A schoolhouse that has stood on Belair Road in Perry Hall since 1928 has a new purpose: caring for the community's oldest and most vulnerable residents. United Hearts Adult Medical Daycare has opened inside the building at 9317 Belair Road, offering medical care and support for older adults and people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, with a formal ribbon-cutting set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
The building was constructed as a six-classroom school in 1928 and operated continuously until 1956, according to WMAR2 News. It reopened in the 1970s as the Perry Hall Annex to relieve school overcrowding, then became a community center in 1987, serving in that role until the early 2020s, per Patch. Julian Brown, a partner with United Hearts, told the station the building has been reinvented and repurposed for its next chapter.
Brown said the mission behind United Hearts is personal, and that he wants every person who walks through the doors to feel valued. He added that families should feel confident their loved ones are well cared for, and that he hopes the center's impact continues to grow. Some participants, Brown noted, may have attended school in the very building where they now spend their days.
From Six Classrooms to a Modern Care Facility
The Colonial Revival schoolhouse was designed by Smith and May, described by Baltimore County government records as the Board of Education's most prolific architectural firm in the region during the second quarter of the 20th century. The Kraus family, longtime Perry Hall residents, purchased the property for $475,000 in February 2024 from Gallagher Services and spearheaded its restoration, according to Compass Real Estate records.
Commercial listings detail an extensive overhaul of the 8,000-to-12,000-square-foot structure: a new roof, new windows, six high-efficiency rooftop heat pumps, LED lighting, LVP flooring, six restrooms, group and conference rooms, and an expanded parking lot, per Garceau Realty. The interior was completely remodeled, WMAR reports, while the exterior remains frozen in its 1920s form. The finished space now includes a gardening area, a dining room, a game room, a movie theater, and a yoga program.
A Landmark Deal That Saved the Schoolhouse
The building's preservation traces back to a political compromise. Baltimore County Councilman David Marks worked with the property's owners to secure historic landmark designation in 2025, supporting rezoning for expanded commercial use in exchange for permanent protections on the building's exterior, according to WYPR. That designation made the former Perry Hall School the county's 400th protected historic landmark, following its passage through the Landmarks Preservation Commission and County Council last year.
The landmark status prohibits both demolition and alteration of the building's exterior, permanently locking in its Colonial Revival facade even as the interior serves an entirely new function. Marks told WMAR that people have sentimental memories of the building, a sentiment that reflects the multiple generations of Perry Hall residents who passed through its doors as students, community center visitors, and now daycare participants.
Meeting a Growing Local Need
The timing lines up with Perry Hall's shifting demographics. WMAR reports that about a quarter of the community's population is 65 or older, while separate U.S. Census Bureau data puts the figure at 16.7%. Either way, the numbers point to rising demand for senior health services in the area.
Adult medical day care facilities in Maryland are licensed and inspected by the state Department of Health's Office of Health Care Quality under COMAR 10.12.04 regulations, which require on-site registered nurses, personal care assistance, and mandatory incident reporting. Families can pay for care privately or through state Medicaid waiver programs, including the Community Options Waiver and Community First Choice programs, according to the Waiver Consulting Group. It remains unclear how many participant slots United Hearts will offer at full capacity or how its enrollment will be split between Medicaid waiver funding and private pay.
For now, Saturday's ribbon-cutting marks the formal close of a restoration years in the making, and the start of a new role for a building that has already outlived several eras of Perry Hall history. Brown's stated hope is straightforward: that the center's reach in the community keeps expanding from here.
