Frick Art & Historical Center

While I don’t believe you could spend an entire day at the Frick, you can easily spend a couple of hours especially if you are touring Clayton, which is about an hour tour. Admission is required for the tour, but it is free to visit the gardens and the Frick museum. Clayton epitomizes the opulence of the Gilded Age-​make sure to check out the Playhouse on the way to Clayton as it is the size of a small house! Start your experience in the Grable Visitor Center. Here you can purchase admission to tour Clayton and browse their museum shop which has many interesting books about the history of Pittsburgh.
Clayton was home to the Frick family from 1883 – 1905 and is quite well preserved. No photographs are allowed-​just an FYI. Touring is only available for the first and second floors, however, you get to see the bedrooms, the kitchen, the library, and the calling room, in addition to the servants quarters. While Frick was an extensive art collector, most of his work is displayed in New York. The family home contains many paintings of the family though. The Frick Art Museum has some of his collection and typically has a rotating exhibit as well. The car and carriage museum is an interesting step back in time as well with items ranging from old Lincolns and Rolls Royces to a winter sleigh. Photos are allowed in this area. There is also a café, which I hear is quite nice, however, it is also quite hard to get into and reservations are a must. I highly recommend visiting for the holidays as they attempt to redecorate the home as the Fricks did at the turn of the century. The tree is beautifully decorated this time of year and worth viewing. Also of note, there is a parking lot so be sure to take advantage of the free parking.

What a great afternoon, we went on the fabulous tour then had brunch. The food and service exceeded our expectations. Great job
Ken & Chuck

My family attended the Frick this Friday for a picnic while the grounds were open to the public. It was beautiful… we walked in and saw families scattered on the lawn with big picnic baskets. There were lawn toys set out for kids to play with, twinkle lights strung throughout the space and a cool mix of music playing on the speakers. Nobody greeted us, despite seeing several employees at the entrance. But we still enjoyed every bit of the evening. There were a few food trucks at the entrance, but we packed our own dinner instead. It’s nice to have the option though. And another option is the on-​site restaurant.
I’m looking forward to returning with a larger group for another Friday and hopefully for one of the First Friday’s when there is live music.

I have spent significantly more time at the Frick Art & Historical Center than I knew was possible this year. I have written more papers and stared at the 990s for hours. The Frick is a pretty healthy museum in the financial sense, and they have made and are planning to make a ton of new additions.
The museum and house tour are amazing. They are beautifully maintained. The museum is fairly small, four or five rooms. The paintings are not the most famous by any stretch, but it is still cool to see some originals. The best part? It’s free!
The house tour is my preference and certain days of the year it is free, though I am not sure exactly which ones. If you are from out of town, this reminds me of a smaller version of the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston but on a slightly smaller scale, house-​wise. However, the grounds here probably trump the Gardner Museum. The Model T house is currently under renovations, but you can still check out the bowling alley and gardens! Even cooler, they use foods and herbs grown in the garden at the newly-​renovated Frick Café, I hear.
There is also a very small free parking lot. It is best to get here early if you want to utilize that, but there is some street parking as well. Not on a major bus line.
The Frick is a super cool place, and for a mid-​sized city, this is a true gem!

I have never been here before, but I saw online they were featuring a photography exhibit: From Impressionist to Modernist. It runs until April 19^th and the best part — it’s free! I love photography and I’m so glad we went to look at the exhibit. The property has other buildings where you can do a tour, but we only went into the main one. As we walked in, there was a rotunda in the middle with tapestries hanging just around the walls. There was a nice lady by the door who explained what was where and how we could get to the other places to view art/​house. She was incredibly informative. I definitely loved the exhibit and would recommend checking online for other features. I think their membership is really reasonable and it’s a great way to get to know local things around Pittsburgh.

We stopped by today to check out the current exhibit, Impressionist to Modernist: Masterworks of Early Photography.
Upon entering we were greeted by a nice employee who gave us a lot of helpful information about the exhibit, and others available to us. I was pleasantly surprised that the Art Museum portion was free. It isn’t too big, we did everything in less than an hour, but still took our time to read a lot of the info and enjoy ourselves.
It was my first time visiting and I found it go be a very nice way to spend an afternoon, especially on a budget.

