21c2-300x275.jpg
The Fayette National Bank Building is is the site of Lexington's 21c Museum Hotel.
The Fayette National Bank Building is the site of Lexington's 21c Museum Hotel.
Lexington’s 21c Museum Hotel, an 88-room boutique hotel and contemporary art museum, has officially opened its doors.
Located in the Fayette National Bank Building on the corner of Main and Upper streets, the downtown Lexington site is the Louisville-based hotel chain’s fifth property.
“21c Museum Hotel will create more than just a place for Lexington visitors and locals to lay their heads, enjoy a great meal and take in contemporary art exhibitions,” Steve Wilson, founder and CEO of 21c Museum Hotels, said in a statement. “We look forward to our role as a cultural center that helps further reinvigorate the downtown Lexington community. We’re thrilled to offer an additional resource for art, social engagement and civic conversations.”
Wilson founded 21c along with fellow art collector Laura Lee Brown. Like its other sites, Lexington’s 21c includes a contemporary art museum offering curated exhibitions, interactive installations and planned cultural programming.
The other 21c are in Louisville; Cincinnati; Durham, North Carolina; and Bentonville, Arkansas. The company said two more are under construction, in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Lexington building, 167 W. Main Street, is an adaptive reuse of the 100-year-old National Bank Building. Work began 2014, and the project avoided the fate of the fate of its high-profile neighbor across the way, the city block-wide pit of CentrePointe.
In mid-February, Lockbox, 21c’s much anticipated downtown restaurant and bar, officially opened its doors to the public.
Under the helm of executive chef Jonathan Searle, Lockbox features a chef-driven menu that pays homage to Lexington’s cultural identity, in a unique setting that blends restored historic details – including the original marble floors and wainscoting – with modern art and design.
“Jonathan and his team at Lockbox are really going to be focused on developing relationships with local suppliers in order to provide guests with food that’s indicative of the region,” said Molly Swyers, senior vice president of design and communications for 21c.
The hotel brings 8,000 square feel of exhibition, meeting and event space to downtown Lexington. A multivenue museum, each 21C property features contemporary art exhibition space open free of charge to the public, combined with a chef-driven restaurant. The Lexington museum will present a range of arts programming in its three galleries, curated by museum director Alice Gray Stites. Programming will include solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today, as well as site-specific, commissioned installations, and a variety of cultural events. Both local and international artists will be featured in the galleries and throughout the hotel.