News

Longtime insurance man moving from city to village

Haynes Dorn will move his insurance office to the historic Andrews house across from Little Rainbow Row in Flat Rock.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 3, 2015

FLAT ROCK — The historic Andrews House, which has been associated with a legal livery stable and home to an illegal kennel, is closing in on a new and more sedate chapter. The Flat Rock Village Council last week authorized a permit that will allow the 130-year-old structure to become an insurance office.

The home of Mitch Andrews and his son, James, was next door to a livery stable that operated until 1959, providing a buggy taxi service, pleasure horses and riding lessons.
By the mid-2000s, the home was associated not with horses but an abundance of dogs and cats. Animal control officers raided the home, then occupied by All Creatures Great and Small shelter owner Kim Kappler, and seized 44 animals. Historic Flat Rock Inc. bought the house, repaired it and sold it to Frederic LeClercq, a retired law professor from Charleston who ran an antique shop in the house for a short time.
Now, prospective buyers Argyll and Haynes Dorn are seeking a zoning permit from the Village of Flat Rock to use the house as an insurance and investment office. A native of Hendersonville, Dorn has been an agent for New York Life for 33 years. His office has been in the Thomas Professional Building at 230 Fifth Ave. East since 1988.
The Flat Rock Village Council on Monday granted a conditional use permit allowing the historic home to be used as an insurance office. The Dorns closed on the purchase on Thursday.

"We're thinking that's going to be a nice office to have right close to home," Dorn said. "We're going to go full-speed ahead right there. We're going to keep on rolling." The Dorns live in Claremont, less than a mile from the Greenville Highway house. "We're going to fix it up real nice and we think it'll be a real nice place for our clients to come visit," he said. He expects to relocate by early June.