If you've ever lived in an older building in New York, you've probably wondered what was behind your walls (a secret room, perhaps!). Or maybe that's just us. Anyway, the Tenement Museum is readying their visitors center, and has just posted up some gorgeous photos of the process. When they renovated their 97 Orchard space, there was more in-depth archeological research done; the selective demolition at 103 Orchard Street includes the basement, ground, and second floors of the building — which dates back to the 1880s. Click through for some hot shots of ceiling timbers! Phantom staircases! Old playing cards! And much, much more.






These photos are way cool. While sealing up a leak in my old LES apt I discovered some crumpled old Chinese newspapers (about 30 yrs old) stuffed into the wall...the previous tenant was sealing up the same leak with them!
/
Great photos. I believe they were taken by Keiko Niwa: http://keikoniwaphotography.com/