New York City museum abandons expansion plan amid opposition
NEW YORK >> The Frick Collection on Thursday abandoned plans for an expansion that would have replaced the museum’s beloved viewing garden and reception pavilion with a six-story addition.
“After months of public dialogue and thoughtful consideration and weighing the potential for a protracted approval process against the Frick’s pressing needs, the Board of Trustees has decided to approach the expansion plan in a way that avoids building on the garden site,” museum Director Ian Wardropper said in a statement.
The Frick is housed in a landmarked Upper East Side mansion on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st streets.
A coalition of preservationists, artists, architects and historians had opposed the proposal, saying it would destroy the museum’s residential character.
Architect and historian Charles “Chip” Warren, who joined the United to Save the Frick coalition, called it “a great day for New Yorkers This photograph shows the garden at The Frick Collection in New York. On Thursday, June 4, the Frick Collection announced they have abandoned plans for an expansion that would have replaced the museum’s beloved garden and pavilion with a six-story addition. The museum said it will develop a new plan that will preserve the garden. The Frick is housed in a landmark mansion on Fifth Avenue. A coalition of preservationists, artists, architects and historians had opposed the proposal, saying it would have destroyed the museum’s residential character.
to have kept a little treasured piece of our history.”
In a statement, the coalition said it was grateful to all those who “passionately raised their voices in
opposition to the ill-conceived expansion” and would “continue to be vigilant to preserve the Frick’s unique ‘house museum’ experience.’”
“It’s just a magnificent work of landscape architecture,” Warren said. It was clear the museum board looked at the incredible diversity of people campaigning for the garden’s preservation “and their better judgment prevailed.”
The Frick, which announced the addition plans a year ago, had maintained the expansion was needed for its growing collection, attendance and programs.
Wardropper said the museum continued to be committed to attaining its goal to add more space for its collection and exhibitions, classrooms for educational programs and improving public access to its art reference library via the museum — all while “preserving the unique residential character and intimate scale of the Frick.”
The library,
which This photograph shows the garden at The Frick Collection in New York. On Thursday, June 4, the Frick Collection announced they have abandoned plans for an expansion that would have replaced the museum’s beloved garden and pavilion with a six-story addition. The museum said it will develop a new plan that will preserve the garden. The Frick is housed in a landmark mansion on Fifth Avenue. A coalition of preservationists, artists, architects and historians had opposed the proposal, saying it would have destroyed the museum’s residential character.
opened in 1935, has a separate entrance on 71st Street.
In its statement, United to Save the Frick, which included designer Maya Lin and architectural historian Victoria Newhouse, said it had urged the Frick to seek alternatives “like moving some of its offices off-site and renovating and repurposing underutilized space, options favored by museums worldwide.”
The Municipal Art Society, which has been at the forefront of other campaigns to save historic sites including Grand Central Terminal, joined the chorus of opposition to the proposed expansion.
“The uniqueness of the Frick Collection is not confined to the great works of art within its walls, but extends to its outstanding exterior and landscape architecture,” the society said in a letter to Wardropper in May.
The proposal “risks undermining the singular essence of the Frick Collection by erasing a masterpiece of landscape design — a landmark
in its own right,” the society added.
The proposal, which had not yet been filed with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, would have doubled the museum’s space for temporary exhibitions and provided about 21 percent more for its permanent collection.
The classical-style Reception Hall Pavilion and 70th Street garden by the eminent British landscape architect Russell Page were added in the 1977 after the museum razed three adjacent row houses. The museum had intended to build an addition on the site but postponed the project due to lack of funding.
An oasis of ornamental trees, flowers, patches of lawns and a lily pond, the garden can be viewed from the reception hall and the street.
The institution was established in 1935 by steel magnate Henry Clay Frick as a “public gallery of art to which the entire public shall forever have access.”