The Frick Collection is going back to the drawing board.
The museum at 1 East 70th Street scrapped its controversial renovation plan which included replacing its garden in favor of a six-story addition, the New York Times reported.
“It just became clear to us that it wasn’t going to work,” a museum official told the newspaper.
Unite to Save the Frick, a coalition made up of architects, designers as well as former members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, strongly opposed the proposal. The Frick had planned to open more exhibition space, private upstairs rooms for the public and views over the park from a rooftop garden.
Unite to Save the Frick applauded the decision. Now, the coalition said in a statement cited by the Times, the museum can look into “many viable alternatives that would preserve the Russell Page Garden and the intimate house museum experience treasured by so many in New York City and around the world.” [NYT] — Claire Moses