National Public Housing Museum at Open House Chicago

The National Public Housing Museum is located in the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes, a development of linked three-story brick buildings that opened in 1938 as one of the first sites of public housing in Chicago. It exists today because public housing residents organized to save the building from demolition and create a museum to preserve their collective memories and the histories of public housing nationwide. This historic site has been reimagined through an adaptive reuse project into a vibrant new civic and cultural destination on Chicago’s near West Side. The museum mixes the historical with the contemporary, offering recreated domestic spaces, artifacts salvaged from the building, WPA-era sculptures by Edgar Miller, an interactive music room filled with records from musicians who grew up and lived in public housing, and evocative art installations and exhibits. Visitors can enjoy a self-guided visit of all of the museum’s exhibits and installations. Museum highlights include architectural artifacts salvaged from the Jane Addams Homes, oral history listening stations where former residents share memories of Edgar Miller’s Animal Court sculptures, and a chance to browse and play our collection of records from musicians who grew up in public housing. Visitors can also get a peek at three recreated apartments. These historic apartments share the stories of different families who lived in the Jane Addams Homes between 1938 and 1975.