Geoffrey from New York

About me I travel to discover how people elsewhere live, how they manage living with low incomes in expensive cities, how they grapple with hard times and failing economies, how they deal with ageing or crumbling families and how they themselves age and adapt. Knowing and loving New York comes from having lived through many of its manifestations while witnessing its changes....
Mar 13, 2025

Frick Collection New York

Intimate, reopened art museum

"Visit the newly restored Frick Collection, a Gilded Age treasure with masterpieces by Vermeer and Fragonard, housed in a historic Fifth Avenue mansion."

Visiting the newly rejuvenated Frick Collection housed in the Frick Mansion at 71st and Fifth Avenue is one of few ways to witness the splendour that money—from the richest fortunes ever made during the 'Guilded Age' in New York City at the end of the nineteenth century—could buy.

This house, when new, required a staff of 27 servants. It was designed by Thomas Hastings, of Carrère and Hastings which also designed the Manhattan Bridge, the New York Public Library and the House and Senate Office Buildings in Washington DC.

This five year renovation ended in 2025 at a of cost more than $330 million.

The renovation included restoring the the house’s historic first-floor galleries, adding a new suite of galleries on the second floor (never before open to the public) and creating a new 220-seat auditorium.

Notably, Frick’s acquisition of 14 large Fragonard Panels at the time of construction required custom fitting the panels into an enlarged drawing room which included new wall alcoves to properly show them off. There are also four Vermeers in this collection.

Next door at 10 East 71st Street is the Frick Art Research Library.

The museum is relatively small and used to be not overcrowded; one hopes that will continue, but only time will tell.

Adults $30, Seniors $22, Students $17, Under 18 Free.

Nearby—a ten-minute walk west on 72nd Street into Central Park, then north—the little boat pond promenade offers shaded benches, an ice cream café or two and people watching reminiscent of those portrayed by Renoir.

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About this spot

1 East 70th Street New York, NY 10021

Adult entry:

US$

30

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