Oval Room

Mr. Frick’s former office was demolished to make way for the Oval Room during the mansion’s conversion to a museum between 1931 and 1935. An oval shape was chosen because, according to the architect John Russell Pope, “It could be creatively treated as a thing in itself, contrasting with the court’s rectangle....”

Archival Photographs

  • room with scaffolding, lumber and columns leaning, circa 1935

    Oval Room under construction, looking east, 1935

  • photo of room with oval skylight and scaffolding prepared for construction, circa 1935

    Oval Room under construction, looking west, 1935

  • photo of oval shaped room with skylight, paintings, and rope, circa 1935

    Oval Room, 1935

  • photo of oval shaped gallery room with paintings, rope, and doorway, skylight, circa 1935

    Oval Room, 1935

  • photo of oval gallery room with paintings, chairs and arched doorway, circa 1938

    Oval Room, 1938

  • photo of painting of George Washington over table between two columns, circa 1942

    Oval Room, 1942

  • photo of oval shaped gallery room with sculpture, plants chairs, paintings, bench, circa 1976

    Oval Room, 1976

Source: The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives