The History behind Kelya Houses
There is something quiet and enduring about the old kelya of Kythnos.
Scattered across the island, these humble stone shelters once gave refuge to shepherds, shaped slowly by hand, stone by stone, with whatever the land could offer. When we first came across the two houses that would become Kelya Houses, they stood abandoned and half-forgotten—weathered by time, yet still deeply rooted in the landscape.
We didn’t want to change them. We wanted to listen to them.
The first house was restored in 2015, the second in 2025. In both cases, the intention was the same: to preserve their spirit while gently adapting them for a new life.
Most of the original stone was carefully gathered and reused, allowing the houses to be rebuilt not as replicas, but as continuations of what was already there. Their layout follows the simple logic of the traditional keli, where each space feels both intuitive and necessary.
As we worked, small discoveries guided us.
An old stone fireplace, still holding traces of past winters.
Narrow wall openings—“thirides”—once used for storage, now quietly framing light and shadow.
Large stones, heavy with history, repositioned to form textured walls that bring back the cave-like feeling of the original shelter.
The technique of “kserolithia”, the island’s traditional dry-stone construction, remained at the heart of the process. Around it, we introduced natural materials—wood, stone floors, soft cement finishes—always trying to keep a sense of balance between old and new.
Nothing was meant to feel imposed. Only revealed.
Even the floors were shaped slowly, piece by piece, designed in situ. Their subtle geometric patterns hint at movement through the space—a quiet, contemporary gesture within a deeply traditional setting.
Today, the houses are no longer abandoned.
They breathe again.
And if you stay long enough, you might feel it too—that these walls are not just restored, but remembered.
