First look at Frick Collection’s Selldorf Architects-designed expansion

The first renderings have emerged for the Annabelle Selldorf-designed expansion of the Frick Collection. The New York Times got its hands on new renderings for the project, and details on what the expansion will entail.

A previous iteration of the expansion plan designed by Davis Brody Bond met with an intense pushback from preservationists because it eliminated the beloved garden designed by Russell Page. This time around the garden will be the focal point of the expansion with the space visible from several of the additions to the existing structure.

Some of the highlights of this expansion include a 220-seat auditorium located below the garden, a renovated lobby, a new level above the reception area, a larger museum shop, and a new education center that will be able to accommodate the 100 schools groups that visit the museum every year.

The expansion is expected to cost $160 million and will create more exhibition space, better circulation, and improve the museum’s wheelchair accessibility. The museum’s second floor, the former private living quarters of the Frick family, will open to the public for the first time ever through the expansion, and also provide additional space for displaying the museum’s art, which has more than doubled since its opening in 1935.

Other additions include adding two floors above the museum’s music room, which will be setback from the street, and an addition behind the library will be just as tall as the seven-story library.

Over the next few months, the Frick will present its plans to 75 community organizations. The plans also have to be signed off by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission as the Frick is a landmarked building. The museum is hopeful the construction will get underway at the start of 2020, and take two years to complete. There’s no word yet if the museum will relocate to a temporary space during the construction or shut down entirely.

Selldorf Architects

Michael Bodycomb

• Frick Collection, With Fourth Expansion Plan, Crosses Its Fingers Again [NYT]
• Selldorf Architects tapped for Frick Collection expansion [Curbed]
• Beyer Blinder Belle signs on for Frick Collection’s expansion [Curbed]