PERRY HALL, Md. — A nearly 100-year-old building in Perry Hall has a new purpose, caring for older adults and people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
United Hearts Adult Medical Daycare has opened inside a building originally constructed in 1928 as a six-classroom school. The facility is designed to provide medical care and community support for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Julian Brown, a partner with United Hearts, said the mission is personal.
"Our heart is your heart and we want to just breathe together," Brown said.
Brown said he wants every person who walks through the doors to feel valued.
"If my mom is coming, your aunt is coming, whomever it is," Brown said, describing his commitment to ensuring every older adult gets the care and support they deserve.
"To know the care that you're giving someone else, you wanna mirror image the same way that you wanna feel," Brown said.
The building has served the Perry Hall community in several forms over the decades. It opened as a school in 1928, was used to address school overcrowding in the 1970s, and became a community center in 1987, a role it held until the early 2020s.
"It hasn't gone to waste. It has been reinvented and repurposed," Brown said.
Brown said some of the center's participants may have a personal connection to the space.
"We want to continue this legacy with them and some of these actual participants may have came through these doors at a younger age because it was at elementary school, middle school," Brown said.
Baltimore County Councilman David Marks worked with the owners in 2025 to have the property designated as a historic landmark in Perry Hall.
"People have a lot of sentimental memories of this building," Marks said.
The landmark designation means the building can never be demolished and its exterior cannot be altered. Inside, however, the building has been completely remodeled.
"It can never be torn down, and that's a great success story in and of itself," Marks said.
Beyond medical care, the center features a game room, theater, yoga, a dining area, a space for gardening and more.
"Plant a seed, let it flourish, nurture it, and just let everything blossom," Brown said.
About 25% of Perry Hall's population is 65 or older. Brown said it is important for families to feel confident their loved ones are well cared for.
"Our contractor. He's like, my dad has to come here. He wants to be the inaugural person just because he knows of our relationship, what we built, and he knows what we put into it," Brown said.
Brown said he is eager to see the center's impact grow.
"This is like a library book. It's overdue," Brown said.
"Nobody's God, but if I could give you an extra day, an extra week, or extra month just by a warm smile and a kind feeling. And a warm heart, that's what we want to do. That's why we say united, just one heart, and let's just do it together," Brown said.