12. The Tenement Museum

The Tenement Museum is housed in a 1863 building on historic Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Photo via Tenement Museum 

The Tenement Museum is located in an 1863 Italianate tenement on the Lower East Side. The building was discovered by Ruth Abram and Anita Jacobson in 1988. They restored the decaying building to tell the stories of the immigrant tenants who once lived there. Additionally, the museum has a book store that is well worth a trip in and of itself. The Tenement Museum is an affiliated site of the National Park Service.