LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While the Kentucky Derby celebrates 150 years of racing, there’s another anniversary to celebrate at Churchill Downs.
It’s the 130th year of the iconic Twin Spires which were built in 1894.
Director Civic and Corporate Commercial Hospitality Design Studio Boz Lindgren it’s pretty cool that his design firm Luckett & Farley helped create what we now see. The firm was established in 1853.
“You know, whatever 50 years after we had started as an architectural firm, we had the opportunity to, to build up, like a, a cultural institution in what has become an icon in the city out on Central Ave,” Lindgren said.
The design firm has partnered with Churchill Downs on other projects, including the original Grandstands to the Winners’ Circle.
“Then also to more utilitarian things, like the tunnel that goes underneath the track. We help them expand that to make it safer, for racegoers as well as the horses, to make sure that we could get ambulances to the infield side of the track, which is significant,” Lindgren said.
He sees these blueprints not only as historic documents but also as art.
“Like all things, technology has changed, right, in the way that we have progressed through the years. The documents that we’ve got up in front of us are almost a work of art, you know, like it’s a craftsman’s touch that landed on each one of these, papers,” Lindgren said.
The papers show how people celebrated the Kentucky Derby decades ago.
“These buildings where we’re crafted for a certain scale of, of event, right, back in 1894. It was, you know, a smaller event than what they’ve been, what it is today, right,” Lindgren said.
Among the many projects, Luckett & Farley also helped design the Jockey Club in 1906.