A Design for Continuity and Change: The Frick Collection

A Design for Continuity and Change: The Frick Collection is published on the occasion of the 2025 grand reopening of The Frick Collection following its renovation. This book explores the project from inception to completion, providing insights into the architectural history of one of New York’s most beloved art institutions.

This renovation by Selldorf Architects impeccably blends the new with the historic. It preserves the institution’s Gilded Age grandeur and sense of tranquillity while making more of the museum accessible and adding vital new amenities.

The Frick Collection, a museum of memorable rooms and superb Old Master holdings, was formerly the home of industrialist Henry Clay Frick and remains one of New York City’s cherished art institutions. Designed by Thomas Hastings of the New York firm of Carrère and Hastings, the original Fifth Avenue mansion was completed in 1914, serving the Frick family until 1931. In 1935, John Russell Pope expanded the mansion, adding a library, now the esteemed Frick Art Research Library, converting the residence into a public museum.

The renovation aimed to honour the Frick's architectural legacy and unique contemplative atmosphere while providing new space and essential infrastructure updates. Visitors will enjoy an improved functionality of the institution, and the enhanced climate controls will help preserve the collection and the house for future generations. Barry Bergdoll notes, “The restored and expanded Frick Collection answers the demands of a twenty-first-century museum in ways at once pragmatic, ingenious, and so resolved that we almost forget how difficult Selldorf’s assignment was. Her skilful design solves local problems and accommodates new functions, even as it masters the tension at the heart of the challenge between transformation and the desire to appear unchanged.”

Published by Paul Holberton Publishing.