IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: CAPE RESIDENTS GET A RARE IINSIDE GLIPSE OF HISTORIC HOTEL

The remains of the coffee shop inside the old Marquette Hotel provide a glimpse of an earlier era in Cape Girardeau.

Judging by the amount of shutters snapping at the open house of the Marquette Hotel, the interior of the old, downtown Cape Girardeau building is of high interest to area photographers.

"For me, I love old buildings," said Don Haupt, 25, an employee of Europa's cafe, setting a timed exposure on his tripod-mounted camera. "I've got light coming across the floor there. I've got the dirty tile. Earlier, I was having fun because you've got the curtains there backlit."

Built in 1928, the Marquette was sold to the Blurberich Delivery Co. of St. Louis in 1936, and then to the late Thad Bullock in 1969. It has been mostly closed to the public since 1981.

The building faces city-imposed demolition if not sold or improved by March -- which is why owner Carol Bullock, Thad's daughter, unlocked the doors to sympathizers for a tour of the lobby and hors d'oeuvres for two hours on Saturday. She hopes to raise enough interest in the structure to have it declared a historical landmark, or to generate the $5 to $10 million needed for renovation.

Dressed in a flapper-style costume, Bullock welcomed interested residents and potential buyers to look around.

A group of historical preservation students from Southeast Missouri State University are documenting the building's history. Hoping to help save the building, group members are researching the building's history, collecting old photographs and anecdotes, and studying marketing and viable business possibilities.

"This is a commercial anchor that shouldn't be ignored," said Thomas M. Meyer, Bullock's realtor. "If you demolish it, you spend $500,000 and what do you recoup?"

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