Museums: The Tenement Museum (Part 1 of 2)

NYC's Tenement Museum tells the story of the immigrant experience in the United States by focusing on immigrant life in New York's Lower East Side where the museum is located.

Map of Manhattan, with the Lower East Side shaded in blue

The museum consists of a couple of decayed tenement buildings that have been stabilized and partly restored. 

The Tenement Museum, in NYC's Lower East Side, on Orchard Street near Delancey Street

We recently visited the Tenement Museum for two different tours: "Hard Times," an up-close look at life inside a tenement building, and "Building on the Lower East Side," a walking tour focused on LES buildings of all sorts, from the oldest to the newest.

Part 1--Hard Times:

First things first.  What is a "tenement"?  In legal terms in NYC, a tenement is any multi-family dwelling such as a triplex or apartment house.  Specifically, a tenement is a building with units for three or more unrelated families, with separate cooking facilities. (So, technically speaking, the Trump Park Avenue is a tenement.  Who knew?)

In non-legal terms, many people think of a tenement as a small, dreary, overcrowded apartment building with poor light and bad ventilation.  After touring the Tenement Museum, we better understand the non-legal definition to be more accurate.

The knowledgeable, well-spoken educator for our tour was Cherrye Davis.  The tour took us to 97 Orchard Street, a tenement built in 1863-1864 and still standing . . . barely. 

The building had 20 apartments, with 3 rooms each--a bedroom, a kitchen and a parlor with the lone window.  The size of the entire apartment was just over 300 square feet  The tour included three apartments.  The first apartment (picture below) was in a ruined state--paint and plaster falling off the ceiling and walls, rickety floors, etc.  

Photo of ruined apartment.  The sink and window between rooms were later additions, not to mention the electric light

The second apartment (picture below) was restored to its 1870's appearance when  a family of 6 German Jewish immigrants lived there.  The area was then known as Little Germany, or "Klein Deutschland".  One child died while an infant, and the husband also abandoned the family.  The wife endured by operating a dressmaking business in the apartment.  She raised her three children on her own and eventually escaped to Yorkville in the Upper East Side.  

Photo of parlor that doubled as a workroom.  Monthly rent was $10.

The third apartment (picture below) was restored to the way it looked on a specific day in 1935 when the Italian family living there was evicted along with all other building residents residents.  The building was permanently closed because the landlord refused to renovate the building to comply with the revised fire code.  So, in the middle of the Great Depression with employment hard to come by, the family lost its home.  Fortunately, the family endured the hard times, moved to Brooklyn and flourished over the decades.

 

Photo of kitchen and parlor beyond.  Monthly rent was $18.

Below are some more photos from the tour.

Our guide Cherrye welcoming the tour group to 97 Orchard Street

Information about 97 Orchard Street

97 Orchard St.:  The restored front, with a view of the second floor and a photo of street life

97 Orchard St.:  The restored front, with a view of the first floor and a photo commemorating the saloon that occupied the bottom of the building early in its history

The back of 97 Orchard Street.  Until indoor plumbing and toilets, residents of the 20 apartments shared 4 outdoor privies (on the left) and obtained water from from a backyard faucet (not shown).

Part 2--Building on the Lower East Side:


Stay tuned.