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Big Changes Coming To Frick Art & Historical Center

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) --The Frick Art and Historical Center in Point Breeze is a popular stop in the spring and summer.

Director Bill Bodine says a $15 million renovation is aimed at making it even more welcoming.

"We're going to open a new gate right here at the top of the parking lot," he says. "It will funnel right into the new visitors orientation center. The front doors will be right about here."

He gestures toward a grassy site, beside the café. It will be transformed into an environment-friendly building with interactive technology.

The director says visitors will find out "what they're going to see, why they're here, who the Frick family was, what was Pittsburgh like at the end of the 19th century. So we want to bring people in to an orientation center, tell them what they're going to experience, and then send them out to the art museum, to the car and carriage museum."

The Frick children's playhouse, which now serves as welcome center, would become a playhouse once again. And the car and carriage museum would become an education center.

"Then, we would build a new gallery for the carriages," Bodine says, "with collection storage on the lower level of that building."

There will be no changes at all to Clayton, Henry Clay Frick's mansion. His daughter, Helen Clay Frick stipulated in her will that nothing be changed.

Construction begins in mid-June.

RELATED LINKS:
More Point Breeze News
More Reports from Dave Crawley

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