H-H Building in downtown Cape sold

Located at Broadway and Fountain streets

Business Today

The Himmelberger-Harrison Building, a five-level, brick-and-stone building that opened in 1907, has been sold to John and Jerrianne Wyman. The Wymans are downtown restaurateurs who own Mollie's and N'Orleans restaurants and Europa's Gourmet Market.

The east side of the H-H Building at Broadway and Fountain streets faces the old Marquette Hotel. The previous owners of the building were AmerenUE and the Oliver law firm; the law firm still owns one floor of the structure.

John Wyman said there are no immediate plans for the building, other than getting it reoccupied.

AmerenUE, which has relocated its office to 45 S. Minnesota St. in Cape Girardeau, uses a small part of the ground floor but will vacate it soon, said Doug Groessbeck of the local AmerenUE office.

The Oliver, Oliver and Waltz law firm owns the fourth floor of the structure.

The Himmelberger-Harrison Building officially opened in December 1907, about two decades before the Marquette Hotel opened in 1928.

The building housed offices for Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Co.

Although it had nothing to do with the naming of the building, the top four levels of the buildings are shaped like an "H."

In 1921, the office building was sold to Liberty National Life Insurance Co.

The building's appearance changed in 1936 when the overhang at the top of the structure was replaced with a stone topping.

Missouri Utilities and the Oliver law firm bought the building in 1978 and modernized it. Union Electric moved its offices there when it bought Missouri Utilities.

A small house built in 1856 stood at the corner until 1906, when Himmelberger & Harrison bought the vacant home, and announced plans for the "skyscraper," a fireproof structure of modern steel.

Plans for the building, announced by John H. Himmelberger and W. H. Harrison, called for a store on the street level, with offices on the second, third and fourth floors. The fifth floor was designated for large halls, one for dances and receptions and the other for lodges and conventions.