The Frick Pittsburgh this week launched  a new mobile app that provides visitors new ways to experience the museum’s  5.5-acre grounds and gardens.

Since 2015, the Frick has completed several initiatives to increase access and improve the experience of visitors to its lush Point Breeze site. These initiatives include the opening of a new pedestrian entrance at Penn and Homewood Avenues, the installation of a new system of walking paths, and the addition of new wayfinding and identification signage on site.

The recently developed mobile landscape app complements these efforts. Thanks to the generous support of the Colcom Foundation, the robust app is now available for free download on the iTunes and Android stores.

“We are thrilled to make the Frick’s first-ever app available to the public,” comments Robin Nicholson, executive director. “In addition to offering opportunities to explore our storied landscape using GPS location-finding, the new app employs historical images, maps and stories, providing visitors a dramatic hands-on experience of history, time and change.”

Developed by museum staff in conjunction with San Francisco-based tech company, Guidekick, the new Frick landscape app includes a combination of innovative features that make it unique in the museum world.

The app experience begins with a 3-D map of the Frick campus. Users can locate themselves on the map and track their movements as they explore the grounds. Using photographs and architectural drawings, each building on the Frick site has been carefully modeled to create an accurate architectural representation. The app includes more than 50 points of interest that feature text and audio information.

Also included are a plant finder with information on 30 species of trees and plants on the grounds and a plat map feature that allows users to explore the site as it transformed from the late 19th century to the present day.

App users may also experience a window into the past by using a historical image overlay feature—augmented reality—which allows visitors to see turn-of-the-20th-century archival images overlaid onto current views, as seen through their devices. In addition, history comes alive with historical audio and text, which are pushed to users’ mobile devices at GPS-triggered points of interest on site.

The  Frick encourages users  of the app to share photos of seasonal plants they experience during their visit by using the hashtag #fricklandscape on Instagram or Facebook,  where the plants will be identified by the Frick horticultural team.

ABOUT THE FRICK PITTSBURGH

Located on the Pittsburgh estate of late-19th-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, The Frick Pittsburgh is the steward of collections left as a legacy to the people of Pittsburgh by Frick’s daughter, Helen Clay Frick. The permanent collections include fine and decorative arts, cars, carriages, historic objects, and buildings. The Frick experience includes The Frick Art Museum, the Car and Carriage Museum, Clayton, the Frick family Gilded Age mansion, and 5.5 acres of beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens. Also included are an Education Center, the Frick children’s playhouse (designed by renowned architects Alden & Harlow), a large working greenhouse (also designed by Alden & Harlow), The Café at the Frick, and the Grable Visitor Center, which houses the Frick Museum Store.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Frick Pittsburgh is located at 7227 Reynolds Street in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood. Free parking is available in the Frick’s off-street lot or along adjacent streets.

The Frick is open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday; 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Friday; and is closed Mondays and major holidays. The public should call 412-371-0600 for information, or visit the Frick online at TheFrickPittsburgh.org.