garden of the Chateau was singed. After its return, the Whitney collected the amount it was insured for, and the painting became the property of the insurance company. The insurance company, having no use for “art,” gave it away to a business associate, a Mr. William Bender Jr. He insisted, however, on paying one-third of the painting’s original valuation. From the Garden of the Chateau was quickly and easily restored, for the damage was quite slight; it remained in the proud possession of Mr. and Mrs. Bender until their deaths.”¹⁹

Another painting inspired by a view from the garden is “Welcome to our City.” This viewpoint is closer to the current fence, near the Demuth Staff parking spaces.

Through the trees, which Demuth did not include in the painting, you can see the dome of the Lancaster County Courthouse rising above the roofs and chimneys of the homes on East King Street.

We don’t know what Demuth intended the partial script on the left to say or symbolize,--some have suggested a counter-clockwise reading from the lowest letter expresses Demuth’s true feelings for Lancaster,--but Demuth was rarely that vulgar, or overt. It may have been inspired by the painted signs on the side of buildings, like the one still visible on Excelsior Hall, which we will see across King Street as we walk to our next stop.

¹⁹ Eiseman, Demuth, p.66