Tenement Museum

We just visited the Tenement Museum for the second time (about 12 years apart) and thought it was amazing. Our guide Jared was wonderful and brought lots of energy and detail to our tour. We did Tour 8A, which included stories of two families, Jewish Holocaust survivors and their two daughters, and a Puerto Rican couple and their two sons, who had occupied the apartment over six decades. I read some reviews that were critical of the fact that visitors are not allowed to do self-guided tours. That would be impossible in such small spaces that have been curated so accurately to reflect the time periods that the tenement building was occupied.

The tour was very educational and informative. The guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It was a little difficult for our kids (11 and 15 years old) to keep standing and paying attention to the tour guide, but for the most part they were able to stay engaged in the tour.

Interesting take on a classic museum. More like an interactive tour guide into history with some great preservation and insight into actual families and their lives that immigrated to the United States. Gives you more of a reason to return to hear about the other families that lived at the tenement.

I thoroughly enjoyed our tour of 2A. Brian was a fantastic guide, incredibly knowledgable about the story of the Tenement and the wider American historical context of the period, as well as the Moore family who our tour focused on. A must visit on a trip to the City!

What a fun and unique experience! Super easy to get tickets online ahead of time. I’d absolutely recommend if you enjoy learning about the life of those who immigrated to NYC. We did the 3A tour.

Hands down my favorite museum I’ve ever been to. The story telling that happens here offers a better understanding of day to day life than I’ve ever received at another museum. A great glimpse into the past, definitely recommend the Levine’s. The scheniders was cool but we preferred the levines for seeing a more ruinous area.

I booked tickets in advance for the Under One Roof tour. There are clean restrooms and lockers to leave your shopping bags or whatever in the basement (locker requires a quarter, you get it back when you return the key). The museum gift shop is full of really unique and fun items featuring not only the museum, but many NYC highlights. The tour does require that you take stairs, as the apartments you tour predate ADA legislation. Our guide showed us signs of change in decor and architecture in the building, reflecting the depth history present. In the two apartments we toured, we listened to recorded audio interviews with family members as they described some of the artifacts in the room and their related memories from living there. It was a great experience to highlight the challenges faced by immigrants of the time and how their work contributed to the community. I’d love to come back for one of the other tours!

This is an amazing resource for anyone interested in the history of immigration and NYC. The tour takes you thru an actual Tenement building which has not been modified since the 1930s and shows what life was like in the early 1900s. There are a variety of tours that focus on different immigrant groups and time periods. Well worth a visit and good for school aged kids to see as well. Lots of walking up and down narrow stairs and standing so not handicap accessible unfortunately.