The Frick Collection (Museum), located at 5th Avenue and East 70th Street (facing Central Park) is one of the preeminent small art museums in America, with a high-quality collection of old master paintings and fine furniture housed in 6 galleries within the formerly occupied residential mansion. It is named after the former residence of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. The house was designed by American architect Thomas Hastings and constructed in 1912-1914 (World War I period), and is set apart from 5th Avenue’s sidewalk by a garden that is enclosed by an iron rail fence.

The collection features some of the best-known paintings by major European artists, as well as numerous works of sculpture and porcelain. It also has 18th century French furniture, Limoges enamel, and Oriental rugs. After Frick’s death, his daughter, Helen Clay Frick, expanded the collection, with a third of its art works acquired since 1919. The Frick also oversees the nearby Frick Art Reference Library.

The Frick Collection opened to the public in 1935. The Frick was built at a time when almost every building on 5th Avenue above 59th Street was a private mansion, with a few private clubs and a hotel. Amidst this wealth, Henry Clay Frick’s home was among the most opulent, with private gardens both on the avenue front and in an interior courtyard.