Guided Tour
House Museum Guided Tour
Docent-led tour of the Chatillon-DeMenil House Foundation's historic rooms, period furnishings, and the largest known collection of 1904 St. Louis World's Fair memorabilia.
- Duration:
- 1 hr
Photo coming soon
Museum / Historical Site
Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion
An 1848 farmhouse expanded into a Greek Revival mansion in the Benton Park neighborhood next door to the Lemp Mansion, now a house museum holding the largest known 1904 World's Fair collection.
3352 DeMenil Place, St. Louis, MO 63118
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
House-museum admission fees apply; see demenil.org for current pricing and seasonal tour schedules.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story historic mansion with stairs; not all rooms accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1848 · Henri Chatillon — Oregon Trail guide and Parkman expedition figure · Nicolas DeMenil — Chouteau family connection · Largest known collection of 1904 St. Louis World's Fair memorabilia · City of St. Louis landmark; National Register of Historic Places
Henri Chatillon, a French-Canadian fur trader and Oregon Trail guide who is notable in St. Louis history for guiding Francis Parkman's 1846 expedition, built a two-story brick farmhouse on the site in 1848. Chatillon owned the property until 1856, when he sold it to Nicolas DeMenil, a French-born St. Louis pharmacist who had married into the wealthy Chouteau family.
Beginning in 1861, DeMenil commissioned a major expansion that converted the modest farmhouse into a refined Greek Revival residence; the work was completed around 1863. The mansion remained in the DeMenil family for three generations, occupying a prominent position on a bluff in what is now the Benton Park neighborhood, immediately adjacent to the Lemp Mansion property on DeMenil Place.
In the twentieth century the property was preserved through the establishment of the Chatillon-DeMenil House Foundation, which restored the house and opened it to the public. Today it operates as a house museum with original Victorian furnishings and is widely recognized for holding the largest known collection of memorabilia from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition). The mansion is a designated City of St. Louis landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatillon%E2%80%93DeMenil_House
- https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/city-landmarks/Chatillon-DeMenil-Mansion.cfm
- https://www.demenil.org/history
- https://stltourguide.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/chatillon-demenil-grande-dame-of-the-lous-great-houses/
Phantom footstepsFeeling of being watchedPhantom scents (cologne)Disembodied voices (sometimes in French)Phantom piano
Paranormal lore at the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion has been documented in regional accounts including Haunted Auckland's site profile and the stltourguide blog. The most commonly cited phenomena are atmospheric and sensory rather than involving named apparitions: footsteps in the kitchen, a 'watched' feeling in Mrs. DeMenil's bedroom, the scent of an old-fashioned cologne reported near Alexander DeMenil's shaving stand, and disembodied voices reported on the stairways. Sources note that some staff accounts describe French-language voices, in keeping with the DeMenils' French heritage.
The mansion has also produced reports of piano sounds when the instrument is unoccupied. These accounts trace to former staff and tour-operator narratives; they are not anchored to a specific documented decedent on the property. Unlike the immediately adjacent Lemp Mansion, which is associated with four specific suicides between 1904 and 1949, the Chatillon-DeMenil accounts lack a corresponding biographical anchor.
The mansion leans into its mystique through October programming, which combines genuine 19th-century mourning-tradition interpretation (a documented period in which households publicly displayed mourning through dress, photography, and home decoration) with ghost-themed evening tours. Treat first-hand accounts as folkloric and sourced primarily to mansion staff and regional aggregators rather than to peer-reviewed paranormal investigation.
Notable Entities
Mrs. DeMenil (bedroom area)Alexander DeMenil (shaving stand area)
Plan Your Visit
2 ways to experience Guided Tour Booking Required
October Mourning & Ghost-Themed Tours
Seasonal October offerings featuring 19th-century mourning-tradition exhibits and ghost-history narrated tours with staff-reported phenomena accounts.
- Duration:
- 1.3 hr
Sources & Further Reading
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion family-friendly?
Family-friendly historic house museum; daytime tours appropriate for all ages. October mourning-tradition programming includes period funerary content that may be heavy for very young children. Overall family fit: High.
How much does it cost to visit Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion?
House-museum admission fees apply; see demenil.org for current pricing and seasonal tour schedules.
Do I need to book in advance?
No advance booking is required, but checking availability is recommended.
Is Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion wheelchair accessible?
Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion has limited wheelchair accessibility. Terrain: Multi-story historic mansion with stairs; not all rooms accessible.