LET'S ALL GO TO THE TENEMENT MUSEUM GROUP TOUR!

Let's all go to on a Group Tour of the Tenement Museum on Saturday May 31st from 1:15pm - 2:30pm. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is a museum and National Historic Site located at 97 and 103 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The museum's two historical tenement buildings were home to an estimated 15,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 1935 (97 Orchard Street) and 1888 and 2015 (103 Orchard Street). The museum, which includes a visitors' center, promotes tolerance and historical perspective on the immigrant experience.

COST: $25 per ticket (normally $32.50)

THE EXHIBIT WE ARE GOING TO SEE:

In the early 1900s, when the city and nation saw an unprecedented number of new arrivals, conditions in tenements and factories inspired critical debates about life in cities and the government’s role in housing and workplaces. Trace this period of high immigration and political change through the stories of two families who became neighbors in 97 Orchard Street. We will visit their actual tenement apartments, and through stories of shared meals, neighborly help, and advice on immigration status, we’ll explore these families and how they responded to the conditions of immigration and the changing role of government in their lives.

HISTORY

The building at 97 Orchard Street was contracted by Prussian-born immigrant Lukas Glockner in 1863 and was modified several times to conform with the New York State Tenement House Act. 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. Thanks to extensive restoration over many years (overseen in phases by Perkins Eastman and Li/Saltzman Architects) visitors can explore two different buildings—97 and 103 Orchard Street—and view recreated apartments that represent eras across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.