Heidel Haus Inn 1964.--photo courtesy Esplanade Archives
Nestled into the corner of S. Railway and Fifth Street is a quaint building best known as the Heidel Haus Inn. The building is far older than it looks, having had more facelifts than an aging actress.
A frame structure on this site is mapped as far back as 1905. It once served as a cobbler’s shop. In 1912, a two-storey brick veneer building was constructed a few feet behind the older building. It operated as the Wing Lung laundry until 1946. Located near the former CPR roundhouse and the Hill stairs, both businesses were convenient for railroad workers living on the Southeast hill. Decades later, the two sites would merge as one.
In 1928, the South Railway building was replaced by a hollow-tile structure. The owner, Eli Plotkin, a Russian immigrant, set up a dry goods store.
In the early 1940s, the store underwent another change when it became the South Railway Confectionery run by the Lupa family. The confectionery operated until around 1962. Proximity to the Hill stairs brought a different generation to the store.
Students from the Flats area attending Alexandra School would have walked right past this tempting candy store on their way up to school.
Then the most memorable transformations began in 1964. That is when German-born Johann (John) Rausch purchased the building and created the Heidel Haus Inn which featured steaks and German cuisine served in a charming old-world ambiance.
His wife Margaret, a qualified hairdresser, occasionally waitressed at the restaurant. The restaurant was so popular that within the decade, an addition, and an expansion into the former laundry building in the rear, more than tripled the size of original restaurant.
To add a little spice to the atmosphere, the upper level, originally known as “The Loft” in the 1960s, featured strippers, and may have been Medicine Hat’s first strip club. In later years, the upstairs was home to the Ottoman Empire Lounge.
Reputed as an outstanding steak house, in the mid 1990s the Heidel Haus boasted that it was the home of the “famous” 20-ounce porterhouse steak.
The restaurant reached success despite a series of destructive fires. The most significant fire occurred in 1976 when the News reported the lower floor was “gutted” and the second floor received heat damage. Then again in 1985, an arson fire caused extensive smoke and fire damage. In 1989, a grease fire consumed the Heidel Haus kitchen. Rebuilt after every fire, the restaurant endured. In 1998, John Rausch retired and sold the business to a long-term former employee.
After serving diners for almost 50 years, on July 26, 2003, the Heidel Haus closed its doors. But its closure brought new opportunities for the resilient old building. Although vacant today, it has yet to receive the final curtain call.
Sally Sehn is a past member of the Heritage Resources Committee, City of Medicine Hat