I ate lunch at the café, toured the Clayton mansion, viewed art at the art museum, and toured the greenhouse. At the café, the staff was surprised that I did not have a reservation, although you do not need one, especially when the restaurant is empty of other customers. The website describes the café as «one of Pittsburgh’s most acclaimed restaurants, which offers culinary masterpieces». I disagree. The café is just a little soup and salad place. The food was good but nothing special. General admission for the mansion tour was $ 12. My husband and I had a docent all to ourselves. She was knowledgeable about the architecture and art in the house. She encouraged us to ask questions, and she answered all of them. I enjoyed seeing how a rich family lived decades ago. I did not have a docent for the art museum so got in for free. I viewed a few rooms of many early Renaissance and eighteenth-​century French paintings. The greenhouse plants not as pretty as I had hoped. It is definitely not a miniature Phipps Conservatory. I did not stop in the car and carriage museum or buy anything at the store.

I love the Frick Mansion tour. I see why Helen Frick was so determined to preserve it. Although half of me is insanely envious of the lavish and exclusive lifestyle, I am grateful they preserved it so that I could have the privilege to walk through such Victorian art, value, and elegance.
I am becoming a bit of a SWPA gilded age history nerd and will always be fascinated hearing their story no matter how many times because I WILL keep going back.
My most recent visit was in early December and it was very nice. I didn’t know this but they change the theme of the tour during the holiday season. The original tour is my favorite, but was nice having known the background with a surprise addition learning the Frick family’s holiday traditions.
If it was not a national holiday, I would certainly be game for a Frick Mansion tour today.

Very cool place to visit with lots of history. There is a lot to see and everyone is super nice. 2 of the buildings were under construction but will open later.
I liked the fact that you could walk through the house and most of the rooms. Nothing is behind glass so you can see things up close. All the ladies were nice and knew a lot about the history and answered all questions.
The Degas exhibit is also on display right now so make sure to check that out too

Want a leisurely lunch in an incredibly beautiful setting without the kids, go to The Frick. You MUST have reservations.
The food was exceptional and ingredients home grown on the property. Soups are incredible and desserts are orgasmic. If you like passion fruit, lilikoi, I must say they served the best lilikoi cream brûlée.
Fish tacos were fantastic.

We called ahead because it was supposed to be buy one get one free tours. The lady told us just to come in and we did. Well turns out you have to reserve the tour, we missed it and just walked around our selves. This could have been avoided if the employee would have told us to reserve we were literally on our way. We explained when we got there and they straight up didn’t care they looked miserable and were not helpful at all. I’m giving this 2 stars because what we did see was nice and security was helpful. I will not go again.

I
Missed the
Carriage house
But the art is
Free with the classics to impressionists.

I must admit that I have never been to the Frick café or greenhouse or whatever the surrounding buildings are… which is something I should remedy sometime in the future. However, this review is for First Fridays @ the Frick, which takes over the grounds of 7227 Reynolds Street for just a couple Friday nights each summer. These couple Fridays nights have become one of my favorite Pittsburgh traditions.
For summer 2014, there are three concerts happening at the Frick…
MEETING OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE
Friday, June 6, 2014
7:00 p.m.
JERRY GRCEVICH TAMBURITZA ORCHESTRA
Friday, August 1, 2014
7:00 p.m.
SEAN JONES QUARTET
Friday, September 5, 2014
7:00 p.m.
Sadly, you’ve already missed the first concert on June 6^th but still have time to check out the other two. Though they start at 7pm, I recommend arriving earlier, or at least having some people in your group arrive earlier, to save some space for everyone. Also, make sure to have $ 5 (or more) on hand to give at the entrance for the recommended donation.
Even though the music is important (thanks to Meeting of Important People for putting on a great show on Friday night), I think that friends and food really make this event. My husband and I met 8 friends and had a great time chatting and laughing and catching up on life. This is the sort of concert that it’s OK to talk through. Then, the food — you can’t forget the food. Our group had fruit and cheese and wine and spring rolls and mac & cheese and dessert and on and on. Having an elaborate picnic style dinner in a beautiful space while listening to music just feels like such a magical movie moment. I’m already counting down the days to the August concert!

An often overlooked gem in the heart of Pittsburghs most beautiful neighborhood.
The Frick is essentially 5 small sights in one.
The grounds. Nice 5 acre area that is well maintained giving a park like atmosphere.
The greenhouse. Lovely little greenhouse you can walk through.
The car museum is neat but currently closed for 18 months. An early electric and steam car are the highlights. Lots of olds rolls royces.
The café. Food.
The Clayton house. 12 dollar tour worth every penny. The house tour takes about one hour and really is fascinating. Not a huge mansion.
All in all just a nice place.

It’s not large but it is a wonderful way to spend a couple hours on a nice afternoon. Take in lunch at the café, stroll the grounds and check out the greenhouse. Visit the antique auto collection, which I’m told will be closed for a while for expansion, and see a small but wonderful art collection. We had a great afternoon.

