Peeking Behind the Scenes at the Frick This Season: Mansion Revelations + Mesmerizing Scandinavian Art Steal the Show

First up, you’ve probably heard buzz about the unveiling of the third and fourth floors of Clayton, the amazingly preserved, 23-room mansion that was home to the Henry Clay Frick family from 1882 through 1905. This building is Pittsburgh’s last remaining home of its kind, and until now, the mansion’s upper levels have been off limits to the public, generating mystery and intrigue.

This recently changed, though, thanks to an anticipated tour offering of the never-before-seen floors and unrestored spaces, which include Childs Frick’s bedroom, staff quarters and a couple other surprises along the way. These tours serve as another fundraiser for the Frick’s $10 million goal to preserve Clayton’s exterior; while 2025 tours quickly sold out, you can get on the wait list and keep an eye out for future ticket sales (tax-deductible) here.

Recently, we were fortunate enough to get led around the intriguing home by Frick Learning and Interpretive Coordinator Dalena Collins, a passionate guide and lover of history. Throughout the hour-long tour, we were shown spaces currently used for storage and curatorial projects, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the important world of museum work. Visitors get a small sense of what it takes to preserve and catalogue so many “original” pieces (though Collins gets folks thinking by suggesting that, in many cases, defining what “originality” is truly is a state of mind).

Collins made it clear from the get-go that these new tours aim to draw back the curtain on private spaces that most would never have seen — and to look into the modern-day museum process itself. Contrary to the first two floors of the mansion, these upper floors prove that not all historic buildings appear like a “mausoleum” or “crypt frozen in time.” Instead, it’s an evolving process, which Collins says, “is not infallible or unchanging.” Guests get to see details typically hidden or pushed to the side — like peeling wallpaper, water-damaged ceilings, chipped tiles, secret doorways that show off the skeleton of the building. Above all, these tour guides expertly get visitors to reflect upon the idea that anything you see in a museum or preserved space relies heavily upon the choices made by those curating the experience and deciding what (and what not) to reveal.

Clayton guests also get to learn about topics like the family’s nuanced relationships with hired help, and to see important spaces like a once-vibrant playroom that’s now filled with cloth-covered furniture. Things are kept in perspective with facts like the following, too: In its heyday, this one playroom would have measured about the same size as an average Pittsburgh steelworker’s entire house.

Collins believes that it’s easy to look at history as two-dimensional — flat and static. “But, really,” she counters, “it’s changing and dynamic.” These tours place importance on the fact that no other Gilded Age mansions in Pittsburgh survived, and this one only did because of Helen Frick’s admirable efforts — and privilege. While this prominent Pittsburgher had the resources to save her family’s collections and spaces for us to enjoy today, there are so many homes and families whose histories we'll never know.

Yet at Clayton, it’s certainly an honor to experience this rare journey back in time.