Quick Facts

In 1934, this building became home to the Downtown Restaurant. Operating continuously under that name for 63 years until the owners retired in 1997, it earned a reputation as one of the longest-running restaurants in Mt. Pleasant history. 

Long before it became a modern sushi lounge, the property operated as a bakery and confectionery shop in the 1910s, featuring a massive commercial bake oven built directly into the basement. 

The original storefront on this lot was completely destroyed in the great Broadway fire of 1875. The current brick building was raised in its place between 1877 and 1882, making it an official contributing piece of the town's historical district. 

NPS Description

105 East Broadway Street, ca. 1880. 

Contributing 

Description

Commercial Brick two-story retail/mixed use building. The upper façade is of yellow brick with decorative brickwork under the modern metal replacement cornice with its dentils. Double-hung aluminum replacement windows with stone sills make up the second-floor fenestration. The storefront has a green painted metal and glass door with a rectangular transom, three ten light windows, a green painted metal cornice, and frieze board. 

The north (rear) elevation is brick covered in white vinyl siding. The window on the second floor is a double-hung aluminum replacement. A wood deck with a metal awning and stairs is attached at the west side of the north elevation. No other elevation is visible due to adjoining buildings. 

History 

The original building on this site was one of those burned in the Broadway fire of 1875. The current building was probably constructed between 1877 and 1882; a photograph of Main Street taken between 1877 and 1882 shows a one-story frame structure in this location, but by the 1884 Sanborn map, the present building (2 story, 32 feet high, with a metal cornice) is in place. Sanborn maps from 1884, 1890, 1895 and 1900 list it as a grocery. In 1910, it was a bakery/confectionery, with a bake oven in the basement. It had several tenants through the 1920s and early 1930s, but in 1934 it became the Downtown Restaurant. It continued operating under that name until 1997, when owners Bill and Eva Mourtzouhos, who had owned it since 1978, retired, making it one of, if not the, longest-running restaurant in the city. It has remained a restaurant, later becoming the Broadway Grille, and, since 2009, Midori Sushi and Martini Lounge. 

Integrity Analysis 

The original exterior was a typical late nineteenth-century highly decorated façade. It had arched windows on the second floor with distinctive keystones, a circular window above, and decorative brickwork. An elaborate, high cornice topped the building. By the 1930s/40s, the cornice had been removed, and by the late 1940s the second-floor façade had been remodeled, with the windows changed to simple rectangular units and the brickwork above converted to a simple basketweave panel. A simple dentiled cornice has been added in recent years. The storefront has been remodeled several times, including the installation of a new aluminum front door and glass and stone front facing in 1967, and the current storefront of multiple French doors stretching across the front, with a simple frieze and cornice above. 

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs.