Transfiguration Buildings & Grounds – Part I

This article is the first of a 3-part series which provides a description, brief history, and usage summary of the buildings and land comprising Transfiguration campus. The information is offered to enhance familiarity with our campus and assist parishioner understanding of building and land usage and associated financial issues.

The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (mailing address 514 S. Mountain Rd. Mesa, AZ 85208) is located within Maricopa County (county line runs along S Mountain Rd) and, additionally, within a county “island.” Our location within a county island rather than the City of Mesa means city services such as police, fire/emergency medical, water/sewer, and trash/recycle are not available to us. We must purchase these services from private companies (e.g., we purchase water service from Arizona Water Company and fire/medical response from Rural Metro Fire Department). Our sewer system consists of three in-ground septic tanks and the associated piping. We depend upon Maricopa County sheriff’s department for law enforcement services. SRP (Salt River Project) provides electric power to our campus (natural gas is not available).

Our office building (aka Parish House) consists of 3400 square feet of living space and a 200 square foot garage. It is a brick building with asphalt shingle roof and a single heat pump system for cooling/heating. It was constructed in 1966, with much of the work performed by volunteer parishioners. The building initially functioned as a vicarage for Fr. Atwell. Subsequently, it served as the rectory, church school, and family residence for the church caretaker. Today, it houses church offices, meeting rooms, and garage storage.

Our Parish Hall (aka, Fellowship Hall), a 145×31 foot building, was constructed in 1988. It has a brick exterior, asphalt shingle roof, and 4 roof-mounted heat pumps. The building footprint has remained unchanged, but interior walls were modified to accommodate different uses. The building has served as our church (during new church construction) and location of church offices, Sunday school, and space for large meeting/dining functions. The cornerstone of the building is the kitchen. Upgrades were made to the kitchen (from 2004 to 2018) with the objective of having a certified commercial kitchen for serving the public. Today, we are no longer pursuing certification and kitchen use includes the soup kitchen ministry and special functions for the congregation (e.g., ECM breakfasts). During the past two years, we incurred costs to repair large areas of the roof and replace 2 heat pumps.

Our first church building, acquired in 1965, was a 20×30 foot mobile chapel paid for by the Diocese. The
structure was modified and expanded several times over subsequent decades. Termite infestation caused
increasing deterioration of the building and, in 1999, the congregation decided to erect a new church on the same site. The building was demolished and ground-breaking for our current church occurred on August 1, 2001. Building characteristics include a steel frame expandable design, stucco exterior, metal roof, and 4 heat pumps. Last year we incurred costs to replace the 4 heat pumps which were vandalized/destroyed. We will celebrate the building’s 25th anniversary next year.