If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 564

 

 

 

 

 

The Teller House, Central City, Colorado

 

Two postcards are being shared this week.  The above card is an unused Curteichcolor, 3-D Natural Color Reproduction postcard published for Flatiron Postcard Company, of Boulder, Colorado.  Bob McMillian is credited for the color photograph.  The number 243 appears at the lower left corner on the reverse with the note: “The Historic Teller House, Central City, Colorado.  Built in 1872 at the cost of $107,000.”  Both cards were shared friends K & J.

 

Teller House is described as a historic hotel in Central City, Colorado.  The building has also served as a casino (1991-2000, 2005), and a restaurant.  It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.  The bar at Teller House is famous or well known for the “Face on the Barroom Floor,” shown on the second postcard below.

 

Face on the Barroom Floor

 

 

The painting of a woman’s face on the wooden floor was painted by a local artist, Herndon Davis, as a joke in 1936 after he was fired by the hotel.  The unused card has the number 233 at the lower left corner on the reverse.  The card has decorative cut edges.  The photograph is attributed to Ted and Lois Matthews.  This card is also a Flatiron Postcard Co. publication, this one printed in Australia by Colorscans.

 

Herndon Davis was born in 1901 in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and moved to Denver, Colorado in 1936.  He was an American artist, journalist, illustrator and painter.  When he worked at the National War College in Washington, D.C. he created maps of China and Japan.  His illustrations appeared in New York, Washington, D.C., and Denver newspapers.  He also made paintings and murals by commission.  While in Denver his works captured people and landmarks of the west.  The painting on the barroom floor is of his wife, Edna Juanita (Nita) Cotter.  Among his varied works are landscapes, places, buildings, and portraits.  Many of his works were done in watercolor and some no longer exist.  The Herndon Davis Collection is in the Western History and of the Denver Public Library.  Davis had just started a commissioned mural for the Smithsonian Institution when he died of a heart attack in 1962.

 

 Thanks to K & J for sharing the cards.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller_House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrdon_Davis