OKLAHOMA CITY – A few years ago, ADG Inc. was working with St. Anthony Hospital on a land-use plan. Architect Scott Dedmon noticed that there wasn’t a definite proposal for the church building at NW Eighth Street and N. Lee Avenue.

“They thought about relocating their foundation here,” he said. “When I asked about another church moving back in, they seemed interested in that.”

Dedmon knew one. He’s a member at Midtown Church, a Nazarene congregation. It’s a church plant started by the Bethany First Church of the Nazarene. It’s been meeting at City Pres on NW 13th Street

The Nazarene church is going to buy the old building from St. Anthony’s and restore it into the congregation’s new home, changing its name to the 8th Street Church. Part of that move will also include restoring the old steeple. There’s a fundraiser underway for the steeple project, which will cost about $32,000.

Dedmon said when the steeple was removed in 2011, the church building lost its listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

“I feel like it’s a landmark that’s missing,” he said. “It’s important to get this back.”

The Nazarene congregation is spending about $1.7 million to renovate the church. Dedmon and several colleagues at ADG are working on the project.

It will have brand-new offices on the first floor, along with a fellowship hall and bathrooms.

The second floor houses the sanctuary, where stained-glass windows are still intact. The windows were donated by the late Anton Classen in honor of his mother.

“(The windows) are in remarkably good shape,” Dedmon said.

The sanctuary will have chairs instead of pews, though Lead Pastor Chris Pollock said he’s trying to track down and restore some of the original pews, which were sold. The owner has had them in his backyard.

Pollock said taking something old and making it new again is a message he preaches often to his congregation, so this is a scriptural lesson in action. The church building was constructed in 1907, with an addition in the 1940s.

“There’s not much that’s older than the Eighth Street church, so now it will be new again,” Pollock said

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