Six Ways to Explore the Frick Museums and Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
This summer, we enjoyed a wonderful few days exploring Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s second largest city, located in the western part of the state. One of the highlights of our visit was the opportunity to explore The Frick Pittsburgh Museums and Gardens, the former home of Henry Clay Frick, founder of the H.C. Frick & Company, one of the largest coke producing companies in the world during the early 20th century. Frick’s company supplied fuel for the iron and steel industries and Frick became business partners with Andrew Carnegie and later became the chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company.
Henry Clay Frick and his wife Adelaide Howard Childs Frick purchased a two story, 11 room Italian style home on Pennsylvania Avenue, known as Millionaires Row in Pittsburgh, just a few months after they married in 1882. The Fricks commissioned a two year renovation of the home that doubled its size to a four story, 23 room French chateau mansion.They lived in the mansion, named Clayton after Frick’s childhood home with their four children, Childs, Martha, Helen, and Henry Jr, in 1905, furnishing the mansion with their collection of artwork from their travels around the world.
Henry Clay Frick bequeathed Clayton to the city upon his death in 1919 and it officially opened to the public in 1935. His daughter Helen wanted to preserve the 10 acre estate and its furnishings (over 90% of the furnishings and items on display in Clayton belonged to the Fricks) and established an endowment for the museums.
Today, Clayton remains the only fully preserved Gilded Age mansion in Pittsburgh. Visitors are welcome to tour Clayton, explore museum exhibits featuring items from the Frick family’s private collections, and enjoy the beautiful grounds. The property is family friendly and engages children with several hands-on activities and family focused programs and events.
Travel Tips:
Six Ways to Explore the The Frick:
- Tour Clayton House, the 19th century home to Henry Clay Frick and Adelaide Howard Childs Frick and their four children from 1882 to 1905. The 23 room restored mansion is accessible via guided tours (offered multiple times during the day) that recreates life for the Frick family in 1892, focusing on both the technological advancements and the environmental impacts and social unrest throughout the Pittsburgh, one of the most thriving cities in American throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tours include exploration of several rooms on two floors of the mansion, and engaging stories about the Frick family and their local friends and business associates. Note: photos are not allowed inside Clayton.
- Smell, see, and even touch (gently!) dozens of varieties of flowers in the Greenhouse. The original 1880s greenhouse was used by the Frick family to grow flowers and plants for year round enjoyment in their home, and to preserve seedlings for the property’s numerous gardens. The current greenhouse, restored to replicate the Victorian era, is located just across the path from the Cafe and is used to grow vegetables used in the Cafe’s menu. The Greenhouse is also home to rotating exhibits; currently on display through spring 2026 is Catching Sunbeams from the Porch Swing of Wisteria Castle, a collection of metal mesh and wire sculptures by Pittsburgh based artists Atticus Adams.
- Walk the path through the 10 acre property and see gardens thriving with a wide variety of flowers in the spring and summer, and a variety of maple and pine trees that line the perimeter of the property along Penn Avenue, South Homewood Avenue, and South Lexington Avenue.
- Use your smartphone to scan QR codes on the Duquesne SoundWalk placards displayed throughout the property and listen to recreations of various sounds that transport visitors back to the 1890s. In collaboration with the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University, the 17 site SoundWalk includes popular music that the Frick family enjoyed, automobile horns, trains passing through the area, and music from the Orchestrion inside Clayton. See the full SoundWalk map here.
- Sit inside a 1929 Ford Model A in the Carriage and Car Museum. The museum displays about a dozen cars and eight carriages, about half of the Fricks’ collection dating back to the late 1800s and some of the first horseless carriages ever built. The museum showcases Pittsburgh’s contributions to the automobile industry and also has a designated kids area with toys and an activity table. Free tours are offered on weekend afternoons.
- See a variety of Helen Clay Frick’s personal collection of early Italian Renaissance and 18th century French paintings, sculptures and bronzes, tapestries, and fine and decorative arts in the Art Museum. Originally opened in 1970, the Art Museum underwent a renovation in summer 2025 and recently reopened. The museum galleries include items from its permanent collection as well as rotating exhibits. Note: When we visited The Frick in summer 2025, the Art Museum was closed for renovations.
Other areas of the property include the Playhouse, built for the Frick children in 1892 but now used as an Administrative Building, and the Education Center, used for workshops and large group gatherings.
Looking for other adventures in Pittsburgh? See our features of the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, the Heinz History Center, the Carnegie Science Museum, Acrisure Stadium, and our full City Guide.
Disclaimer: Our family was given a media pass to explore The Frick; all opinions expressed are my own.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.
