The Purple Robin Reserve at 47 East Main Street occupies what was formerly the lobby of the Lititz Community Theatre. The remarkable feature of the place is not its reuse of an older structure but the fact that it retains the principal decorations of the earlier enterprise.
These decorations are a series of nine murals painted by Belgian artist Franz de Merlier when the theatre was being built in 1935. Depicting noted scenes and landmarks from Lititz, the paintings graced the theatre lobby until the showplace was closed and converted into shops and commercial space. They remained on the walls of one of the stores, but in over half a century had become badly soiled and faded.
The owners of the Piano and Organ Center, Dave and Hetty Andrews (early occupants), and the owners of the building, Lititz Improvement, investigated having the historic art works refurbished. The Lititz Historical Foundation agreed to foot half the cost. Engaged to do the work was the Twistback Conservation Center of Oxford, Pa. The price was set at $1,200. [Editor’s note: They have since been restored again by Brandywine Museum.]
