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...that if New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing projects comprised a city unto itself, it would be in the top 20 most populated cities in the United States, larger than the populations of Boston and Washington D.C. The LaGuardia Houses, one of 345 housing projects in New York City, is featured on the Museum's walking tour, Lower East Side Stories. Constructed in 1956, LaGuardia Houses is today home to approximately 2,600 residents. Initially envisioned as a solution to tenement living conditions, many later felt that the "superblock" design of public housing stymied daily human interaction, were not human scale, and created forbidding open spaces. For some of these reasons, public housing projects throughout the U.S. are being torn down en masse. Here in New York City, however, most NYCHA housing remains in use. New York is in the midst of a building boom. Glittering new apartment complexes are sprouting up around the city, transforming the face and character of a number of neighborhoods. Some of the most visible developments are being built in the Tenement Museum's backyard. The Lower East Side will soon be home to Avalon Chrystie Place, a $150 million development that promises to transform East Houston Street. The first of a four-building project, Avalon Chrystie is a block-long complex with 361 apartments that offer hardwood floors, gourmet kitchens, and high-speed Internet access. Avalon Chrsytie will also house a competition-sized swimming pool and Manhattan's largest Whole Foods Market. Yet, Avalon Chrystie is more than luxury living. Twenty percent of these new apartments will be set aside for low income residents and the building will be home to a 40,000 square foot community center. The Avalon Chrystie project has a long and protracted history. In 1969, Robert Moses proposed "renewing" East Houston by building a cluster of high-priced housing complexes. Wary of the proposed displacement of low-income residents, the community, led by the Cooper Square Committee, blocked Moses' plans and has remained actively involved in the development of the area. Should communities be allowed to help shape such large-scale, pricey projects? And should developers be required to set aside apartments for low-income residencies? Tell us what you think! This photo from the Tenement Collections is of Josephine Baldizzi's mother, Rosaria Baldizzi. Josephine remembered Rosaria as a devoted mother and zealous cleaner: "My mother'd be moving around, always cooking, serving, doing things, busy as a bee, never sitting down...they called my mother 'Shine-em-up Sadie.' She loved to shine her pots!" The Lower East Side 1. Selling the Lower East Side A scholarly treatment of gentrification on the Lower East Side from the 1930s to the present. 2. Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars A rich and readable look at the impact of immigration on Italian and East European Jewish mothers and daughters. 3. Bread Givers A vivid account of Jewish immigrant life on the Lower East Side at the turn of the last century. 4. Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the General Slocum Edward O'Donnell's gripping narrative of one of New York's worst but least-known disasters. 5. Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America An academic exploration of why the Lower East Side has become associated with Jewish immigrants in the popular imagination. 6. Jews Without Money (1935) Writer and political activist Michael Gold's semiautobiographical novel about growing up on the Lower East Side. 7. How the Other Half Lives Jacob Riis' classic expose of tenement living conditions on the Lower East Side during the late 19th century. 8. Gateway to the Promised Land A comprehensive social and cultural history of the Lower East Side as an immigrant neighborhood. 9. World of Our Fathers A rich evocation of Jewish immigrant life on New York's Lower East Side from 1880 to 1920. 10. The House on Henry Street Lillian Wald's autobiographical account of how she set up one of the nation's first settlement houses. -- Dave Favaloro, Research Manager "The Tenement Museum does the important work of connecting us all to our origins and reminding us of what our grandparents or great-grandparents (or in my case great-great-grandparents) endured to make a better life for us… it is work well worth supporting.” -- Tom J. | Museum Member Help honor your family’s history by giving a membership to the Museum for this Mother’s day. We'd love to read your thoughts on the Museum and its work. Drop us a line!