Name/Title
Saugatuck Hotel by Ward CoatesEntry/Object ID
2011.11.01Tags
Collecting the Art CoastDescription
This painting features a scene of an old hotel on a corner located in Saugatuck. It is an oil on canvas painting and is framed.Type of Painting
EaselCollection
ArtworksCataloged By
Voss, MaryAcquisition
Accession
2011.11Source or Donor
Beatrice Finch EstateAcquisition Method
DonationMade/Created
Artist
Coates, Jay Howard "Ward" 1885-1947Date made
1935Notes
Dated 1931 by Kit Lane in Painting the Town exhibit list.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Notes
Signature Location: Bottom leftLexicon
Search Terms
Painting, Saugatuck Hotel Painting, Saugatuck HotelLocation
Shelf
AC bay 19Room
Art Conservation RoomRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Coates, Jay Howard "Ward" 1885-1947Interpretative Labels
Label
From "Collecting the Lakeshore" 2025-2026 at the History Center main floor gallery
Jay Howard “Ward” Coates
1885-1947
Saugatuck House
1935 | oil on canvas
This painting captures the setting of Saugatuck’s first purpose-built hotel as imagined twenty-two years after its loss. Built in 1852, Saugatuck House hosted lodgers passing through the village throughout the 1800s. The structure was disassembled in 1913 to make way for the Parrish Drug Store at the corner of Butler and Mason Streets.
Early settler S. A. Morrison donated the lot to R.S. Smith to build the lodging house, in part to alleviate the need of hosting borders in the family home next door. Saugatuck House advertised with the motto: "Feed the hungry and rest the Weary."
The artist Ward Coates signed and dated this monumental portrait of Saugatuck House. He lived a remarkable life. As a graduate of Saugatuck High School in 1901 he sailed the Great Lakes as an engineer and later worked in Chicago. He took up painting after he retired to Saugatuck.
Cordelia Brown Keltner (1850-1892) managed Saugatuck House for eleven years until her death. Born in Prairie Round, Michigan, she married Frank Keltner when she was eighteen, became a widow two years later in 1870 and never remarried. She came to Saugatuck in 1881 and was “actively identified with the management of the Saugatuck House.”
Cordeila Brown may be at the center of the photograph, circa 1880, to your right. It depicts men and women lined up on the front porch of the Saugatuck House. Many of the standing people are posed with equipment like aprons, trays, a washtub, or broom and dustpan suggesting their roles as hotel staff. Two people may be African-American. A buggy and a carriage with their respective horses and drivers are parked in front of the building.
Gift of Bob and Doris Mersbach in memory of Beatrice Finch
Accession number 2011.11.01 and 2021.72.02General Notes
Note
Donated by Bob and Doris Mershbach
purchased at an estate auction of Beatrice Finch
Status: OK
Status By: Mary Voss
Status Date: 2011-03-28Create Date
March 28, 2011Update Date
September 15, 2026