Archinect - News

Frick Collection puts forward RFQ to invited architecture firms in new revision plan

2016-03-31T20:53:00-04:00

With The Frick Collection’s garden saved, the museum is moving forward with a new preservationist-friendly plan for expansion...The Frick Collection, looking to realize a revised expansion for the institution, has put forward a request for qualifications to a chosen group of architectural firms. The Frick plans to announce its selected finalist later this year, and plans to reveal designs in 2017.

Museum director Ian Wardropper tells The New York Times that 20 firms have been invited to submit RFQs.

Previously on Archinect:

Frick Collection drops controversial expansion plan

Leading artists call to action against the Frick expansion plans

Frick Collection drops controversial expansion plan

2015-06-04T13:02:00-04:00

The Frick Collection has yielded. Facing a groundswell of opposition to a proposed renovation that would have eliminated a gated garden to make way for a six-story addition, the museum — long admired for its intimate scale — has decided to abandon those plans and start over from scratch. [...] With the proposed renovation, designed by Davis Brody Bond, the Frick, on East 70th Street in Manhattan, had sought to increase its exhibition space [...].

Previously: Leading artists call to action against the Frick expansion plans

Leading artists call to action against the Frick expansion plans

2015-05-06T18:58:00-04:00

While the museum describes the 42,000-square-foot addition as something that would “further fulfill Henry Clay Frick’s long-standing vision to offer public access to its works of art," others, including a group of 51 prominent artists and architects — Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman [...] among them — think it would undermine exactly what they love about the place. Under the banner of Unite to Save the Frick, this group sent a letter to the city, copied to the museum, expressing their displeasure.

Here's the letter that Unite to Save the Frick sent to NYC leaders today:

May 6, 2015

Dear Mayor de Blasio and Chair Srinivasan:

The residential scale of the Frick Collection exerts a special power over those who walk its halls. To have visitors experience the feeling of living with art was the intention of founder Henry Clay Frick as he envisioned his personal residence being opened to the public. Up until now, the Frick’s fidelity to its founder’s vision of a “house museum” has been laudable. Those of us in the art world who cherish the unique and tranquil ambiance offered by the Frick are urging the Frick to withdraw its proposed plan and consider alternative methods of expansion that would preserve the character essential to its appeal.

As professionals working in the art world (sculptors, painters, critics, journalists, dealers, gallerists, financiers, and more), we strongly believe that the Frick’s effectiveness as a display space lies in its intimacy. Viewing highlights of the co...