This building was erected in 1907 as part of what was then a thriving German enclave in Detroit. It would lose its distinctive Bavarian look in 1925 but gain one of the city’s oldest and most beloved institutions as a tenant a few decades later, Henry the Hatter.
A bit of the Vaterland
By the end of the 19th Century, the area around Broadway had become a center of the city’s German community. Institutions like the Harmonie Club (built in 1895 but an organization dating to 1849), the German-language Abend Post newspaper (1890) and others had become well-established. The Breitmeyer family’s florist shop had been operating there since 1883.
Gustave Mueller was hired by Joseph H. Lume to design a four-story hotel and German cafe. The City of Detroit issued building permit No. 1987 on July 13, 1907, for the structure. The building originally featured pressed brick, Bedford limestone and terra cotta on the outside with a distinctive Flemish-gabled roof and copper cornice. The Detroit Historic District Advisory Board described it as being “North German or Low Country Renaissance.”
Lume called his establishment "Alt Heidelberg," meaning "Old Heidelberg," which is a term often used to channel German nostalgia. It also was the name of a famous 1901 play by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster..
The Alt Heidelberg opened June 20 1908, "a grand day for the German-born citizens of Detroit and their families and friends," the Detroit Times reported that day. "Years of planning have gone into the four-story, German-style structure, and no expense spared to make the inside of the building such as to transport the lover of things European back to his old home. The service, everything, will be modeled to this end. Old-fashioned comfort and hospitality will combine with the finest of modern cafe equipment to add to the joy of the visitor, whether he comes to banquet or for a quiet stein and evening's chat." The Detroit Free Press added that morning that Alt Heidelberg was "a place designed to fulfill all the requirements of the 'inner man.'"
The first floor featured a spacious bar and grill rooms. One story up was a large dining room with room for 200 people. The decorations throughout the building were, unsurprisingly, of German design and origin. Heidelberg paintings, antique and mission furniture, chandeliers and other decor echoed the German beer halls of yore. There also was a rathskeller in the basement featuring barrels, plenty of steins, a buffet and lots of "good cheer," the Free Press noted. A rathskeller is a German term for a bar or restaurant in a basement.
Despite being announced as a combo hotel/bar, there was no mention in the paper of it being used as a hotel. It's possible that Lume opted instead to live above his establishment.
The building featured modern amenities like electric lighting, an electric passenger elevator and steam heat. The interior was fitted with marble, mosaic tile, ornamental iron, hardwood finishes and decorative art glass.
The grill room featured a weathered oak bar occupying the entire side of the room. There was a balcony for musicians overhanging the rear of the room. The second floor also had two private family dining rooms. "Mr. Lume seems to have a few hobbies in regard to his new place and they are: that the service must be A No. 1; that his beers must receive the most careful attention in drawing; that it be a favorite place for families, and above all, a hostelry that one will regret leaving." The menu was, of course, German fare, and its taps also had imported pilseners, Munchener and Wuerzburger beers on draft.
But it wasn’t a rowdy sort of place, with Lederhosen-wearing drunks punching each other’s lights out. After all, as advertisements proclaimed, "Alt Heidelberg is intended as the best place in Detroit for businessmen and their families to take their meals."
Michigan implemented statewide prohibition on May 1, 1918, nearly two years before the 18th Amendment made it national law. Approved by voters in 1916, the amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
The Free Press reported May 3, 1918, that at Alt Heidelberg, "the dry law's only apparent effect has been to eliminate alcohol from the drinks. The cafe will be operated the same as usual, but soft drinks and near beer will take the place of the beer, whisky and other liquors."
But what good is a plate of potato pancakes without a stein of real-deal Pilsener to wash them down? Further hurting business was the fact that anti-German sentiment was running high during and in the wake of World War I. By October 1918, Alt Heidelberg was bankrott, and its furnishings, equipment and fixtures were put up for sale.
A total makeover
In 1921, the building was taken over by the Continental Bank before being acquired and renovated by the Standard Trust Co., which planned to relocate from the ground floor of the Penobscot Building.
Standard Trust had the building’s entire facade stripped off and replaced with a more generic, though still stately, classical limestone design more fitting of a financial institution. The architect for this conversion was not documented in papers of the time.
A formal opening of Standard Trust’s new home in the newly redesigned building was held June 28, 1926. Each person making a deposit that day was presented with a "beautiful imported Japanese panel," an ad said.
Hats off to 1307 Broadway’s longest tenant
By far, the longest running tenant of the building was Henry the Hatter, which moved into the building in 1952 and would spend the next 65 years there.
Henry the Hatter is a Detroit institution, having been founded in 1893 by Henry Komrofsky on Gratiot Avenue. Around 1912, moved into a ground-floor storefront of the Library Park Hotel. In 1919, Komrofsky took on a new partner, Gustave Newman, who had joined the store as a stock boy in 1904. With hats being all the rage and with more support now that Komrofsky had a partner, Henry the Hatter’s opened a second downtown location in 1923 inside the Lafayette Building.
Big changes would come in 1941, however. For starters, Komrofsky died that year. What’s more, the Library Park Hotel did, too, being torn down for parking. It wouldn’t be long before Newman decided to hang up his hat and retire, selling to New York native Seymour “Sy” Wasserman in 1948. It would be Wasserman who would move Henry the Hatter to 1307 Broadway, after the store’s home on Gratiot was demolished in 1952.
Paul Wasserman joined his father in the family business in 1973. Beyond just selling hats, Henry the Hatter made them, on the second floor of the building. Customers could pick their brim size, finish, accents and trimmings, color and material, and within a few hours, they’d have a customized lid to suit their liking. The store would continue to produce bespoke headwear in the building until around 1985.
Over the years, the shop would have a number of famous customers, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who wore a homburg from Henry the Hatter at his 1956 inauguration, music legends George Clinton, LL Cool J and Run-DMC, and many mayors, from John C. Lodge to Coleman Young.
On Aug. 5, 2017, Henry the Hatter closed its doors at 1307 Broadway after its landlord - The Sterling Group, which acquired the building in 1995 - refused to renew the store’s lease amid rising rents downtown. The store reopened Dec. 8, 2017, in Eastern Market at 2472 Riopelle St. Today, it claims to be the oldest hat retailer in the country, and is one of Detroit’s longest-running businesses.
Another makeover?
Just two months after Henry the Hatter was forced out, The Sterling Group sold 1307 Broadway. In July 2022, the 16,000-square-foot building was put up for sale. As of March 2026, it’s still on the market with an asking price of $2.24 million.
Renderings showing a massive overhaul to the building's exterior have surfaced online, leading to speculation about what the building’s future may hold, especially in the wake of redevelopment of The Belle and the Reckmeyer project directly across the street, it seems only a matter of time before 1307 Broadway finds its next use.