New York, NY
The Frick Collection
Scope/Solutions
The Frick Collection is a world-class art museum housed in several buildings, including structures originally part of Henry Clay Frick’s 1914 residence. The original mansion was expanded as a museum in 1935, a below-grade art vault was added in 1941, and the Reception Hall and East 70th Street Garden were constructed in 1977. In 2017, the Frick Collection undertook another major renovation to upgrade and expand the 179,000 sq ft facility. SGH served as the structural engineer of record for the project.
SGH, partnering with Guy Nordenson and Associates, analyzed the existing structure, including load-bearing masonry and concrete walls, foundations, steel framing and connections, and antiquated floor slab systems. We designed new structures, alterations to existing structures, interfaces between new and existing structures, and a new lateral system. Highlights of our work include:
- Nine-story, steel-framed horizontal expansion of the Frick Art Reference Library (FARL) with steel moment frames and below-grade concrete shear walls
- New concrete shear wall and steel-framed elevator-and-stair core at the FARL
- Four-story, steel-framed vertical expansion of the former Music Room with steel moment frames, a concrete elevator core and shear wall, and strengthening of the existing steel structure below the first floor
- One-story, steel-framed vertical expansion of the Reception Hall with sloped and cantilevered roof trusses, braced-frames, and transfer girders
- Resupport of the Reception Hall’s exterior limestone-clad wall with a new concrete foundation wall
- Support for facade maintenance and fall-arrest systems at skylights and flat roofs
- Excavation below the existing garden and partial demolition of the art vault to create a new below‑grade auditorium
- New framing to support the auditorium ceiling and garden overburden/pool
- New lintels and framing to create openings in existing masonry walls and slab openings in existing terra cotta flat-arch and cinder-concrete draped-mesh floors
- Strengthening of existing cinder-concrete draped-mesh slabs
- Support for new skylights above the Garden Court and North Galleries
Project Summary
2023 (anticipated)
160M
197K
Key team members
