Hershfield Brothers Building

128 S. Kalamazoo Mall

Art Deco style has left a visible footprint in downtown Kalamazoo since it became the fashionable vernacular of late-1920s commercial and government architecture. Examples include the American National Bank Building, the Kalamazoo County Building, and City Hall. One of the lesser recognized buildings sits at 128 S. Kalamazoo Mall. As of this writing, it has been home to one of Kalamazoo’s oldest coffee houses, Caffe Casa, who moved into the ground level floor in 1993.

By the late 1920s, the property was owned by Mary Dewing, the granddaughter of William G. Dewing, a prominent businessman of Kalamazoo during the 19th century. Before the new building took rise, the previous structure housed the Tittle Bros. Packing Company, longtime meat merchants. With plans to demolish the existing building, Dewing drew up plans to build a three-story building that would house the Hershfield Brothers clothing and apparel store, and reflect the architecture of the day. Dewing hired local contractor A.J. DeKoning to erect the sleek, modern building, which included a small elevator (no longer in use). The building’s neighbor to the north was the Muir Drugstore.

The Hershfield family (Harry and Newman) had come to Kalamazoo in 1905 from Dundee, Michigan to buy out longtime clothier Henry Stern of the H. Stern Company. After more than two decades located along E. Michigan Avenue, and needing of a larger building to house their stock, the brothers moved into 128 S. Burdick on 1 April 1931. By the mid-1930s, the new occupant was Virginia Dare, another dress and shoe shop catering to the stylish consumer. For over two decades Jane Lee took over the building, continuing the apparel tradition, selling chic women’s hats, coats, lingerie, and shoes before Kirby’s Shoes took over in 1963. By the end of the decade, Dennis Touissant situated his Denny’s Camera-tronics business in the steel frame structure for several years. Ray D. Pixler took over the building for his jewelry store for most of the 1970s and 1980s.

The austere, H-shaped building is made of concrete, glass and steel. A large, rectangular window covers the façade of the second and third floors. Featured on the left and right sides of the window are fluted grooves, a common element in Art Deco buildings, helping to elongate a building’s appearance. Two stylized bas-reliefs are situated in the top corners of the building. These kinds of visual accents and details of Art Deco design often took their influence from Egyptian, Aztec or Mayan culture.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, September 2025