Tenement Museum – Immigrants Lives Past and Present

We had a great time while seeing Manhattan, and New York, all decked out for Christmas in December of 2018. We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful tree at Rockefeller Center and had a marvelous time shopping at the Union Square Holiday Market. One thing we ended up doing was taking a tour of something I didn’t even know existed. Yes, I am now hanging my head in shame, but I know now. Anyway, after meeting some friends for lunch at Katz’s Deli for lunch, we headed over to the Tenement Museum. It is located at 97 and 103 Orchard Street which is only a few blocks from where we were. It was a pleasant walk, and we stopped into a few shops along the way. As I said, I didn’t know it was there, but apparently it is a National Historic Site that opened on November 12, 1988. The two historical tenement buildings were home to an estimated 15,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 2011. The Tenement Museum, which includes a visitors’ center, promotes tolerance and a historical perspective on the immigrant experience. I didn’t know what to expect, so I went in completely open to learning some history.

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 over the years included the installation of indoor plumbing (cold running water, two toilets per floor), an air shaft, and gas followed by electricity.

In 1935, rather than continuing to modify the building, the landlord evicted the residents, boarded the upper windows, and sealed the upper floors, leaving only the stoop-level and basement storefronts open for business. No further changes were made until the Lower East Side Tenement Museum became involved with the building in 1988. As such, the building stands as a kind of time capsule, reflecting 19th and early 20th-century living conditions and the changing notions of what constitutes acceptable housing.

Today they have several tours, as well as unique experiences, which share the restored apartments and businesses of past residents and merchants from different time periods. There were several tours to choose from. Here they are listed by the floor they are on:

Tenement 1^st Floor

• Shop Life –  Family-run stores filled the lower level of 97 Orchard for over a century, where they struggled to adapt to an ever-changing neighborhood and achieve the American Dream. Visit the 1870s German saloon of John and Caroline Schneider, and use interactive media to trace the stories of turn-of-the-century kosher butchers, a 1930s auctioneer, and 1970s undergarment discounters.

Tenement 2^nd Floor

• Hard Times – Discover how immigrants survived economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. Visit the restored homes of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the panic of 1873, and the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• Hard Times: Tour and Discussion – Spend extended time inside the Baldizzi apartments and join in a discussion about themes arising from the tour. Share your experiences, thoughts, and family histories with your educator and fellow visitors.

Tenement 3^rd floor

• Sweatshop Workers – Pay a visit to the Levine family’s garment workshop and the Rogarshevsky’s Sabbath table at the turn of the 20^th century, when the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place in the world. Explore how immigrants balanced work, family, and religion at a time of great change.
• Sweatshop Workers: Tour and Discussion – Spend extended time inside the Rogarshevsky apartments and join in a discussion about themes arising from the tour. Share your experiences, thoughts, and family histories with your educator and fellow visitors.
• Under One Roof – In the decades after World War II, the Lower East Side became one of New York’s most diverse neighborhoods. Visit the homes of Bella Epstein, whose parents survived the Holocaust, Jose and Andy Velez, whose mother left Puerto Rico for garment work, and the Wong siblings, whose stories of their mother and other garment workers are highlighted in an interactive, recreated Chinatown garment shop.

Tenement 4^th Floor

• Irish Outsiders – Meet the Moores, an immigrant family struggling with prejudice while celebrating their Irish identity in 1869 New York. Visit their restored home as they prepare for the City’s renowned St. Patrick’s Day parade. Through their experience, you will discover how immigrants from different backgrounds forge their own American identities.
• Exploring 97 Orchard –  Go behind the scenes at the Tenement Museum and explore the layers of history in the tenement’s physical fabric. Learn how legislation and fashion spurred landlords and tenants to leave their mark on the building, and how paint experts, wallpaper conservators, and urban archeologists “read” these layers to uncover 97 Orchard’s stories.

Tenement Unique Experiences

• Tastings at the Tenement:- Taste a variety of foods from the neighborhood while exploring the influence of immigrant culture on what all Americans eat. Your group starts with a visit to 97 Orchard Street and continues with a sit-down tasting meal in our private dining room overlooking Delancey Street. As the group tastes the flavors of the Lower East Side past and present, they share stories about their most memorable culinary experiences and watch interviews of local store owners who sold us the foods we’ll be eating. This tour is air-conditioned. Thursday evenings at 6:30
• A Day in the Life: Rogarshevsky Family:  Explore the story of the Rogarshevsky family, featured on our Sweatshop Workers tour. Visit the family’s home inside our historic tenement building at 97 Orchard Street in 1911, then continue the journey outside and see the neighborhood through the eyes of the Rogarshevskys. This tour is available on Thursday evenings in July.

They all sounded interesting, but we decided to do the Hard Times tour. This tour shared how the immigrants survived economic depressions while living at the Tenement building between 1863 and 1935. We visited the restored homes of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the panic of 1873, and the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Sadly we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside, but before we toured the Tenement building, we watched a short film. We learned a little about their continued projects as they continue to forge emotional connections between visitors and immigrants past and present.    I will leave with some visitor information, but please check out the website if you would like more information about their tours and times.

Tenement Museum Visitor Information

Address:

103 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002

Phone:

877-975-3786

Visitor Center and Museum Shop Hours

10:00 am – 6:30 pm Fri – Wed
10 am – 8:30 pm Thurs
103 Orchard Street New  York, NY

Ticket Prices

Adults: $25
Students: $20
Seniors (65+): $20