Kevin McKenzie and Martine van Hamel stood in the dining room of their weekend house in Woodstock, NY, trying to figure out when they were getting married.
“We’ve been living for 35, 36 or something like that, but we got married relatively recently,” said Mr. McKenzie, 68, who will retire in December after 30 years as Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater. (The company’s summer season at the Metropolitan Opera—almost its swan song—runs through July 16.)
“Having lived together for 34 years,” corrected Mrs. van Hamel, 76, who, like her husband, was the principal dancer at ABT. She still fills character roles there and teaches ballet at Kaatsbaan, a cultural park in Tivoli, NY, Mr. McKenzie helped found it in 1990.
‘But when are we married? I have to do the math. Your mother was already dead by then, wasn’t she?’ asked Mr. McKenzie.
“I don’t remember,” he added with a remorseful laugh.
hmm. The wedding was about seven years ago, Mr. McKenzie. Six years ago, Mrs. van Hamel suspected.
Forget it. They totally agree on their home in Woodstock. With all due respect to their rental on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, there really isn’t a better place. for mr. McKenzie, it’s a hiatus from a high-pressure job in a high-pressure city. For Mrs. van Hamel it is a link to her parents, Diederik and Manette, the previous owners.
When Diederik, a world traveler Dutch diplomat, was posted to Toronto in the 1960s, retirement was near and so was Woodstock, where Manette, also from the Netherlands, had spent an idyllic part of her childhood.
They began making periodic visits and, in 1967, purchased a two-acre property that contained a small, low-ceilinged home, a creek, and several outbuildings, including a chicken coop and cottage that then became a rental unit. There was also a root cellar. Like the house, it was built in 1904, but unlike the house, it had a reliably constant temperature of 55 degrees, making it ideal for its current use as a wine cellar. “But we don’t have that much wine”, admitted Mrs. van Hamel.
Kevin McKenzie, 68, and Martine van Hamel, 76
professions: He is Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater; she is a former principal dancer at ABT and now teaches ballet.
Getting there is half the fun: “We have a life in New York City, and of course there’s the ABT track with all the crowds, but the drive between Manhattan and Woodstock is over the Palisades and through some state parks, so it’s like a Zen experience,” Mr. McKenzie said. “And by the time you get here, you’ll be ready to really drink in peace.”
Initially, her parents used the property as a weekend retreat. They became full-time residents in 1972, after some adjustments — including raising a ceiling to create a loft studio for Manette, a violinist and pianist turned artist. Diederik built himself a workshop where he made violins; it is now a training studio.
At one point, Mr. McKenzie and Mrs. Van Hamel began appearing at the house. He wasn’t the first man, if not the second, to be given the privilege, but he stood out from the corps.
“It seems I had the unique distinction of being the only friend Martine took home that her mother approved,” said Mr McKenzie, returning greetings (although he and Mrs Van Hamel did not have a spare room in the main house). , were routinely billeted in the chicken coop).
As part of Diederik and Manette’s 50th wedding anniversary, Mr. McKenzie and Mrs. van Hamel had a swimming pool built for them. And somewhere along the way, Mr. McKenzie became Manette’s gardener.
“She taught me what it meant to garden, instead of killing plants,” he said. His charges now include nearly four dozen trees, including peach and apple, dogwood and copper beech, birch and white pine, as well as hydrangeas and peonies. Mrs. van Hamel weeds and harvests. She jerked some arugula for a recent lunch.
Diederik and Manette came, saw, bought and cultivated; Mr McKenzie and Mrs Hamel followed suit. “We visited literally every weekend, and sometimes for weeks in the summer,” said Mr. McKenzie. “And instead of finding our own place, at some point we thought, ‘Why don’t we expand this one and make it more geriatric friendly?'”
In 2000, more than a decade after Diederik’s death, Mr. McKenzie and Mrs. van Hamel bought the property from Manette, who happily remained there until her death in 2012. They started a renovation project, among other things to make the first floor easier. for her to navigate; there used to be shallow steps leading to almost every room. The couple added a bedroom and bathroom for themselves a few flights of stairs up from the attic studio – so long, chicken coop! — as well as a nook they call the Zen room, with windows overlooking the property.
The result is a space that is high and intimate, airy and cozy with graceful lines – just like Mr. McKenzie came up with it.
“I always had a dream to build my own house, but this was already halfway through,” he said. “I knew if we did it right, we could be carried feet first from here.”
In terms of design, the decor is representative of both current and former residents. The living room nods to Mr. McKenzie’s penchant for Mission-style furniture; an antique Stickley chair is a particularly prized piece. The loft studio has become his home office, where he works at Diederik’s old desk. A built-in display case in the Zen room contains pieces of sculptural jewelry created by Manette.
The dining room, said Mrs. Van Hamel, still looks the same as it did in her parents’ time. The chest, dining table and chairs, all antiques, were given to Manette and Diederik as wedding gifts. Manette’s non-objective geometric paintings hang on the double-height walls and in the guest bedroom on the first floor.
Some of her paintings are conceived as garden ornaments – the abstract shapes add interest to the natural shapes of the surrounding undergrowth. “They tend to fade and get a little blotchy so I have to bring them in and repaint them,” said Ms. Van Hamel. “There are still many things to arrange from the time of my parents.”
It was clear to Manette early on that she and Mr. McKenzie would plant deep roots in the property. “She understood before we did,” Mr. McKenzie said. “She observed my behavior, and she observed Martine and me together in this beautiful outdoor space that she and Dik have created,” said Mr. McKenzie, referring to the patio outside the front door. “And she said, ‘I see you two sitting there in 30 years.'”
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