The Frick Collection announced today that it will resume its plans for expansion and renovation, following an aborted and widely criticised proposal in 2014 that would have eliminated the museum’s much-loved gated garden.
The new plan follows a “subsequent period of extensive study” but is still in its early stages. The museum is issuing a “request for qualifications” from among 20 different architects in the hopes that new designs will be unveiled by 2017.
The Frick does have ideas for what it wants from the refurbishment however: a new gallery for special exhibitions within the 1935 building and public access to the second floor, which has always been off-limits. "Originally the private living quarters of the Frick family," the museum says in a statement, the second-floor rooms "are uniquely suited to the presentation of small-scale objects from the Frick’s permanent collection."
“We look forward to developing a design that advances these goals and reflects our passion for preserving the unique character and qualities that define the Frick experience,” Director Ian Wardropper says in a statement. The museum says that the project will "reorganize and upgrade existing spaces in the Frick’s buildings, and renovate underground facilities". Other than that, details are scant for the moment.