The Landmarks Commission approved today a certificate of appropriateness for The Frick Collection to erect some signage, but denied it permission to install a red cloth canopy at its tiered entrance at 1 East 70th Street.
The Frick Collection is the most beautiful museum in the United States and is housed in the former home of its founder, Henry Clay Frick, who had it enlarged and altered to become a museum that opened in 1935.
Although its collections are not gigantic in number, there are colossal in quality. Its many treasures include a fine oil by Jan van Eyck, a great painting of St. Francis of Assisi by Giovanni Bellini, an equestrian picture by Rembrandt, a fabulous portrait of a woman by Ingres, a large room paneled with large and beautiful oils by Fragonard, and three Vermeers.
Frick?s collection is widely considered to beone of the very finest collection of Old Masters ever assembled by an American and rivaled only by those collected by Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, those at the National Gallery of Art in Washington that had been assembled by Andrew Mellon, Paul Mellon, Samuel Kress, and P.A.B. Widener, and those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art assembled by Benjamin Altman and Jules Bache.
The commission approved plans for the museum to put permanent signs at its entrance on 70th Street and flanking the entrance to its Frick Reference Library at 2 East 71st Street. The commission also approved the installation of temporary ?poster? signage of current exhibitions on the most western portion of its long wall on 71st Street.
The plans for the signage and canopy were presented at the hearing by Michael Wetstone, an associate partner of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP.
The Historic Districts Council testified at the hearing against the approval of the canopy. Its public review committee argued that ?the proposed canopy ?obscures the restrained, elegant architecture of the entry way,? adding that ?Canopies of this sort are traditionally found on hotels and apartment buildings, neither of which this building is. Other area cultural institutions that were once private residences such as Neue Gallery, NYU?s Institute of Fine Arts, and the Jewish Museum do not have such canopies and mange to be found by visitors.? The committee said that it ?felt the sign on the 71st Street side was a witty, smart way to advertise,? adding that? its scale and position are appropriate, and we hope that future signs will remain this size and not fill up the blind arcade.?
The Frick mansion was designed by Carrere & Hastings and completed in 1914 and altered by John Russell Pope in 1935.
Commissioner Roberta Brandes Gratz argued that the canopy ?almost looks like the entrance to a club? and was inappropriate and Pablo Vengoechea, the commission?s vice chairman, recalled that the commission had rejected a similar canopy plan not too long ago from The Jewish Museum.
Commissioner Steven Byrns described the museum as ?one of the greatest buildings in the city and much to fine to be obscured.?
Anne L. Poulet, the director of The Frick Collection, shown at the right, who testified that the canopy was needed because of long lines of people waiting to get in, told CityRealty.com after the hearing that she was ?disappointed? with the commission?s denial of approval for the canopy.
Both the signage and the canopy proposals had been approved by Friends of the Upper East Side and Community Board 8.
The Frick Collection is the most beautiful museum in the United States and is housed in the former home of its founder, Henry Clay Frick, who had it enlarged and altered to become a museum that opened in 1935.
Although its collections are not gigantic in number, there are colossal in quality. Its many treasures include a fine oil by Jan van Eyck, a great painting of St. Francis of Assisi by Giovanni Bellini, an equestrian picture by Rembrandt, a fabulous portrait of a woman by Ingres, a large room paneled with large and beautiful oils by Fragonard, and three Vermeers.
Frick?s collection is widely considered to beone of the very finest collection of Old Masters ever assembled by an American and rivaled only by those collected by Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, those at the National Gallery of Art in Washington that had been assembled by Andrew Mellon, Paul Mellon, Samuel Kress, and P.A.B. Widener, and those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art assembled by Benjamin Altman and Jules Bache.
The commission approved plans for the museum to put permanent signs at its entrance on 70th Street and flanking the entrance to its Frick Reference Library at 2 East 71st Street. The commission also approved the installation of temporary ?poster? signage of current exhibitions on the most western portion of its long wall on 71st Street.
The plans for the signage and canopy were presented at the hearing by Michael Wetstone, an associate partner of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP.
The Historic Districts Council testified at the hearing against the approval of the canopy. Its public review committee argued that ?the proposed canopy ?obscures the restrained, elegant architecture of the entry way,? adding that ?Canopies of this sort are traditionally found on hotels and apartment buildings, neither of which this building is. Other area cultural institutions that were once private residences such as Neue Gallery, NYU?s Institute of Fine Arts, and the Jewish Museum do not have such canopies and mange to be found by visitors.? The committee said that it ?felt the sign on the 71st Street side was a witty, smart way to advertise,? adding that? its scale and position are appropriate, and we hope that future signs will remain this size and not fill up the blind arcade.?
The Frick mansion was designed by Carrere & Hastings and completed in 1914 and altered by John Russell Pope in 1935.
Commissioner Roberta Brandes Gratz argued that the canopy ?almost looks like the entrance to a club? and was inappropriate and Pablo Vengoechea, the commission?s vice chairman, recalled that the commission had rejected a similar canopy plan not too long ago from The Jewish Museum.
Commissioner Steven Byrns described the museum as ?one of the greatest buildings in the city and much to fine to be obscured.?
Anne L. Poulet, the director of The Frick Collection, shown at the right, who testified that the canopy was needed because of long lines of people waiting to get in, told CityRealty.com after the hearing that she was ?disappointed? with the commission?s denial of approval for the canopy.
Both the signage and the canopy proposals had been approved by Friends of the Upper East Side and Community Board 8.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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