The Frick Collection is housed in the former residence of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), the Pittsburgh coke-and-steel industrialist. The building, erected in 1913-14, was designed by the American architect Thomas Hastings in a style reminiscent of European domestic architecture of the eighteenth century.
Mr. Frick bequeathed the residence and the works of art he had collected over a period of forty years to the Board of Trustees, permitting it to add to his collection (almost a third of the paintings were acquired since his death) and to make it a center for the study of art and related subjects. After alterations and extensions were made to the building by John Russell Pope, it was opened to the public in 1935. A further extension, including a reception hall, exhibition galleries on a lower floor, and a garden, was completed in 1977.
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