‘The Frick’

‘The Frick, Pittsburgh’ is the name given to a ‘gilded age’ mansion house, grounds and art museum, given to the city of Pittsburgh by the Frick family to be preserved for the city.

 

The house itself, named ‘Clayton’ was the home of the industrialist, philanthropist and art collector Henry Clay Frick when he was first married and remained a family home even after he became very successful and moved to much bigger homes in New York and in Massachusetts.

His daughter returned to live at Clayton in her last years and donated the house, art collection, conservatory and staff houses, motor cars and carriages, together with an endowment to run the site as an art museum.  The collection is small compared to the Frick Collection in New York but still important.

The house is undergoing significant restoration to the covered porch entrance and ground floor.  I toured the inside but unfortunately no photographs could be taken of the opulent but original interior.  Here are a couple of photos from the web..

The house retains many original features including very fine wood carving and paneling; friezes picked out in precious metals - including the newly discovered aluminum which was and is very important in the history of Pittsburgh.

There are a number of important paintings in the house including a Monet and several portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds.  Others are in the art museum in the grounds.

There was little colour in the garden apart from these hydrangeas.  Inside the glasshouse a few spots of colour..

This last plant had tiny flowers but was named the ‘Goldfish’ plant - not hard to see why!!

Finally I spent a short while in the carriage and motor museum, admiring some of the many vehicles..

Last but not least as I left to go back to the hotel I saw these two squirrels playing in the leaves.  One grey, one black..