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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

    Vignettes from the historic apartments

    Experience public housing history

    Left and bottom right: Photos by Jenny Fontaine/UIC. Top right: Photo by Robert King

    Guided Tour

    • Adults: $25
      Seniors (65+): $15
      Students: $15
      Youth (6–18): $15
      Members: Free
    • Get Tickets

    An immersive visit to the Jane Addams Homes

    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.

    Plan your visit

    The Historic Apartments can only be experienced through a guided tour led by one of our educators. These intimate tours for up to 15 guests are offered daily and last approximately 60 minutes

    Our Historic Apartment tours are also available for K–12 classrooms and private groups of all ages.

    What’s inside

    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    Generously made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

    More exhibitions

    Explore what’s on view
    A person tends a flower garden in front of a brick high-rise apartment building, an image from the exhibit Living in the Shade

    Living in the Shade

    Explore the role of open space—large lawns and tenant gardens, paved paths and play spaces, shady seating areas and public art—in creating more livable, healthy, and thriving communities.

    Read more
    View from above, a white, purple, orange, and blue geometric mural turns a parking lot into a play space

    OOPS & HOOPcycle

    Conceptualized by artist Marisa Morán Jahn and architect Rafi Segal, the mobile art installation HOOPcycle offers a reimagined sports experience that challenges norms and unites communities through play.

    Read more
    Museum visitors look at a midcentury high school letterman sweater

    History Lessons

    History Lessons offers intimate glimpses of life in public housing through everyday objects and personal memories.

    Read more

    Exhibition Resources

    Additional resources available at the front desk.

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