How have I been living in Pittsburgh for over a year without a visit to this awesome site?! My husband and I finally paid a visit to the Frick thanks to the «We Love Our Members» promotion that local museums were offering to their members. (We are members at the Carnegie). I was vaguely familiar with who Frick was and knew there was a house tour, but I had no idea how much this site had to offer.
Our visit began with a trip into the shop/visitor’s center. There we browsed the gift shop while waiting for the tour to begin. The gift shop building was once a playhouse for the children and you can still see where gutters for the bowling alley run through the middle of the floor. It was a great place to start the tour and begin learning about the family and their connection to the area and American industry. I am not a Pittsburgh native, so I knew very little about them. It is important to note that you can’t bring large bags with you on the tour, but they do provide free lockers to store them while you are in the house.
The tour continued by entering the house. The enclosed porch provides a coat rack so you don’t have to lug it around with you. The house is detailed as if the Frick family was still living there. We learned from our docent that they were fortunate that one of the family members lived there through the 1980s, so the house was well maintained and preserved. Each room has exquisite detail and décor. Our guide spent a great deal of time explaining and showcasing the art work. Many local Pittsburgh artists were featured along with well known artists such as Monet. Every aspect of the rooms were detailed including showcasing the new development at the time, aluminum. The rooms upstairs featured less detail but were still interesting.
After our visit to the house, we stopped in the green house. I’m not that in to plants, but it was interesting to learn that the plants grown there are used in the café.
Speaking of the café, we stopped in just to check it out. They were fully booked that day (which is fine since we weren’t planning on eating anyway) but we were so enticed by the dessert selections that we got two desserts to go. A nutella cheese cake and a baked apple. We enjoyed those later that evening after dinner.
I am not that in to cars, but the car and carriage museum was very interesting. The first section is carriages that the Frick family used. My favorite was their «special occasion» carriage that even had foot warmer! The car area featured various automobiles that had a connection to Pittsburgh. There is also the option of watching three short videos about automobiles in Pittsburgh.
The art museum alone is worth a visit. They were preparing for an exhibit when we were there so only the Italian and French sections were open, but they were fantastic. A great collection with amazing detail and descriptions of each of the paintings. The interior of the building is an attraction itself. It does not look like it was built in the 1960s with the fantastic marble and woodwork.
Overall, a very enjoyable place to visit that I highly recommend to anyone because there really is something for everyone at Frick.

Henry Clay Frick’s mansion, Clayton, is a must on any tour of Pittsburgh. The center’s grounds include an art and car museum, working greenhouse, a great café, and of course, the mansion itself.
You will be blown away by the woodwork in Clayton – it is nothing short of amazing. The furnishings, decorations are also exquisite and original to the house. A tour of the home takes a full hour and gives you a view into the life and times of one of Pittsburgh’s most loved (or despised).
If you are short on time, I would recommend prioritizing A visit to Clayton and then to the other structures at the center. There is simply no comparison to Clayton.

It’s been four years since I’d last reviewed the Frick? My mom and I always have our annual Mother’s Day outing here. Women only – we leave our husbands to their own (de)vices!
The Frick always has a special Mother’s Day program that includes garden walks, tours, and my favorite, high tea. Believe me, the high tea service here is exquisite. This year Mom and I went with my cousin Cindy & her mom, and my best friend Marla & her mom. And this year’s special exhibition at the art museum was (is) «A Kind of Alchemy: Medieval Persian Ceramics. This exhibit shows the diversity of ancient Persian (what is now present-​day Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan) ceramics. These works were produced for both the luxury and middle-​class markets. Even the common folk could afford decorative well-​crafted ceramics.
The only drawback to an otherwise perfect day was the chilly weather. I had a new sundress I wanted to wear (and my mom still bemoans my tattoo).

What a Frick-​ing fantastic place!
The Frick Art & Historical Center has all the bases covered when it comes to museums: historical site, visual art, beautiful grounds, classic cars and buggies, restaurant, greenhouse. Not to mention that everything — with the exception of the house tour — is free. No one could possibly say there’s *nothing* that here interests him here. Husband certainly couldn’t convince me.
I kid. He’s a trooper.
We arrived at the Frick on a gorgeous blue morning and started out with an excellent tour of the Frick family abode. When the family moved to New York City after Henry Clay struck it rich in the steel business, they kept their house in Pittsburgh for return visits to the city; 93% of what’s in the house is original to the Frick family, which always makes a house tour more interesting to me. They lived lavishly, and Frick was an avid art collector. His personal collection — displayed both in the home and museum — is impressive.
After our tour we visited the Car and Carriage Museum, which had husband transfixed with its Model T Touring Car, Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, American Bantam Convertible Coupe, Panhard et Levassor Tonneau and Lincoln Model K Sport Phaeton among others. Finally, we finished up with a spin around the Art Museum itself. It’s a beautiful building with a very manageable size. I was thrilled to find a current exhibition of Medieval Persian pottery — found along the ancient Silk Road route — currently running as well.
Say what you will about H. C. Frick (let’s be real: the Johnstown Flood and handling of the Homestead Strike would have tarnished Mother Teresa’s image), the Museum and Historical Site are *well* worth your time.

