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What was once a country church at a remote crossroads is now a modern animal hospital at a busy intersection.

It's become a place where dogs can, and sometimes do, bow-wow their heads off.

Concord Chapel, on the southeast corner of Hoover Road and London-Groveport Road, was built in 1859 at a cost of $1,800.

It has recently undergone considerably costlier renovations to become the new home of the former Broadway Veterinary Hospital.

The partners in the practice, Drs. Elizabeth A. Lauron and Gale M. Kerr, decided that the name of their new facility should reflect its setting.

They settled on the Concord Chapel Animal Hospital.

"We did our best to preserve the integrity of the building ..., just trying to protect some of the historical aspects of the property," Lauron said during a recent interview.

For Kerr, whose architect husband David designed the transformation, moving into the former church feels like not only preserving the structure's history but also becoming a part of it.

"I think it would have been devastating to the community to see this building torn down," offered Lauron, who resides in Grove City with husband Neal C. Lauron, a photographer for The Columbus Dispatch.

All but two of the structure's stained glass windows have been preserved. The two windows were removed from the east side of the building in order to permit a bit of natural light to beam in.

Seating in the waiting area and in some of the examination rooms is by custom-fitted sections of the pews from the old church's sanctuary.

Veterinarians Kerr and Lauron have been business partners since Oct. 1, 2006. They began working together in September 2004 in a building located behind 4170 Broadway. It was a mere 1,200 square feet.

"Very small," Kerr said.

Having her husband serve as the architect for the project certainly provided at least one of the clients with ready access to the person doing the design, Gale Kerr said.

"It was definitely an interesting process," she admitted.

"He made sure he got from us: What do you need?" Lauron said.

That included the "feel" of the interior, according to Kerr.

For example, her partner said, the color scheme on the walls reflects some of the shades found in the stained glass windows.

While the actual renovation work began in mid-September, the project dates all the way back to Aug. 1, 2006, and has run into such snags as an unregistered well found on the property and some issues with the deed.

The move was made for practical as well as preservation purposes, Lauron said.

"We saw a need. In this part of town, there's a lot of growth going on."

"It was a gorgeous empty shell," Kerr said.

"We couldn't have found a better location," added Lauron.

They've had interesting reactions from some of their newer clients. One woman, who has lived in Grove City the past five years but had continued to take her pet to a vet in Grandview Heights, looked around in astonishment when she walked in and found herself in familiar surroundings, Lauron recalled.

"I used to go to church here," the woman mused.

What is now an animal hospital was for many years home to the Concord United Methodist Church, but that congregation has since merged with Trinity United Methodist Church on Hoover Road. The Rev. Ruth Pribe, whose first posting after graduating from theological school was at Concord United Methodist, is now minister to the combined congregation.

It was Pribe who prepared a history of the building that's now Concord Chapel Animal Hospital, including the date and cost of the church's construction by the members of a small congregation that had first begun meeting in a log house in 1847.

Elizabeth Lauron, according to the new veterinary hospital's Web site, was born in England, but her parents moved to Los Angeles when she was 2 years old. After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in California, she attended the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and obtained her doctor of veterinary medicine in 1988. She and husband Neal moved to Grove City that year. They have two children, Daniel and Zachary, and, of course, several pets: dogs Nemo and Clifford and cats Niles, Smudge and Sprocket.

Gale Kerr was born in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree in biology. She earned her DVM degree from OSU in 1999. She and husband Dave live Hilliard. They have two daughters, Devyn and Reese, and the requisite household full of animals: black Labrador mix Lilly, terrier mix Oscar and cats Io, Boca and Smack, the latter earning his name after being struck by a car.

Although the setting is perfect for it, neither of the veterinarians feel their patients pray.

"I don't think so," Kerr said.

"I don't believe they do, but they rely on their owners to do it for them," Lauron said.

Kerr does believe pets go to heaven.

"At least I hope they do."

<center>kparks@thisweeknews.com