Tag: Fayette

“Ashland Stud” Artist: Christy Buckner of Lexington, Ky.

Now through October 15, there are some extra horses around Lexington. Repeating the success of the first Horsemania in 2000, LexArts is bringing back the horses in Horsemania 2010! These fiberglass horses are painted or otherwise decorated by local artists and can be seen around downtown (and elsewhere!).

I’ve not gotten to all the horses yet, but I have begun taking pictures and posting them to flickr. I’ll keep adding pictures there so check it out there? Have you seen the horses? Which is your favorite?

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On Friday evening, I enjoyed the sounds of the Lexington Singers and the Lexington Philharmonic at the Patriotic Concert held on the steps of Transylvania University’s Old Morrison with the crowd filling Gratz Park. Saturday, July 3, included the annual downtown festival, parade and fireworks. Lexington always puts its best foot forward on the Fourth of July and I always love being downtown on this day. On this day, all of Lexington comes together to celebrate – in one place. The politics, the people watching, the food – everything makes for a terrific day.

I’m not posting any histories today, but I am encouraging you to post comments here about how you celebrated the Fourth of July. Also, check out all the pictures I took over the weekend in my flickr Fourth of July Festivities set.

And Happy Independence Day!

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There is a lot of progress going on in the Newtown Pike Extension/Manchester Street area. After a conference at the Convention Center today, I attended a happy hour at Buster’s (the heart of what is becoming the Distillery District).

Unlike my peers, I walked. And I’m glad I did. The perspective from this angle (toward the northwest) revealed the under-construction Newtown Pike bridge and (behind me) the road path to Versailles Road. The Extension has been a proposal for Lexigton redevelopment and traffic-flow improvement for over forty years and the best news is that the construction is coming at a time when such emphasis is placed on roadways being visually and pedestrian/cyclist friendly.

My lil Kaintuckeean headed down the runway, Lexington, Ky.

Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport hosted this month’s Second Sunday (a monthly event in Lexington; once a year in October around the state) which is designed to get people out exercising. The new Runway 9-27 is 4,000 feet long and was the perfect venue for the event. People had bicycles, roller blades, roller skates, skateboards and scooters. There were old WWII era planes on display and various emergency vehicles were also present. The biggest hit was probably the LFUCG ambulance since its patient area is air conditioned (a plus in 90-degree weather!)

Runway 9-27 replaces the old runway, 8-26, from which the ill-fated Comair Flight 191 took off. Runway 9-27 is expected to open for general aviation traffic in August – just in time for the World Equestrian Games. Here’s what the Herald-Leader had to say.

Carnegie Center in Lexington

With 400 books, Lexington began the first library in Kentucky in 1795. It was also the first library west of the Alleghenies. By 1898, the state legislature deemed Lexington large enough to warrant the creation of a free public library. So with a $60,000 gift from steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie, the City of Lexington constructed the Carnegie Library – the first Lexington Public Library.

The total cost to build was about $75,000 and it was completed in 1906. The neoclassical rests at the south end of Gratz Park and served as the city’s main library branch until the late 1980s when a new, larger structure was built on Main Street. Today, the building serves as the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

UK giveth to Eastern State. Eastern State giveth to BCTC. BCTC giveth to UK. Albeit not entirely arms length nor transparent, this land swap will change the face of Lexington.

Bluegrass Community & Technical College 20 Year Plan

On May 14, Bluegrass Community and Technical College (“BCTC”) unveiled its 20-year master plan highlighting its plans for the old Eastern State Hospital on Newtown Pike. Pictured above is a map of the several phases of construction to occur at BCTC with buildings in brown being historic hospital buildings that will be preserved and adaptively reused. The hospital is being relocated to a more modern, to-be-constructed facility on UK’s Coldstream Campus (further out Newtown Pike). Construction is expected to begin on the new hospital later this month with an opening slated for 2012.

Meanwhile, the renaissance that will be brought to near-northeast Lexington will be underway. Beginning in March 2011, BCTC is expected to break ground at the 48-acre Newtown Pike campus with a $28.2 million dollar facility. The facility should be complete by the end of 2012 with students arriving for the spring semester of 2013.

A Now-n-Later of Fourth Street and Newtown Pike, Lexington

Ultimately, a revitalization can be expected along the Newtown Pike corridor near Fourth Street, Loudon Avenue and Georgetown Street. Pictured immediately above is a picture of the current and a rendering of the proposed intersection at Newtown and Fourth. This area is immediately adjacent to several historic areas of Lexington; hopefully, the renaissance will incorporate architecturally significant buildings with character to create a beautiful gateway into Lexington.

Adam Rankin House

Erected in 1784, the Adam Rankin House is Lexington’s oldest house (though it is no longer in its original location). The House stood at 215 West High Street from the time it was built until the early 1970s when space was needed for “urban renewal.” The result of the “urban renewal” was the parking lot behind the PNC Bank (Gold Bank) building (another story).  Fortunately, a few wise minds prevailed (here and here) and the home was relocated to its present location on S. Mill Street.

This log house with clapboard siding was originally a two-story, three-bay home. The addition on what is now the home’s east side (pictured at right) is an addition which was erected within ten years of the original structure. It was at that time that the log home was first covered by clapboard. There is a very good architectural write-up on the house in Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky by Clay Lancaster (Univ. of Ky. Press, 1991 e).

I’ve always loved this house. It seems to have plentiful natural light (look at all those windows) and I’ve always loved the shutters on one side. *

The Fifth Third Bank Pavilion at Cheapside Park

Saturday was a beautiful day to be at the Lexington Farmer’s Market. My son and I also ventured down to Mayfest in Gratz Park. Of course, Farmer’s Market is vastly different as it now has a formal home in the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion. I’ve tried to follow the erection of the glass and steel structure in Cheapside Park, but I realize now that I haven’t posted on the final product.

While certainly not architecturally significant, it works and it provides a wonderful venue in central Lexington for events like the market and Thursday Night Live. Check out my older posts on the construction of the Pavilion:

• from October 16 – the proposal
• from January 26 – the Breckinridge statue is moved!
• from February 6 – Breckinridge statue captured in film by Jamie Millard
• from March 22 – the structure takes its form