The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: December twenty-fifth, celebrating Christmas at Clayton.

A century ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Henry Clay Frick was a very wealthy man. Having amassed one fortune supplying coking coal for Andrew Carnegie's steel mills, Frick had earned a second wringing profits out of those same mills. A true Victorian, Frick found solace in his family and pleasure collecting fine art. Both passions were evident in the home he and his wife Adelaide created. With names like Heinz, Mellon and Westinghouse on the mailboxes, Pittsburgh's mile-square enclave of Point Breeze had more millionaires at the time than any other neighborhood in America. Frick called his estate Clayton and filled the 23 rooms in the faux- Renaissance chateaux with the finest furnishings money could buy.

Even after he moved his family and art collection to New York City in 1905, Frick's Pittsburgh residence was maintained virtually intact for 80 years. Of all the area's great houses, only Clayton has survived, largely because Frick's daughter, Helen, never lost her strong affection for her childhood home, returning there to vote and to spend her final years. In her will, she directed that Clayton be restored to its former elegance, and left an endowment to make that happen.

When Clayton opened to the public in 1990, after five years of painstaking work, it was widely hailed as the most complete, best-documented Victorian residence in the country. This remains true anytime of the year, but especially now, when Clayton is decorated for a Victorian Christmas. This year, the house is filled with evergreen swagging, topiary trees and festive greens woven with ribbons of teal, garnet and carnelian. Wandering the halls, it's easy to imagine the Frick's still in residence. FMI For information and reservations about visiting Clayton, call the Frick Art and Historical Center at 412-371-0600 or www.frickart.com

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