When vandals and neglect threatened to destroy the structure where Louisville hoteliers Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson fell in love, they didn’t just protect the house from ruin—they up and moved the whole nineteenth-century building to their family farm a few miles down the road.

The house had a former life as Kentucky’s first Presbyterian church (circa 1890), but when Steve was introduced to Laura Lee in the early nineties, he’d just converted the historic chapel into an airy living space. “I wooed her with poetry there when we were dating,” he says, laughing. “And it worked.”

Today, Rule Memorial Chapel (named after its founder, the Reverend John Rule) sits in a pasture near the couple’s main farmhouse in Goshen, Kentucky, complete with the original wooden sign and small bell tower. Inside, Steve and Laura Lee showcase many of their favorite modern art pieces on the simple white walls, including the works of painters Christopher Brown and Marcia Marcus. 

And while the interior is often the site of sleepovers for their seven grandchildren and serves as Kentucky Derby guest headquarters, Laura Lee and Steve are frequent visitors. “We love to go to the chapel because it’s where we fell in love and because it’s such a simple and beautiful space,” Steve says. “It takes us back and reminds us of who we are, what’s important to us.”