The Tenement Museum uses apartments at 97 Orchard Street to tell the stories of immigrant families who lived in a Lower East Side tenement. Restored rooms connect domestic spaces to changing work, migration, and community histories.
Guide preview
A small apartment can reveal a great deal about a city. At 97 Orchard Street, the Tenement Museum interprets a five-story tenement that housed an estimated 7,000 people from more than twenty nations between 1863 and 1935. The building’s apartments were only about 325 square feet, with three rooms each.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- 97 Orchard Street housed an estimated 7,000 people from 1863 to 1935.
- The building had 22 apartments of about 325 square feet each.
- The museum has restored apartments and a lager beer saloon.
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