Lower East Side, Allen Street Between Delancey and Broome

Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

You may remember the plan was to go to the Tenement Museum and take a tour, but the plan fell through.  However, here right on Allen Street is a glimpse of the rear yard reconstruction of the tenement at 97 Orchard Street.  Below is a view of the rear yard.

This building was a great find for the organizers of this museum because it had been boarded up for 50 years.  The landlord couldn't or wouldn't pay for the mandated upgrades to the building, so he evicted the tenants and closed off the upper floors, using only the street level commercial space. 



Mary Sargent © 2010 ………………….…………… ………………….. click to enlarge

It wasn't until 1895 that running water was provided to the building; before that, tenants come to the rear yard to get their water and to use the privies, shown here at the left.  There were four stalls serving the entire building and the patrons of the bar downstairs.