Tenement Museum
Millions of Americans can trace their ancestry back to tenements. Working class tenement residents moved to NYC from other countries or other parts of the country. Their work helped build the city and nation. The Lower East Side has been incredibly diverse since the 1800s. A boom in New York’s population in the mid-to-late 1800s led to the rise of tenement housing on the Lower East Side. Tenements were low-rise buildings with multiple apartments, which were narrow and typically made up of three rooms. Because rents were low, tenement housing was the common choice for new immigrants in New York City. It was common for a family of 10 to live in a 325-square-foot apartment. In addition to affordable housing, many immigrants and migrants came to the Lower East Side for job opportunities in the garment industry. Prior to 1850, German immigrants worked in small garment shops followed by Irish immigrants from 1850-1880. By the turn of the 20th Century, the Lower East Side emerged as both the center of the nation’s garment production, powered by the Jewish and Italian immigrants who now held the jobs in the shops and factories. Successive groups of newcomers would continue to transform the garment industry in the 20th century, including Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants.
NYC Lower East Side, Orchard Street, 1898
Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site on 97 Orchard Street is a five-story brick tenement building that was home to an estimated 7,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 1935. The structure was contracted by Prussian-born immigrant Lukas Glockner in 1863 and was modified several times to conform with the city’s developing housing laws. When first constructed, it contained 22 apartments and a basement level saloon. Over time, four stoop-level and two basement apartments were converted into commercial retail space, leaving 16 apartments in the building. Modifications occurred over the years.
For decades, tenement dwellers had only basic protection from fire but almost none from disease. In the 1860s, diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and influenza were an urgent fear, and common in New York’s tenements. As public understanding of contagious disease improved, housing laws in 1879 and 1901 helped create change. Around 1890, the landlords at 97 Orchard St. installed windows between the parlor and the kitchen to increase airflow and light, which was believed to help reduce TB outbreaks. The installation also made the space more attractive in a time of competition due to short-term tenement rentals. There was also a move to improve tenements in general. In 1901, a new tenement law required indoor plumbing and gas lighting. In 1934, New York required landlords to replace wooden stairs with brick or masonry. In 1935, rather than continue to modify the building, the landlord of 97 Orchard St. evicted the residents, boarded the upper windows, and sealed the upper floors, leaving only the stoop-level and basement storefronts open for business.
As housing codes became stricter, immigration restriction laws were enacted, and upward social mobility occurred, there was a decreased demand for tenement apartments. For more than half a century, 97 Orchard Street apartments fell into ruin, until the Tenement Museum moved in. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum was founded in 1988 by historian Ruth Abram and social activist Anita Jacobson. The two discovered 97 Orchard Street — a dilapidated tenement building that had been shuttered for more than 50 years. Although the building was in ruins, they uncovered personal belongings and other evidence of the families that called those apartments home between the 1860s and 1930s. These artifacts and the families who owned them became the foundation for what the Tenement Museum represents today: a belief that our national identity is best understood and appreciated through the stories of real families whose lives have shaped our shared history.
Museum founder, Ruth Abram
The tenement at 97 Orchard St. appealed to the museum’s founders because the building behind it had been torn down. That allowed street access to the back of the museum and room for a modern external staircase. The museum balances today’s safety demands with preserving the interiors. Some apartments have been left untouched. Others have been recreated to represent specific time periods. The building reflects 19th and early 20th century living conditions and the changing notions of what constitutes acceptable housing. In spite of the restoration, some parts of the upper floors are unstable and closed off. The museum’s exhibits depict the lives of immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard Street from 1869 - 1935. The Museum’s public tours place these lives in the broader context of American history. The Lower East Side neighborhood itself is as much a part of the Museum as are 97 and 103 Orchard Street. Visitors to the Museum can explore the immigrant experience through neighborhood walking tours and apartment tours. The tenement is open for public tours daily.
Alan Batt, 2006
During guided tours, visitors can see recreated homes and businesses in the two restored historic tenement buildings. Visitors to the Tenement Museum find hallways, kitchens, and parlors where ordinary families once spent time in. These buildings were home to over 15,000 immigrants from more than 20 nations between 1863 and the turn of the 21st century. A guided tour will offer insight on what life was like then, compared to now. Through the personal stories of immigrant families, visitors can learn about the hard times experienced by immigrants and how they worked to build new lives, and encounter immigration as an essential force in shaping this country. The Tenement Museum is one of the fastest growing cultural institutions in NYC. The museum’s core programming includes more than 12 different tours of 97 Orchard Street and the Lower East Side. In its recently acquired tenement at 103 Orchard Street, the Tenement Museum is recreating the homes of Holocaust survivors, Puerto Rican migrants, and Chinese immigrants. This expansion will enable the Museum to explore the end of the quota system and the nation’s return to its historic ideals in admitting immigrants. The Tenement Museum is an affiliate site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The museum has an extensive collection of historical archives and provides a variety of educational programs.
Works Cited
“About Us.” Tenement Museum, https://www.tenement.org/about-us/. Accessed 8 May 2023.
Kennicott, Philip, et al. “Tenement Museum Virtual Tour: Millions of Americans Can Trace Their Ancestry Back to Tenements like This One.” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/tenement-museum/. Accessed 8 May 2023.
“Lower East Side.” Tenement Museum, https://www.tenement.org/explore/lower-east-side/. Accessed 10 May 2023.
“Lower East Side Tenement Museum.” Museums of the World, http://museu.ms/museum/details/559. Accessed 8 May 2023.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum | National Trust for Historic Preservation. https://savingplaces.org/places/tenement. Accessed 8 May 2023.