The Face Upon the Barroom Floor

Editor's Note

  The Gilpin County Historical Society recently published Pennyweights, a collection of 60 vignettes relating to Gilpin County history. The Society and author Alan Granruth have given the Gilpin County News permission to reproduce 30 articles of our choice from the book. This limited edition, 250 numbered copies, 120 page, 5 ½” x 8” book is available at the Central City Area Visitor Center for $12.95 or from the Historical Society, Box 247, Central City, CO 80427 for $12.95 plus $3.00 postage and sales tax. 

Alan Granruth

  This is undoubtedly the most famous attraction in Central City. People from around the world have heard of the “Face Upon the Barroom Floor in Central City.” Many people confuse it with the poem of the same name, written by Hugh Antoine d’Arcy, about a derelict drunk d’Arcy picked up from the steps of Joe Smith’s Barroom in Union Square New York in 1877.

  Many stories have been told about how and when the painting was done and who was the subject of the painting. The first recorded version that I have found of how and when “The Face” was painted appeared in the following article from the Denver Rocky Mountain News on Saturday July 11, 1936:

Teller House Gets Original ‘Face on Floor’

Sudden Inspiration and 5 hours of Back-Breaking Artistic Toil Required

  Thousands of persons who have heard the haunting lines of “The Face Upon the Bar-Room Floor” from time to time since childhood are going to see one for the first time at Central City this season.

  And it will not be the result of too potent a draught - the face is really there, painted on the floor of the Teller House bar-room by Herndon Davis, official Central City artist.

  Davis was enjoying a gentle “snifter” the other day when he came up with a start and an idea.  “I have been in thousands, yes thousands of saloons,” the genial and portly gentleman mused, but never before one with a perfect setting for the face of a beautiful lady.  I wonder--“

  Without waiting for the reaction of Miss Anne Evans or others who might wish to express an opinion on the subject, Davis started to work. That was at 10 o’clock Wednesday night.

Five hours later he rose from the Teller House floor, his back aching and his head splitting. He surveyed his work and found it good.

  Twice life size there appeared the face of a beautiful woman, and if the famous poem was only a legend before, it is reality now. So far as is known, the Teller House has the only bar-room in the world with “The Face Upon the Floor.”

  Even though the above article appeared only a few days after “The Face” was painted, it may not tell the whole story.

  Another written account credits a second artist’s participation in the event. In a letter dated October 30, 1979, Agnes Gates, then Corresponding Secretary of the Gilpin County Historical Society and wife of Frank “Pancho” Gates, provided the following account of how “The Face” was created:

  “It was painted there one summer evening in 1936 by two artists, Herndon Davis and Frank Gates, as they discussed methods of painting over a few beers in the bar. To illustrate their points they painted the face on the floor. Next morning they hurried back to the bar in order to remove their work done as a prank actually, but the attendant insisted they leave it, as he had already realized its appeal to the general public.

  He was not wrong. Thousands upon thousands of tourists overlook authentic historical attractions in Central City, such as the Opera House, the Museum, the historic churches and Victorian homes—but must see the Face. The poem by D’Arcy, written about a face on a barroom floor, many think is about this face. It is not.

  Sincerely,

  Agnes Gates, Cor. Secretary

  PS:  The museum rooms of the Teller House, upstairs above the bar, have nothing to do with this Face. They are authentic.”

  Was this solely Herndon’s work or did Pancho actually participate in the painting? That we will probably never know. To view some of Pancho’s work, visit Central City Hall where a series of his paintings are on permanent display.

  Whose face is it? Most likely, it is Juanita “Nita” Davis, Herndon’s wife. A syndicated article appeared in more than 10 newspapers, including the Chicago Sun Times on October 22, 1967, relating the following story: “Fred Mazulla, a Denver Attorney, asked Davis to paint a face like the one in Central City on the floor of Mazulla’s home. Davis replied; ‘That’s my wife, you don’t want a picture of my wife on your floor do you?’”

  Nita denied the painting was of her all the way to her death in 1975.