Behind the Scenes at the Tenement Museum

Built in 1863, 97 Orchard Street wasn’t intended to be a museum. It was tenement—a multi-family residential building built by a German immigrant with the intention to house the ever-growing population of New York City. Once home to thousands of immigrants and migrants, as well as dozens of businesses, the building would be re-made into a museum in 1988 to uncover and share the stories of those who lived and worked there, and illuminate how those experiences have shaped American history and American identity. But how do you turn a five-floor walk-up that is mostly in ruins into a museum? Preserve it as it was found? Restore its original form? Recreate it to a specific moment in time? The answer is yes to all three, and on this virtual tour program, we’ll get a behind the scenes look at the process and philosophy behind the Tenement Museum’s approach to recreating historic spaces. Learn what it takes to recreate apartments that tell the stories of the 1860s and 1930s with before and after photographs, highlights of often-overlooked architectural details, and expert interviews with a restoration carpenter and furnishings curator- folks who did the actual work. If you’ve ever visited a historic building and wondered how the walls were plastered, where a piece of furniture came from, or which objects are original, this program will pull back the linoleum and share those secrets with you. For more events like this, become an Untapped New York Insider! https://untappedcities.com/become-a-member/