Many moons ago there was a street called «Millionaire’s Row» in Pittsburgh comprised of Victorian mega palaces. Over the years, the children of those millionaires left Pittsburgh for glitizier places like NYC and the Hamptons, the mansions fell into disrepair and were bought up and knocked down. All except for one. Clayton, the big mansion at the Frick Art and Historical Center. Most people would never guess this architectual wonder was over near Wilkinsburg, but it exists, and yes it is safe to park over there. There is a guard who monitors the parking lot so no fear of making the drive and parking.
Mr. Frick was the right hand man of Andrew Carnegie and did Carnegie’s Dirty Work… hence his attempted assasination for Frick’s role in the Homestead Strike and calling in the Pinkertons. Frick had three children. Martha died at age 5 and is immortalized in a marble bust and one or two paintings in the house. Childs Frick, son given his mom’s maiden name for his first name, was in love with natural history and the natural world. Rumor has it a lot of those taxidermed animals in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History were gifts from Childs Frick. Helen Frick, the oldest daughter, never married. She dearly loved Clayton and spent her last years of life there. Helen set up a trust so that Clayton would be preserved as a living museum for Pittsburghers and other world travelers to visit.
Helen was an avid art collector and besides making donations to the Carnegie Museum of Art, as did her father, and making donations to the Frick Art Museum in NYC… Helen maintained her own private collection. You can see Helen’s private collection FOR FREE. Yes I said FREE. Traveling art exhibits often are given space at the Frick Art Museum and those traveling exhibits are also FREE. If you need a cheap, classy date in Pittsburgh, this would be a great place to take a girl for an afternoon of conversation and not drop much coin.
It costs 10 dollars to see the house, three floors of four are open to the public, and the cost is well worth it. You can see one of only two surviving orchestrions. An orchestrion is like a player piano but massive with all the instruments inside of it. Mr. Frick didn’t realize how heavy the thing would be and the orchestrion started to cause the floors to bow, so he moved it outside on the concrete porch. Supposedly he would ask the lady dinner guests what they wanted the orchestra to play, and would open the window so the music could drift in during dinner.
Walking through the house is like seeing a snapshot of Pittsburgh Gilded Age high society and you can only imagine what all the other huge mega mansions looked like when Millionaire’s Row was in full swing. The parlor has semi precious stones sewn into the wallpaper! Its nuts.
Once upon a time when I was in undergrad, I was an English major studying the Industrial Revolution and labor reform in a 19^th Century British literature class. I saw close parallels to Pittsburgh History and called the Frick to ask if we could come visit. The wonderful employees over at the Clayton mansion arranged a tour for our English class for a very very low fee on a Thursday night. The low fee probably didn’t cover all the electric they burned for us. We learned a lot and felt truly blessed we got to see so many things that went along with the British Literature we had been studying. Plus being from Pittsburgh, we got to see lots of local history come to life.
However great as all this is, and yes you should go see it, probably the best comment I’ve heard about the Frick is my Dad’s one liner on the porch after my first tour of Clayton:
Me: «Isn’t that a cool house Dad?»
Dad «Oh its nice, but its a shame so many men died choking on black dust so they could live that way»
There is a painting of a donkey in the house. Frick bought it because he considered it an image of the perfect worker who didn’t talk back. Yes its true. And that’s your grandfathers he was talking about while he had rubies sewn into his wallpaper.
This is a vital place to visit if you want to understand how labor unions and labor reform happened in Pittsburgh and why. Go spend an afternoon and get some learning. Not good for small children. I wouldn’t take any kids under age 12. Too many breakable things.
When you go in the gift shop to buy your tour tickets, make sure you check out the floor. There are bowling lanes in the floor. no, I’m not kidding. See the gift shop was the children’s playhouse, and when the Frick kids wanted to do some bowling, the adults would send out a servant to set up the pins for them. The upstairs of the kids playhouse was mostly kept empty so the kids could ride their bikes indoors when it rained. My favorite thing in the gift shop, if it is still out on display, is a letter from Mrs. Adelaide Frick to a neighbor expressing her deepest apologies that the Frick family dog took a chunk out of the neighbor.