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| - Ah gosh! I really lucked out that the weekend I was in Pittsburgh was Easter and my planned visit to one of the other museums didn't happen because they were all closed and instead I went to the Frick because it was the only one open on Easter Sunday!
I am so grateful for that serendipity because honestly looking at the Frick's brochure, visiting it was a lower priority and if I hadn't gone, I would have missed out on what turned out to be quite a lovely Sunday afternoon excursion.
Surprisingly enough for me, I ended up just totally loving the house tour plus the collection of carriages/ automobiles that were displayed. I am definitely not a car girl, so the fact that I enjoyed the automobile + carriage collection as much as I did, really surprised me - especially as conversely, I didn't think much of the art collection! And just to give context, there is one lovely Monet and one lovely luminescent Rubens portrait but the rest of the collection is all this early renaissance devotional paintings (apparently collected by Helen Frick, who was a fan) but that style of painting honestly is not my fave. The art museum also had some lovely turn of the century bric-à-brac - I particularly liked an inlaid cabinet and a beautiful silver serving set.
The actual house itself is a marvelously eclectic mishmash of architectural styles, with chateau dominating and well worth the $12.50 tour. I felt like I got a lot of bang for my buck as the house is gorgeous preserved and there were some beautiful examples of kitchenware (a lot of famous British & French names). I kept thinking of Versailles as we kept touring and its famous fleur-de-lies emblem also makes an appearance in the house. The 3rd floor is off limits, but other than that, it's so cool to peek into the house and the lives of the Frick family in the 1900s!
The greenhouse was lovely too - the tulips were laid out in a way bag reminded me of Kurkenhof and transported me back to Holland in the springtime.
All the staff I interacted with were super friendly and generous with their time, answering the gazillions questions I had. This was undoubtedly among the highlights of my trip to Pittsburgh this time and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon touring the grounds. Absolutely recommend!
Yelp Review 51/2017
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