Lower East Side Tenement Museum

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97 Orchard Street

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is a historical museum tracing the history of immigration to the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the years between 1863 and 1935, the tenement houses an estimated 7,000 people from over 20 nations. The museum is located at 97 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side , a neighborhood in Manhattan in New York City . A visitor and education center and museum shop are located next door at 103 Orchard Street.

Since November 12, 1998, the building has been a National Historic Site of the United States of America.

Housing conditions at 97 Orchard Street

The Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street is a representative example of the living and living conditions of immigrants in New York in the 19th century.

The five-story brick house was built in 1863 on behalf of the Prussian- born immigrant Lukas Glockner . Originally it consisted of 20 apartments - four on each floor - as well as two basement shops and a basement that was only accessible from one of the two basement shops. Each apartment was about 30 square meters and consisted of three rooms: a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom. Over the following decades, the apartment building was reconstructed several times to the evolving building codes ( Tenement House Act ) of the city to meet, as well as the four were raised ground -Apartments also converted into retail space, so that the building had only 16 apartments.

Tenement houses like this were typical New York workers' homes. The construction method was the economic answer to the rapidly rising land prices and the growing population: "The houses became profitable by crowding the largest possible number of people into the smallest possible space". At the height of the immigration wave around 1900, over 100 people lived at 97 Orchard Street at the same time.

Fire escape

Initially, the building had iron fire escapes on the front and back. Instead of stairs, vertical ladders were installed in 1862, which were finally banned again. However, existing ladders could remain. The building's original fire escape wasn't removed until the late 1870s or early 1880s.

Water and toilets

In the 1860s, most of New York City's residents used the water coming from New York state via the Croton Aqueduct . The early tenants of 97 Orchard Street got fresh water from a tap in the back yard. The families only had access to water in their own homes when tap water was installed there around 1895, which was only cold water. There was no shower or bathtub in any of the apartments.

When the building was completed, there were three to six outside toilets in the back yard, as was the norm in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the outdoor facilities of the building were quite advanced for the time: They were connected to a common sewage collection basin, from which the sewage was directed into a public sewer. There were no indoor toilets in New York until 1901. It wasn't until four years later (1905) that two toilets per floor were installed at 97 Orchard Street indoors. This meant that one toilet was available for around 20 people each.

Heating, light and ventilation

The apartments originally had fireplaces in the kitchens and living rooms, which were sealed in the living rooms in the late 1880s. Since many of the chimneys were sealed immediately after the building was erected, the architect probably designed them as a decorative element. Each family had a coal stove in their kitchen that was used for cooking, as well as for heating irons and water. It gave off enough heat that the fireplace was an unnecessary source of drafts in the winter months. After gas pipes were installed around 1905, residents could buy individual gas-powered water heaters . This allowed them to warm limited amounts of water for bathing or washing clothes. However, a coal stove was still the main source of heat for the residents. When 97 Orchard Street closed as a residence in the 1930s, few apartment buildings had central gas heating.

In the 1860s there was no gas light or electricity. Instead, kerosene or oil lamps were used to illuminate dark rooms and corridors. Windows at 97 Orchard Street were only in the living rooms; the hallways and stairwell, as well as 40 of the 60 rooms at 97 Orchard Street, had no windows, so there was no way to ventilate the rooms individually, and no daylight. Between 1896 and 1905 the building received gas light . There were coin-operated gas meters in the kitchen for payment. Electric light was not installed until after 1918.

From tenement to museum

Museum Shop and Visitor Center, 103 Orchard Street

Instead of continuing to modernize the building, the landlord gave notice to the residents in 1935 and sealed the upper floors so that only the mezzanine floors and basement rooms were open for business. No further changes were made until the Lower East Side Tenement Museum completed the construction in the late 1980s. The building thus remained a kind of time capsule , reflecting the living conditions and the changing ideas of acceptable living space in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The tenement house was bought in 1988 by Ruth J. Abram and Anita Jacobson. They founded the Tenement Museum , which opened in 1992 after the first complete restoration of an apartment. In the meantime (as of 2017) 6 apartments from different times have been completely renovated.

The museum's exhibitions and programs include restored apartments and shops that are open for guided tours every day. They depict the lives of the immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard Street between 1869 and 1935: the families of Irish and Italian Catholics and European Jews. The museum also offers a documentary and costumed tours to portray the former residents of the building, information about food typical of their cultures, and interesting facts about the area. The museum tours place the lives of immigrants in the broader context of United States history . There is also an extensive collection of historical literature, archival materials, and a variety of educational programs on the history of American immigration.

Awards

In May 1992 the structure was entered on the National Register of Historic Places . On April 19, 1994, it was granted National Historic Landmark status. On November 12, 1998, the facility was granted National Historic Site status. In 2014, the National Historic Site status was extended to the building at 103 Orchard Street. The museum is part of the National Park Service system .

In 2000, it received a $ 250,000 donation from the government initiative Save America's Treasures . In 2001 the museum was awarded the silver medal of the Rudy Bruner Prize for Urban Development .

In 2005, the museum was among 406 New York arts and social institutions to receive a portion of the $ 20 million Carnegie Corporation grant , made possible by a donation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg .

See also

literature

  • Andrew S. Dolkart : Biography of a Tenement House in New York City . An Architectural History of 97 Orchard Street. Center for American Places at Columbia College 2012 2 , ISBN 978-1-935195-29-0

Web links

Commons : Lower East Side Tenement Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, pp. 13ff ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  2. Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, p. 4f ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  3. "… achieved economic viability by crowding the greatest number of people into the smallest possible space." Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, p. 13 ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  4. ^ Tenement Museum: Immigration History Research - Tenement Museum. Did You Know… ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  5. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Water (1) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  6. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Water (2) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  7. ^ Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, p. 14 ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  8. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Bathrooms (1) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Bathrooms (2) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  10. ^ Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, p. 14 ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  11. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Heat (1) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  12. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Heat (2) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  13. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Light (1) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  14. ^ Larry Lowenthal, Andrew S. Dolkart, Judith P. Cotton: Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Park Service and Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York and Boston 1993, p. 14 ( online download (PDF) ; accessed July 2, 2017).
  15. ^ Tenement Museum: Exploring 97 Orchard Street. How the Tenemenet Changed: Light (2) ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  16. ^ Tenement Museum: About The Tenement Museum ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  17. Kate Appleton: Lower East Side Tenement Museum - Profiles , New York - Entertainment; accessed June 23, 2017.
  18. ^ For an example of the coverage of the museum's programs: Edward Rothstein: Toasting History in a Cellar Saloon , The New York Times, February 7, 2013; Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  19. ^ Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed November 7, 2019.
  20. Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed November 7, 2019.
  21. ^ 105th Congress Public Law 378, November 12, 1998 ; Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  22. PUBLIC LAW 113-291-DEC. 19, 2014, 128 STAT. 3783 ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  23. Save America's Treasures Awards 1999–2010 ( Memento of the original from August 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pcah.gov archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  24. ^ Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, Bruner Foundation ; accessed June 23, 2017.
  25. ^ Lower East Side Tenement Museum , Carnegie Corporation, Grants Database; accessed June 23, 2017.
  26. Sam Roberts: City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $ 20 Million , The New York Times ; accessed June 23, 2017.

Coordinates: 40 ° 43 ′ 6.5 ″  N , 73 ° 59 ′ 24.5 ″  W.