One of the last relics of the Hot Tin Roof is for sale. Approximately 240 feet of an iconic mural painted by Margot Datz in the early 1990s is available for purchase in pieces or segments, but most likely not as a whole work of art.

In 2016, the McGroarty family purchased the building which over the years has changed owners and names many times — from the Hot Tin Roof to Outerland, Nectar’s, Flatbread and finally to Tin Hangar under the McGroartys.

Earlier this week, Brion McGroarty Sr. put out a press release stating the building would be undergoing renovations in the off-season. To let in more natural light, windows are to be added to the walls that host the murals. Mr. McGroarty said the renovations would result in the destruction of the murals, but to preserve this piece of history he was welcoming offers by interested parties in purchasing parts of the murals.

Ms. Datz said she wanted to honor the Island's working men and women. — Jeanna Shepard

“I want to get it out there in case there are people who want to have a little piece of the old time Vineyard,” he said, adding that according to the builder he has been working with, the murals can come out in pieces, but taking the entire mural in one piece is unlikely.

Ms. Datz said she painted the murals in the style of Thomas Hart Benton, to represent the blue collar leanings of Island life. “I really, really wanted to embrace the backbone of the Island . . . the working man, the working woman, the blue collar energy that is so loaded with libido, and work hard, play hard kind of ethic,” she said.

Near the music stage, she painted a vignette of a big house party, with trucks pulling up, people dancing in the moonlight, kissing in the cornfield, a wife on a hill looking for her husband who was hiding by the side of the house. The paintings were done in oil stick.

The mural was actually the second one Ms. Datz painted at the club. She was the interior designer when the Hot Tin Roof opened in early 1979. The first mural was a Henry-Julienne Felix Rousseau inspired jungle painting.

The work of Thomas Hart Benton served as an inspiration. — Jeanna Shepard

“I had just moved up here and it was Saturday Night Fever, coast to coast back then. It was a blast, the whole country was dancing,” she said.

The original design was very farm-tech focused with industrial fixtures and flooring, she said. “I added this tropical Rousseau touch to it . . . it was very sexy.”

The original murals were mostly covered with walls, with just the edge of one of them peeking out from where the bar is now. When murals are covered, Ms. Datz said she thinks of them as sleeping.

As a muralist, Ms. Datz said she has worked to distance herself from her finished products, most of which are on public display. Her work can be seen all over the Island, greeting Steamship Authority passengers in the Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs terminals, gracing the interior walls of the Old Whaling Church, panels at the Flying Horses, and in countless buildings and private homes. She is currently working in the children’s room of the Edgartown Library, painting a large mural of underwater sea life.

The artist at work on her latest mural in the children's room at the Edgartown Library. — Jeanna Shepard

“I had to let go of the destiny of my work,” she said. “I had to really not attach ego to it, to just really pour myself into the project as it was and see where it would go.”

She said there is a precedent for her murals being sold and successfully transplanted in pieces. She recalled how pieces of other murals float around the Island, surfacing in attics and at the thrift store, or covered up by panelling only to be uncovered years later.

She added that she is excited about possible new lives for her Hot Tin Roof mural.

“The fox and the hen house, it could be chopped up into eight chicken pictures and then someone could get the fox,” she said of one section.

“There’s one I even want,” she said. “I used my Uncle John as the old man hiding, and he leaned against a wall as I painted him. I loved him and he’s in heaven now. I know if one person is in heaven, it’s Uncle John. I’d like that picture.”

Tin Hangar will close on Sunday Oct. 8 and remain closed for remodeling into the spring. Those interested in purchasing pieces of the Datz mural should contact Brion McGroarty Sr. at MV Wine and Spirits: 508-627-7557.