Episode 455 of the Bowery Boys, House of Beauty, the story of the Frick Collection.

Hey, it's the Bowery Boys.

Hey.

Hi there, welcome to the Bowery Boys. This is Greg Young. And this is Tom Myers. And in today's show, we'll be inviting you to come with us inside of one of America's most interesting art museums, because it's an institution that is both an art gallery and a historic home.

This is, of course, the Frick Collection, located at one East 70th Street and facing into Central Park along Fifth Avenue, within the former Fifth Avenue mansion of Gilded Age mogul, Henry Clay Frick, an institution containing many pieces of artwork that Frick himself actually purchased, as well as many other incredible works of art from master painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Turner, Whistler, lots of Whistler? Lots of Whistler? DeGa! They got it! They got it all, Greg.

Here at the Frick, they bring together two of our favorite types of museums, art museums, and historic homes.

This institution dates back to the year 1920 with the formation of the Frick collection within the home of the Fricks, which opened to the public as a museum in 1935.

However, as many people might have noticed, it's been closed for the past several years.

Yes, but rejoice because it reopens later this month in April of 2025.

But listeners, we got a very special sneak preview of the Frick Collection.

They led us inside to wander the halls with our recording equipment and take it all in while things were still in packing boxes.

Now, later in this episode, you'll hear us on that exploration and we'll be joined by

curator Amy Ing.

But that's not all.

This is technically a two-part show, Greg, because Carl Raymond, our colleague at the

Gilded Gentleman podcast,

will be picking up where our tour leaves off, and we'll get to more of that very special

crossover episode in just a moment. But before we head into the museum to get a behind-the-scenes

look at the collection, I think we should take a few moments to learn a bit more about Henry

Clayfrick, the man. Now, to start off here, was his one of those rags to riches stories, or did he

start off with some advantages? Well, he did have a couple things going for him, but he also built his

own fortune. Okay, he was born in the

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