We tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants.
They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means.
In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has re-imagined the role that museums can play in our lives.
A historian and social activist, Ruth Abram wanted to build a museum that honored America’s immigrants.
New York’s tenements were the perfect place for her museum: these humble, multiple family buildings were the first American homes for thousands of immigrants.
But the search for a tenement proved frustrating. By 1988, Abram and co-founder Anita Jacobson were nearly ready to give up.
Then they stumbled upon the tenement at 97 Orchard Street.
97 Orchard’s initial appeal was an available storefront: Jacobsen and Abram considered renting the space to run tours of the Lower East Side. While inspecting the storefront, Jacobsen went to the hallway to look for a bathroom.
She saw sheet-metal ceilings, turn-of-the-century toilets and an aging wood banister.
"It was as though people had just picked up and left", Jacobson recalled. “It was a little time capsule...I called Ruth and said 'We have got to have this building.' It was perfect."
The search was over.
Shuttered for over 50 years, 97 Orchard's apartments were in ruin. It would take time to transform the tenement into a museum.
Undaunted, researchers scavenged through 97 Orchard and combed through archives, compiling evidence about tenants and tenement life.
After several years of research, the Museum began the difficult task of restoring apartments that had been left vacant for so long. In 1992, the Museum opened its first restored apartment, the 1878 home of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family.
Over the past 20 years, the Tenement Museum has blossomed from an idea into a thriving institution.
We've carefully restored 6 apartments, including our newest one: the home of the Moores, Irish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard in 1869.
We will continue to grow. In 2007, the Museum purchased 103 Orchard Street, which will serve as a flagship building for our Visitors Center, exhibitions and classrooms. Keep in touch as we continue to expand the idea of a Tenement Museum.
Inside 97 Orchard, visitors take guided tours of apartments that recreate immigrant life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Along with a glimpse of the past, tours offer insights into current debates about immigration and public health.
Each year, 30,000 students visit the Museum to learn about immigration and New York City. We also run ESOL workshops that use tenement history to teach English to today’s immigrants.
Join us for Tenement Talks: free readings, discussions, performances and screenings about New York’s history, people and culture. Tenement Talks are hosted at the Museum Shop (108 Orchard).
Led by trained facilitators, Kitchen Conversations are an open forum for visitors to discuss issues raised on tours.
The Museum sponsors original artworks by immigrants and migrants. Hosted on our web site and the Tenement Windows, these works offer insight into contemporary immigrant experiences.
