The Frick Estate

In the age of the industrial revolution, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick were huge names in the steel industry. Frick helped Carnegie build his company as a chairman of Carnegie Steel. Frick’s name is especially controversial because of his involvement in the violent Homestead strike of 1892, which eventually led to his separation from Carnegie and his company. With the wealth that he amassed, Frick purchases an estate on Penn Avenue, part of the prestigious area known as "Millionaires Row", now known as the Point Breeze district in Pittsburgh. Frick, as a newlywed, bought the two-story home and had it expanded to four stories around 1890. Frick and his new wife moved in November of 1883 and promptly named their home Clayton. The family stayed in this home until they moved to New York City in 1905. This estate included multiple buildings. The main house has a total of 27 rooms, with the estate featuring a miniature mansion for Frick’s two children Helen and Childs to play in, a garden conservatory modeled after Phipps Conservatory, a stable house, and many automobiles including a Rolls Royce. Clayton was one of the first homes in the area to have electric lights in 1883, three years before even the White House had been electrified. Clayton housed many visitors including Teddy Roosevelt who visited after his win in the 1904 election to celebrate. Frick was also a large art collector. The home still features many of his collected art pieces from artists such as Claude Monet, Jules Cazin, Jean-Francois Raffaelli, and Anton Mauve. Clayton was restored in the 1980’s to model its original condition after Helen Frick’s death in 1984, as she was the last person to ever reside in the home. All aspects of the estate can still be visited today.

Fun fact: It is rumored that Stan Lee modeled the Avenger’s Mansion after Clayton in the Avengers superhero series.