Downtown Lexington business moving after 25 years — but it won’t be going far
A Lexington business that’s been a landmark on Main Street is moving.
After 25 years, Cross Gate Gallery is leaving 509 E. Main St., the pink house in the Bell Court neighborhood, for 431 Old Vine.
The new location will give the gallery more space for its collection of sporting art. Cross Gate is known for the annual Sporting Art Auction held at Keeneland for the last 10 years, where equine-focused paintings and other works are sold.
The grand opening will be Feb. 1, according to an announcement on the move.
“We have been in a wonderful building for over 25 years,” said gallery owner and founder Greg Ladd in a statement. “But we have a lot of pieces to show and simply need more exhibition space. We can’t be more excited to welcome our clients and potential art buyers to the new Cross Gate Gallery very soon.”
He opened the gallery in 1974 and has grown the collection into a family affair; his son Field is the acquisitions director and daughter Catherine Ladd Kenneally is a gallery associate.
The building on the corner of East Main and Forest Avenue was purchased by Field Ladd and local real estate investor Tyler Bromagen for nearly $2.7 million, according to the Fayette PVA database online. Ladd said they are considering what to do with the space and may turn it into a venue for hosting private chef dinners.
“I love the building and wanted to keep it in the family,” he said.
Ladd said that the new gallery space, while smaller than the Main Street building, actually will allow Cross Gate to show more paintings.
The Main Street building was set up like a house, with mantels, small rooms and windows in many walls, he said, while the new location will be open with larger gallery walls.
“And we’ll be able to display paintings in the windows so when people drive by they can see some things,” Ladd said.
The collection of equine and sporting art spans the 19th and 21st centuries with works by some of the genre’s most recognized artists including Sir Alfred Munnings, Henry Stull and Franklin Voss, as well as contemporary artists including Andre Pater, Peter Howell, Sandara Oppegard and more.
