A new 22-minute film from The Frick Collection delves into the institution's renovation and enhancement that opened to the public a year ago. Featuring insights from architect Annabelle Selldorf and preservation architect Richard Southwick from Beyer Blinder Belle, among others, the film does an excellent job in explaining the design, preservation, engineering, and construction of a complex project.
While the updated Frick has new elements that are clearly new, it is still possible to visit the museum on Manhattan's Museum Mile and think of it as a single building, a Gilded Age mansion transformed into a museum. In reality, The Frick Collection is a series of buildings that were shaped over time, from the original mansion in 1914 and its conversion into a museum in the 1930s, when a research library was also added, to the new garden and reception hall in 1977 and the latest renovation and enhancement that was carried out between 2018 and 2025. The film clearly illustrates these different parts, while also showing how the renovation by Selldorf Architects and Beyer Blinder Belle Architects necessitated some creative and complex engineering, especially at the garden and underground auditorium. Even the staunchest fans of The Frick Collection will learn something new while watching the film.