Inside the world’s best stables

The palatial stables at Chantilly, near Paris, may have been constructed only because Louis-Henri, a Bourbon prince, convinced himself that he would be reincarnated as a stallion, but you don’t have to be crazy to create a beautiful home for your horses. From the Gallery of Coaches at Versailles in France to the elegant Stable Court at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for the Duke of Marlborough and used by Winston Churchill, the finest country piles and châteaux have traditionally had stables almost as sumptuous and impressive as the main residence.

Although the advent of the train and the motorcar may have reined in the development of stable architecture, there has been a recent resurgence – partly due to the pandemic, which has been responsible for a growing migration from the city to the countryside, and partly because of a rise in outdoor pursuits. Robert Adam, one of the country’s leading architects, who has just finished an equestrian complex in Sussex and is building another in Yorkshire, says: “There is a definite boom in new country houses. And if you’re spending a lot of money on a house, you want it to have impressive stables too.”

Valle de Bravo, Mexico: El Mirador has a pool that harvests rainwater in front of a partially open pavilion for horses (RAFAEL GAMO)

Adam is one of the leading contemporary exponents of classical architecture, his stables nestling unobtrusively in the English countryside. But equestrianism is also alive and galloping in places such as Kentucky, in the US, and Mexico, where architects tend to have a more cutting-edge approach, while still demonstrating a sensitivity to landscape and local traditions. Some of the most impressive examples of this trend can be found in a new book: Stables: High Design for Horse and Home by Oscar Riera Ojeda and Victor Deupi.

The book features two exceptional Mexican projects. Casa Tecorrales in Cerro Gordo, in the centre of the country, draws on the traditional “tecorral”, a local type of dry-stone wall, to create a substantial but simple house and linked stable block framed by extensive rustic gardens. The swimming pool and heliport are perhaps less subtle additions, but its green credentials remain impressive.

Sao Paulo, Brazil: at Fazenda Boa Vista mature trees were planted to grow through openings in the ceiling (FERNANDO GUERRA/FG+SG)

Much smaller, but perhaps even more accomplished, is El Mirador, a home southwest of Mexico City where recycled railway sleepers were used to create a rectangular residence with a unique pavilion for horses above it, blending seamlessly into the surrounding forest. With its large, rainwater-harvesting reflecting pool in front of the partially open pavilion, it is almost a temple to the equine gods.

Perhaps the best example of this sensitivity to landscape is the 38,750 sq ft concrete and iron stable block commissioned by Nacho Figueras, the Argentine polo player. Designed by a father and son team at Estudio Ramos, a Buenos Aires practice, it took nearly 13 years to build from conception and was finished in 2016.

When not on the field, Figueras, 43, spends his time studying art and architecture; for his stables he was influenced by three titans of the profession: the German-American modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Luis Barragán, the Mexican known for his monumental walls; and Tadao Ando, the Japanese master of gleaming concrete, who also designed the fashion designer Tom Ford’s ranch in Santa Fe.

Cerro Gordo, Mexico: traditional dry-stone walls create a simple yet stylish feel at Casa Tecorrales, a home with a linked stable block (JAMES SILVERMAN)

The result is a sort of retro-chic brutalist Bond lair with shimmering pools and a spiral staircase, plus a gorgeous wood-panelled tack room that belies the austere materiality of the rest of the complex. That may not sound very sensitive, but it is a low-lying, linear structure that merges with the flat landscape of the pampas thanks to its huge grass roof, on which Figueras’s 44 ponies amble and graze (although it’s not quite as dramatic as Fazenda Boa Vista, in Brazil, where mature trees grow through oculi in the ceiling). Figueras, who lives near by with his wife, Delfina, and his children in a house built by the same team, can boast that “everything we took from the earth we put back”. From the air you mostly cannot even tell it is there – unless Figueras is sitting on the roof enjoying a bottle of wine with his friends.

“Some people collect art,” he says. “I collect ponies. So I wanted to create a stable where I could showcase my collection and which would look more like a museum than a working barn. I wanted a place where the horses are the main characters. I also wanted a space where I could spend time with my family and friends, where I could have lunch or dinner and everyone felt invited. If I have achieved that, I’m happy.

“But at the end of the day it’s a working stables – it’s super-functional, sustainable and clean, the details are well thought out and there are lots of things to help the grooms do their jobs. The beautiful thing about horses is that if you take care of them, they take care of you. The connection you create with a horse is a very pure one. As Churchill once said: ‘The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.’ ”