COUPLE PURCHASES H-H BUILDING

The Himmelberger-Harrison Building, a five-level brick-and-stone building that opened in 1907, has some new owners.

John and Jerrianne Wyman, downtown restaurateurs who own Mollie's and N'Orleans restaurants and Europa's Gourmet Market, recently purchased the H-H Building at Fountain and Broadway, across Fountain from the old Marquette Hotel. The building's previous owner was AmerenUE and the Oliver law firm, which still owns one floor of the structure.

"We don't have any immediate plans for the building," said John Wyman. "We just want to get it re-occupied.

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.

Building history

"We're glad to have the Wymans here," said John L. Oliver. The Himmelberger-Harrison Building officially opened in December 1907, more than two decades before the Hotel Marquette opened in 1928.

The five-story brick-and-stone 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, constructed in 1856, stood at the corner in Cape Girardeau, until 1906, when Himmelberger & Harrison purchased the vacant home, and announced plans for the five-story, modern "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.

H-H Lumber moved its offices to the new structure in December 1907.