NYC 2016: Tenement Museum

 We also signed up for tours of the Tenement Museum on Sunday.  (A word to tourists:  subway trains don't run as often on weekends!  We were almost late!)

The building, at 97 Orchard Street, was built in 1863 by Louis Glockner, a Prussian immigrant, with four apartments on each floor.  It was used continuously for renters until 1935, when housing laws changed and it became too expensive to upgrade the building.  So the apartments were shuttered or used for storage but the downstairs businesses remained open.

From 1935 until 1988, these apartment remained largely unused and untouched.  In 1988, the building was purchased for the museum in order to preserve this part of New York City's past.

 There are four different tours that can be purchased - we bought two.  We did the Hard Times tour (recommended) and the Irish Outsiders tour (good to be paired with Hard Times, if you're doing two tours).

Each tour followed the history of two families that had actually lived in the tenement, including tours of their restored homes.

The tour also goes through unrestored parts of the building.  In some rooms, they have found up to 30 layers of paint.