View the restored apartments of past residents from different time periods.

Hard Times

Discover how immigrants survived economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. Visit the restored homes of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873, and the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression.

Explore the Lower East Side and the American Immigrant Experience.

Storefront Stories

For more than a century, Orchard Street has been the heart ofthe Lower East Side's historic shopping district. Explore this vibrant community of small businesses, and compare the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs in the past and present. Visit the site of the iconic Eckstein's clothing store, where generations of New Yorkers haggled for deals, as well as the neighborhood's present-day boutiques and galleries.

Limited Wheelchair Capacity
Call 1-877-97LESTM in advance for wheelchair tickets.

Visit a costumed interpreter playing a past resident of 97 Orchard Street.

Victoria Confino

Visit the apartment of a Greek Sephardic family and meet a costumed interpreter playing 14-year-old Victoria Confino, who lived in the tenement in 1916. Visitors take on the role of newly arrived immigrants, and ask Victoria questions about adjusting to life on the Lower East Side . Designed for families, this tour allows visitors to handle household objects. 

Made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Recommended for visitors with low vision.