MADISON, Wis. — The historic Essen Haus restaurant and bar and its neighbor the Come Back In will shut down.

Both are making way for a new housing and hotel development at Wilson and Blair Streets in downtown Madison.

What You Need To Know

  • The historic Essen Haus bar and restaurant and its neighbor the Come Back In will be shutting down

  • The Hotel Ruby Marie, and Up North Bar inside of it, will remain, as will the facade of Come Back In

  • City leaders approved a developer’s proposal for a hotel, restaurants, an apartment building and green space in the area

  • Essen Haus and Come Back In will remain open through the summer, with a tentative closing date set for early fall

Step into Essen Haus, and you can’t help but feel transported to Germany. That’s exactly what owner Bob Worm intended when he opened the business in 1983.

“I wanted my customers and myself to have a good time,” Worm said. “I wanted a drinking hall like they had in Germany. Where there’s a gemütlichkeit type atmosphere, where people would come and enjoy themselves.”

Gemütlichkeit is a German word to describe the state of feeling warmth, friendliness and good cheer. That’s what Worm said he was able to foster with Essen Haus, as well as the other businesses he bought on the block: the Come Back In and Hotel Ruby Marie.

“The customers are my favorite part,” Worm said. “It’s a way of life, enjoying it. It’s like going to a wedding you weren’t invited to.”

All of that is about to change.

After two years of talks, nearly the entire block of Wilson Street, from Essen Haus all the way to Come Back In, will be redeveloped. This comes after multiple efforts to redevelop the area over the years have fallen through.

It’s bittersweet for Worm’s daughter, Kristina Pirius, who grew up at the businesses. Pirius is the general manager of Essen Haus and Come Back In. 

“We go through this huge challenge, and we work as a team together and the customers are laughing and dancing, the staff is smiling and at the end of it, we all talk about the shift together and how it was so much fun and the challenges and positives that we went through,” she said.

The Hotel Ruby Marie, and Up North Bar inside of it, will remain, as will the facade of Come Back In. Essen Haus, though, will be demolished.

City leaders approved a developer’s proposal for a hotel, restaurants, an apartment building and green space.

Worm said he’s not upset about it.

“I think this is the best project for me, and for them, for this city,” he said. “I’ll miss the place a lot. I’ll miss my customers a lot.”

He said it’s hard to say goodbye to the place he’s come to nearly every day for the past 40 years. However, he said he’s grateful for the time he’s been able to spend there, and hopeful for the next chapter.

“I was a farm boy,” he said. “I grew up, and that was a way of life, and getting into the restaurant business wasn’t any easier. But it was never a job. It was a way of life. To watch people have fun, there’s nothing like it.”

Essen Haus and Come Back In will remain open through the summer, with a tentative closing date set for early fall.

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