At Full Gallop

When passionate equestrians Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels fulfill their dream of fusing a house and stable in South Carolina, they turn to Brockschmidt & Coleman to create a gracious haven from their unlikely hybrid.

- Julia Reed

Twenty years ago, when Kirk Henckels proposed to Fernanda Kellogg, it was on horseback—a place where the couple, both lifelong riders who met through their local hunt club, feel supremely at home. Once married, the pair divided their time between Fitch’s Corner, Kellogg’s farm in Millbrook, New York, and the Park Avenue apartment that once belonged to Kellogg’s father, the late Ambassador Francis Kellogg. When it came time to add a third residence to their portfolio—in Aiken, South Carolina—it was, not surprisingly, their horses that led them there.

About eight years ago, when the animals began an annual sojourn south for winter training, Kellogg says, “I thought, What’s wrong with this picture?” She decided to follow, initially renting an apartment in Aiken, the world-renowned equestrian capital. After a few years, Henckels, who works in real estate and finance, decided they should build their own place. “I’m a frustrated architect and builder, and I had always renovated old houses,” he says. “This was my shot at doing something new.”

Working closely with architect Joseph Smith, Henckels envisioned a central domestic space with stables attached, a form that recalls a classic Palladian villa with agricultural outbuildings connected on each side. His wife was thrilled. “I’d seen apartments above barns before, but never this,” Kellogg says. “Kirk understood that ever since childhood I’d wanted to live with the horses, and this was the closest he could get me to my dream.”