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Church buys Perl building photo by Jim Craven Stately old home will serve as administrative offices By Melissa Martin St. Mark�s Episcopal plans to breathe new life into the former funeral home that has graced the corner of Oakdale and Fifth streets in downtown Medford since 1907. The church recently purchased the Colonial Revival-style showplace that served as Perl Funeral Home for more than 60 years. Rector David Close has temporarily moved his study into the spacious and airy downstairs portion while the church decides how to best use the 2� stories of space in the old house. "I don�t mind having an office that looks out over the community," said Close, St. Mark�s priest for the past 13 years. "It gives me a new perspective after being tucked away in the second floor of Dagwell Hall" (in St. Mark�s education building). St. Mark�s Episcopal acquired the $495,000 piece of real estate in March with the help of a foundation board of trustees. The board invested money donated to the church and took advantage of stock market surges to purchase Perl Funeral Home along with two houses on Ivy Street. "When you are a downtown church and property becomes available, you�d better grab it while you can," said board chairman Dick McLaughlin. The historic Hafer House proved a more stable investment than the stock market right now, he said. And it�s an investment in the church�s future. The growing congregation may use the space for its youth group and its staff offices, or it may lease the house to a business or agency, Close said. "I�m excited by the foresight of the board and their willingness to invest in property so we can better serve the community," Close said. Lumber baron Edgar Hafer built the house in 1907 on property owned by James Howard, Medford�s founder and first mayor. The home cost $4,000 and was listed as Medford�s most expensive at the time. John Perl bought it in 1920 and hired famed architect Frank Clark to remodel it into his residence and place of business. The Perl family operated a funeral home there for two generations. Kern Family Services bought the business and invested an estimated $700,000 in remodeling the 22-room house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the spacious upstairs apartment, for example, there are marbled walls, floors and fireplaces. Downstairs, wooden floors and ornately trimmed walls have been refurbished, and there is new carpet in the room where Perl sold caskets and funeral packages to customers. Several built-in cabinets, bookcases, desks and other antique furnishings remain. Work was started on an apartment in the attic but never completed. Kern Family Services filed for bankruptcy and agreed to sell the Hafer House. The church acquired it in March and leased it to Jackson County Title, which used it for temporary offices until its site a block away was remodeled. This past month, the title company moved out and the church rector moved in. There�s no irony that a church should occupy a former house of death, Close said. "Death is a part of life," said Close, who teaches a class called �If I Died Before I Wake,� which prepares people for end-of-life decisions. "I tell people we are a full-service church." While the church won�t hold funeral services in the Hafer House, its ownership and presence may help keep memories alive for Medford residents who said goodbye to loved ones inside the funeral home�s ornate halls. The Hafer House also enables the growing congregation to stay downtown. "All churches that are built downtown have the challenge of continuing to focus our ministry here," Close said. "There has always been, several times in our history, the option of moving. But the congregation remains committed to downtown." Other churches expand their downtown holdings St. Mark�s is not the first downtown church to buy adjacent property. First Presbyterian purchased the building on the corner of Main and Holly, formerly occupied by WP National. The church remodeled it and leased it out to Mellelo�s Coffee Company and other non-profit tenants. Most recently, the church purchased a former labor union office and is remodeling it into a day care and office space. "You look at churches like St. Mark�s Episcopal and First Presbyterian and this is where they started," said Don Burt, director of Medford Urban Renewal, whose offices are in the Presbyterian Urban Center downtown. "They�ve been here as long as the city has been here. "They need to be commended for looking at the long-term needs of their congregation, finding the space and taking advantage of the opportunities as they arise." Besides the Presbyterians and Episcopals, the Catholics, Methodists and Lutherans all remain in their historic downtown Medford locations. The "Hafer House," or Perl Funeral Home, was situated in the heart of old Medford, within blocks of other great architecture � the Carnegie Library (1911), Hotel Medford (1910), the Holly Theater (1930), Cargill Court Apartments (1910/1932) and the Jackson County Courthouse (1932), according to history writer Lloyd Smith. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA