Document text
Photo by Andy Atkinson Workers on top of the house hold street signals up so the house can pass underneath as it is moved off Columbus Avenue and onto South Stage Road. The house is one of three that Thom Martin is moving to a 10-acre lot at the corner of Voorhies and South Stage to be cobbled together as a bed and breakfast. This house was moved Sunday from behind Mr. Thom's salon on Court Street in Medford. Moving day in Medford Old house, two others figure as future bed and breakfast Mr. Thom will readily admit he's eccentric. But the "hairstylist to the stars" says his latest project is more practical than it may appear. On Sunday, he had the first of three old houses that he plans to remodel into a single bed and breakfast moved to a 10-acre lot on South Stage Road. While building from the ground up might seem simpler, Mr. Thom -- whose real name is Thom Martin -- says moving the houses is the only way to get the atmosphere and character he's looking for. "You can't do what I want to do" by building from scratch, Martin says. "You can't put together the charm. You don't have the uniqueness." The three houses will be brought from different sites around Medford; the first came from behind his hair salon on Court Street. Martin hopes to have the other two moved by October and to open the business around the first of the year. "It'll be charming," says the 53-year-old, who will continue to operate his salon. "I think it's a very creative thing." Sunday's move started at 5 a.m. and lasted until 1 p.m. The house was hauled the wrong way up Court Street to McAndrews Road, then to Columbus Avenue. It went down Columbus -- being jacked up to clear the bridge at Kings Highway -- and then down South Stage Road to the lot at the corner of that street and Voorhies Road. It's scheduled to be lowered into place this morning. Always one looking to do things with a certain flair, Martin wanted to complete the last leg of the journey by towing the house with his red Hummer. But the towing tongue wasn't long enough so he had to settle for a set-up snapshot instead. The second house -- and the centerpiece of the bed and breakfast -- will be the historic home on West Main Street next to Blackbird. The house, which was an antique shop for many years, was built in 1905 by Medford High students as a class project. Before Martin purchased it, it was slated to be torn down so a Dairy Queen could be built there. "I feel I'm doing something to promote the historic value of Medford," Martin says. "Who would want to tear that down?" The third house will be moved from behind Rogue Ski Shop off Jackson Street. Since bed and breakfasts are traditionally housed in buildings built before 1950, Martin says starting from scratch wouldn't have given the place the antique feel required. "I'd hate to take a new house and try to make it look old," he says. And even with the cost of the land, the houses and the move, he says it's more cost effective than building from scratch or buying an existing building. The project isn't Martin's first venture into either house restoration or bed and breakfasts. He spent two years in Massachusetts restoring five old houses, including one built in 1758. In 1997, he briefly bought the Touvelle House in Jacksonville but had to give it up after just three months when his wife, Bette, became ill. She died in 1998. His brief stint at the Touvelle House whetted his appetite for the bed and breakfast business. "I was having a ball," he says. So he came up with the idea of building a bed and breakfast and bought the land off South Stage Road -- which he points out is son the way to Jacksonville's Britt Festival and an easy drive from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He bought the first of the houses -- the one behind his business -- in 1996 with the intention of tearing it down to create more parking. But after discovering it would cost $17,500 to tear it down, he decided to move it. Through word of mouth, he found the other two and bought them. He says that although the houses are different ages, they have a similar look that he's sure will blend into something beautiful. "They all have the same roof line," he says. "They match perfectly." The three buildings will be connected into one bed and breakfast with seven suites. The first building will house the kitchen, sitting room and library. The center building, the historic one from West Main, will serve as the main entrance and formal dining room with two suites upstairs. The third will house the other five suites. Even before the houses are on the property, Martin has much of the furniture he'll fill them with. He's been collecting antiques for years and has five storage units full that he's eager to display. Martin has already transplanted a number of trees unto the property and plans to put in a vineyard on part of the 10 acres. Seven chickens have taken up residence in a coup. Once the place is ready to go, Martin plans to entertain his guests with stories from his 30 years of hair styling for celebrities -- from Diane Ross to Ginger Rogers to Andy Williams to members of the Kennedy family. "I have tons and tons of stories," he says. "I'll tell stories about the 6,000 movie stars I've done." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA