The Promised City: Immigrants and Tenements

Via NYPL Digital Collections: A model tenement house from 1908. 310 East Houston Street

Whenever the Lower East Side is brought up the topic of tenement houses is one of the first things to come to mind. Clearly they are an important part of the Lower East Side’s past because a good portion of chapter 5 from The Promised City is dedicated to the tenement houses.

One of the biggest reasons why the tenements are such a big part of the Lower East Side is because of their relation to immigrants-- who were also an essential part of the neighborhood’s history. The tenements were mostly packed with the immigrants that moved to the region from Eastern Europe. A large majority of those immigrants were Jews and their faith played a key role in their involvement with the Lower East Side.
What made the tenements so infamous was the amount of space located in them. Multiple families were crammed together in each floor making the already tiny rooms minuscule. In the photo that is embedded above, the size of each room is clearly shown. This type of plan was created after The Tenement House Law was passed in 1901. Living conditions were made slightly more comfortable and decreased the number of hazards present. Regardless, immigrants were packed into their homes like cattle and stacked on top of each other in 6 or 7 story buildings.
The amount of hardship that those immigrants faced is incredible to read and imagine about in the present day. It goes to show how hard people worked for a comfortable life and how much they persevered. The tenements undoubtedly were a huge part immigrant life and that helps us better understand the origin of the Lower East Side.