Where were the York County Heritage Trust lions?
Walking through the mezzanine gallery at York County Heritage Trust the other day, I stopped to take a new look at the cast iron lions guarding the stairs up to the second floor. I remembered some photos in the YCHT Library/Archives taken of them while they still watched over their domain from atop pillars at the former Smyser-Royer/Variety Iron Works on West North Street, between George and Beaver Streets.
Each lion is about 19 inches high, 13 inches wide and 40 inches long. They were donated to the then Historical Society of York County in 1980 by Fulton, Mehring & Hauser, the wholesale company that later occupied the site. (Part of the refurbished complex now houses the York Academy Regional Charter School.)
The lions are now the color of weathered iron. As you can see in the 1972 photos below at least the eyes, teeth and nails were painted then. I can’t tell from the black and white photos if their bodies were painted. Does anyone remember?
A Google search shows that they come up for auction occasionally. The examples I found were sold in pairs. Some are marked with the J. W. Fiske, New York imprint, who, as far as I know had all the iron railings and fences, garden furniture, urns and fountains they sold cast in York at Variety Iron Works.
Click here for my previous York Sunday News column on the Variety Iron Works.
