Haute homes for elite equine

WELLINGTON, Fla. — In this village, barns and stables are more than homespun shelters for animals and farm gear.

They're estates for pampered horses, secluded retreats, places to enjoy a glass of wine. These horse mansions have very human comforts: marble floors, imported European chandeliers, antique fox hunting prints, leather armchairs, landscaped courtyards, humidity-free hay storage rooms, tongue-and-groove ceilings, flat screen televisions, security cameras, sound systems, automatic bug spray systems.

And don't forget the crushed granite driveway.

"I say, 'I'm a barn builder,' and everyone laughs. Then they see what we're building," said Tim Williamson, co-owner of 5 Star Builders, one of Wellington's largest barn builders. "They say, 'I'd like to come back as a horse.' They house them well and give them the best of everything."

Joe Zada's stone-tiled, 20,000-square-foot barn — about 10 times bigger than a typical house — looks like a castle. It's easy to forget you're in a barn while walking across its white marble floors into its rotunda and standing underneath the imported European chandelier. But look right and left and rows of mahogany horse stalls appear. Twenty in all, they're lit by chandeliers, connected by a Chicago brick walkway and topped with a mahogany tongue-and-groove ceiling.

The bathrooms shine with elegant veined marble and the tack rooms glow with cherry paneling. Before the barn was built, workmen on tall ladders checked all the views so no window would look out on an unpleasant vista.

Like it? It can be yours for $14 million.

"It's very functional and it's the ultimate of luxury," said Amy Carr, the real estate agent listing the property for Zada, a horse-show sponsor. "A lot of people that come to this area and share in this love of horse competition are very wealthy people. Their horses are like their children."

And these horses are very coddled kids. Some are prized athletes, valued at millions of dollars. Others are simply beloved pets.

At Salamander Farm South, inside the custom-made, salamander-studded aluminum gates, 20 horse stalls face a sun-dappled courtyard and gazebo. The pavers forming the walkway are Italian granite. The tall, arched doors are Mexican oak. Each horse has its own ceiling fan and a window to look out at the farm's 13 acres. Across the way is a second barn, for overflow horses.

Owner Sheila Johnson is co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and mother of Paige, who rides jumpers. She said she had the stable built because it didn't make financial sense to continue renting space.

The Palm Beach County property appraiser values her stable at $7.46 million.

"The sky's the limit. Sometimes they are over the top," said Williamson, the barn builder. "But this isn't your typical person. It's not your everyday barn."