B Magazine: Adaptive Reuse: Connecting to Cape Girardeau's historic past and preparing for the future

One of the truisms of historic preservation is that the best use for a building is the one for which it was originally built. All too often, however, this just isn’t feasible. In order for a building to be preserved it needs to be adapted to a new use. Adaptive reuse of historic buildings is not a new concept, and in Cape Girardeau, there is a long history of using buildings in ways that were not originally considered when the buildings were being built.

An early example of an adaptive reuse project is 605 Broadway. Originally built in 1891 as a home for William Coerver, it was repurposed in 1916 to a hospital by William Schulz. When Southeast Hospital was built, the home reverted to residential use before being used as a photography studio and residence, and then ultimately, its current use as the Indie House, a retail incubator.

Annie Laurie’s Emporium at 536 Broadway is another example of a residence being converted; first into a funeral home in 1924 and eventually into an antiques/retail store with an apartment on the second floor.

Historic homes are often converted into business uses, such as 615 Bellevue, which is now Celebrations, and 118 Themis, a beautiful Italianate home that served 100 years as a woman-owned millinery store and is now being used as lawyers’ offices.

Old schools are great candidates for adaptive reuse, although the size of the buildings can sometimes be challenging.

The Old Broadway School converted to medical offices in 1953, and the Old Lorimier School transitioned to the Cape Girardeau City Hall from 1978-2022, before adapting again and returning to its educational roots as Kellerman Lorimier Hall last year. In 2008, the old Cape High School/Schulz Junior High was converted into senior housing, and although no longer serving its educational function, continues to add vitality to the community.

An indicator of good adaptive reuse is when the property’s most important character-defining features are left intact. The Old Lorimier School, for example, retains the look and feel of an elementary school when viewed from the exterior, but perhaps more charmingly, the character of the building is revealed in the fairy tale murals still evident over the water fountains. In its adaptive reuse, the old Shultz school retained the exterior features as well as the wide hallways commonly associated with high school classroom buildings.

Sometimes adaptive and productive reuse involves only minor changes in building function. The repurposing of the vacant Vincentian Academy property into Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus for the fine and performing arts programs is an example. The educational and office functions remain the same, but the University was able to repurpose the buildings for a new educational use, retaining many of the character-defining features of the historic buildings in the process. Likewise, the Cape Girardeau School District took the complex of the Red Star Baptist Church property and repurposed the buildings to house Central Academy.

Although some new uses for vacant buildings are easy to imagine, adaptive reuse often necessitates seeing a building’s potential in new and creative ways.

Reimagining an old warehouse as commercial space like River & Rails at 101 William, or taking a historic residence owned by the university and threatened with demolition and making it into a boutique hotel as they did at Rockwood Inn on 1201 Rockwood Drive, or even believing a commercial building on Broadway could be a multipurpose space with a performance venue in the basement like Scout Hall at 420 Broadway, lends to the creativity behind the preservation of historic buildings.

Of course, this kind of creativity is not restricted to Cape Girardeau.

Several folks in Charleston are working to adaptively reuse an old Masonic Hall as a community center, and the old Post Office in Jackson was reimagined by Bill Cole of Edge Realty as a real estate office and community meeting space. There are numerous examples from across the region and state.

In a particularly ambitious project, St. Charles, Missouri, is investing $85 million in the adaptive reuse of the American Car Foundry property into a St. Charles City Centre Complex slated to contain a new city hall, a senior center, recreation center, as well as space for the St. Charles Historical Society, Art Centre and a restaurant incubator.

While adaptive reuse projects are often led by the private sector, the city also plays a key role in moving the project forward.

Locally, this is the case with Cape Girardeau’s new city hall. This innovative project repurposed the old Court of Common Pleas and Carnegie Library buildings into city offices connected by a new addition. This clever design not only preserves the character of the historic buildings in a sensitive and careful manner, but also provides a modern 21st century environment in which our city employees and city council can work.

Another example of pairing the creativity of adaptive reuse with local government involves the Broadway Theater. After a fire damaged the building in 2021, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to repair the damaged portions of the building rather than demolish it. They entered into an agreement with a local developer to put the entire property back into service. Currently, the front of the building is repaired and occupied by two businesses on the street level and two apartments above, while work on the rest of the building is ongoing. This century-old building is full of new life and will be able to serve the community for another 100 years. The replica blade on the signage is a character-defining feature that helps shine a light on this successful adaptive reuse project. It would not have been possible without the cooperation and participation of the city.

Of course, the Broadway Theater is not the only adaptive reuse of a theater in Cape Girardeau. The reimagining of the Esquire Theater as loft offices and boutique commercial space is also extremely creative. These two projects, when completed, will serve their useful economic purpose, while retaining key character-defining features, contributing to Cape Girardeau’s unique sense of place.

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings is an important enterprise and innovative idea. By preserving old buildings we connect to the past, but by making them new and useful, we prepare for the future. As vibrant contributors to the local economy, historic buildings in our region will be enjoyed by future generations for years to come.

Steven J. Hoffman, Ph.D. is a professor of history, director of the Bollinger Center for Regional History, and coordinator of the Historic Preservation program at Southeast Missouri State University where he teaches classes in Historic Preservation, American Architectural History, and African-American history. Hoffman earned a master’s degree in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. in History from Carnegie Mellon University.