This NYC Museum Looks Like Something Straight Out of The ‘Gilded Age’
On Fifth Avenue sits a limestone mansion that once belonged to steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. It was built in 1914, and now it houses the Frick Collection, a museum that feels less like a gallery and more like stepping into someone’s home. After an extensive renovation, it reopened in 2025 with rooms that had long been closed off, from the family’s breakfast room to their private salons, all restored to reflect the Gilded Age atmosphere they once lived in.
Visitors now walk through bedrooms, breakfast rooms, and salons that once belonged to the Frick family.
The Frick Was Designed as a Home First
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Joyofmuseums
Henry Clay Frick didn’t build a traditional museum. Instead, he built a residence that reflected wealth. The mansion housed a bowling alley instead of a ballroom and prioritized comfortable domestic living. The house, completed in 1914, stood out even then for its blend of elegance and restraint. Frick’s request for a “simple, well-arranged house” resulted in a Beaux-Arts structure.
The home became a museum in 1935, but even then, much of the interior remained unchanged. Decorative ceilings, silk-covered walls, and fireplaces were kept intact. Even today, many galleries still carry signs of their domestic past, such as historic wood paneling and carefully preserved architectural elements.
Private Family Rooms Are Now Public Galleries
For the first time in the museum’s history, the second floor has opened to the public. This area once housed private living quarters and sitting areas used by the Frick family. Now it includes ten galleries filled with clocks, porcelain, medals, and paintings.
Helen Clay Frick’s former bedroom holds early Italian religious works by artists such as Paolo Veneziano. Meanwhile, the family’s breakfast room features French Barbizon terrains that sparked Frick’s earliest collecting efforts. Lighting remains soft and focused, suited to the smaller scale of many works.
Despite all the details, each room still resembles a lived-in space. For example, Adelaide Frick’s sitting room, known as the Boucher Room, was returned upstairs after decades on the ground floor. It displays Sèvres porcelain, Rococo paneling, and authentic 18th-century flooring.
In the Walnut Room, which was Frick’s bedroom, a portrait of Emma Hart hangs above the fireplace, exactly where he placed it.
Renovation Extended Availability Without Altering Identity
Image via Wikimedia Commons/FieldMarine
The recent $220 million renovation aimed to make more of the building available to visitors while protecting the museum’s original design. Selldorf Architects led the effort with assistance from Beyer Blinder Belle. The project added a two-level reception hall, education room, special exhibition spaces, and a 218-seat auditorium.
Updates included new LED lighting and clearer skylights that brighten older galleries without adding glare. The 70th Street Garden was restored and made more accessible, and a conservation lab became visible to visitors through glass walls.
These changes improved navigation and comfort. The new additions remain architecturally discreet and allow the historic sections to retain their weight. Even the staircases leading to the second floor were chosen with care: one authentic and one new.