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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    Historic Apartments

    Black and white image of a 1940s Jane Addams Homes kitchen. A mother stands at the counter with her two sons.

    Credit: National Public Housing Museum

    Exhibition Tour

    • Historic Wing

    • $25/Adults
      $15/Seniors (65+)
      $10/Youth (18 and under)
      Free for Members and
      children under 5 years.
    • Tickets: Coming Soon

    Historic Apartments: Coming Soon

    Experience the texture and fabric of public housing throughout time by visiting three recreated historic apartments showcasing different families’ experiences at different moments in public housing history between 1938 and 1975. The intimate individual, family and community stories become the lens to understand large national public housing policies and their impact.

    The Historic Apartments can be experienced through a guided tour by one of our educators.

    Turovitz Family Apartment

    In the Turovitz family apartment, meet Meyer and Mollie and their children, Bessie, Jack, and Inez, who were among the first tenants of the Jane Addams Homes when they came to live there in 1938. Discover how the U.S. got its first public housing and about the families who believed in this experiment. Experience a lovingly recreated kosher kitchen and hear the voice of Inez remembering her childhood experiences in public housing.

    Generously made possible by Debra and Harry J. Seigle.

    What Happened Next?

    In this recreated 1950s apartment, learn how redlining, racial covenants, blockbusting and other federal and local housing policies shaped the demographics of cities and of public housing and impacted the lives of families living in the Jane Addams Homes. Created by Manual Cinema with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

    Generously made possible by the Ford Foundation.

    Hatch Family Apartment

    In the Hatch family apartment, meet Reverend Elijah Hatch and Helen Holmes Hatch and their eight children who moved into the Jane Addams Homes in 1960 after a fire in their tenement home. Hear about some of the issues that families, like the Hatches, encountered while living in public housing, including the connection between public housing and the Civil Rights Movement, the continued impacts of environmental racism, and how they fought back. Audio tour in collaboration with Lil Rel Howery and Nate Marshall.

    Generously made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

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    Exhibition Resources

    Additional resources available at the front desk.

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