The “Second Ward Public Building” was constructed by the city in 1901 as the meeting place and polling place for the old Second Ward. Each ward had a place for these purposes. As the population increased, each ward needed more than one polling place, so voting was done by precinct, using public schools. The City decided to sell several of its remaining ward buildings in 1969. The Hathaways bought this one. Because its name is on the front in stone, John Hathaway always called it “The Second Ward Public Building,” or “The Building” for short. After a reporter for the West Side News referred to it as “Hathaway’s Hideaway” in the early 1970s, other people started using that nickname. “Hathaway’s Hideaway,” was a name that John resisted as long as he could. Eventually the name stuck.
310 South Ashley is nestled in a row of buildings near the intersection of Liberty and Ashley. It is directly across from the entrance to the “Kline’s” parking lot.
On the street level, against the back wall is part of the bar and back-bar (with mirrors) that were originally in the Roundtable restaurant. The old Roundtable restaurant was a significant gathering place where “town and gown” sat down together. The two pieces of the original bar, as well as the back bar, were purchased from the proprietor of the Round Table restaurant after its Huron-Street site was demolished, and the restaurant reopened in a smaller location on Liberty Street. The six tables on the first floor (and some of the chairs) were originally in the Michigan Union, which allowed senior students to carve their names before graduating. The piano and parlor organ were made at the Ann Arbor Piano and Organ factory whose building is still located at First and Washington Streets.
The pictures on the second floor reflect John Hathaway’s love of the Navy and of local history. Bricks in this room were recycled from a demolished campus building and some had names and dates carved in them. The dates were from the last quarter of the 19th century. The bricklayers thoughtfully turned the bricks so that the students’ names would be visible in their new setting. Since taking possession in 1969, the Hathaways have occasionally invited guests to scratch their names on bricks. People who like old maps will find Ann Arbor maps from 1838, 1902, 1935, as well as the composite aerial photo from 1960.
The big aerial map, dated 1960, had been in Ann Arbor City Hall. When the City replaced it with a newer one in 1970, the old one found a new home at the Building.