Episode #103: Inside The Frick Collection

Episode #103: Inside The Frick Collection: The Upstairs Downstairs World of a Gilded Age Mansion

On April 17, 2025, The Frick Collection one of the most extraordianry and unique of New York’s greats museums will open its doors once again to the public after a renovation and restoration of nearly five years and a cost of $220 million. Visitors will again see the fine, elegant Beaux Arts mansion once occupied by Gilded Age industrialist Henry Clay Frick and his wife and daughter. They will also see the priceless collection of masterworks of art randing from the Renaissance to the early 20th century much of which was acquired by Frick himself.

In this episode, a companion show to the Bowery Boys “House of Beauty: The Story of the Frick Collection”, Carl talks with managing educator Caitlin Henningsen about her work researching the domestic staff that worked in the mansion, just who they were and what they did. In addition, this episode covers how Frick thought about blending art with domestic space in several of his homes, what he wanted to achieve with this mansion before it became a museum after his death in 1919.

Thanks to extraordinary archival records, Caitlin and Carl also discuss how the Fricks entertained in a grand Gilded Age style in the dining room visitors see today.

Carl is joined by special guest:

Caitlin Henningsen, Associate Museum Educator at The Frick Collection.

LISTEN NOW: Inside The Frick Collection: The Upstairs Downstairs World of a Gilded Age Mansion

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