Chicago, like many U.S. cities, has a history of building public housing and then tearing it down. Cabrini-Green, a textbook example, was demolished decades ago, along with so many other storied campuses around the country like Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis. The National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) opened its doors last month in Chicago’s near West Side to help tell this multivalent, often times tumultuous story. It’s sited at 919 South Ada Street inside the last remaining vestige of Jane Addams Homes, a New Deal–era campus by Holabird & Root. The institution is the first of its kind. NPHM was founded by public housing residents—its goal is to become “a place to experience stories of hope and personal achievement amid struggle, resistance, and resilience,” NPHM said in a statement. WPA posters at the National Public Housing Museum (Barry Brecheisen) AN first reported on the project in 2016, when the Chicago Housing Authority approved the redevelopment of the site. Landon Bone Baker Architects (LBBA) oversaw the adaptive reuse effort, shepherded by Peter Landon. The campaign took 18 years to complete from start to finish—the most noticeable changes on the exterior are new signage, painted onto the brick facade, and a new entryway. Sunny Fischer cofounded NPHM and now sits on the board. She grew up in the Bronx at a public housing campus. Fischer called NPHM a Site of Conscience, or a space to remember and address past injustices and their ongoing legacies. “As a Site of Conscience, we join museums around the world committed to telling complicated and difficult stories, preserving history, and imagining a more just future,” Fischer said. View Inside the Turovitz Apartment (Barry Brecheisen) Upon entry, visitors can see illustrative WPA advertisements for public housing, bygone relics from a time when the federal government invested in such things. Three historic apartments were reconstructed at a 1:1 to scale to show how different generations of public housing residents lived. Instead of your conventional gift shop, the museum store is co-operatively run by public housing residents. NPHM also has a REC Room, a curated space by DJ Spinderella showcasing the beats and melodies born on public housing campuses. The Doris Conant Demand the Impossible Advocacy Space is meant to encourage discussions about social justice. Art by Amanda Williams, Olalekan Jeyifous, and Alphawood Foundation Sculpture Garden animates the building, together with WPA-era Animal Court sculptures by Edgar Miller. In the REC Room, records are on display in wood shelves. (Percy Ollie Jr. of Ollie Photography) Ephemera on display throughout NPHM speaks to the cultural, social, and economic dimensions of life in public housing. (Barry Brecheisen) Francine Washington grew up in public housing and is now a chairperson of the Central Advisory Committee for the Chicago Housing Authority. “This museum is personal,” Washington added. “It’s the first in the country to tell our stories—not just the bricks and buildings but the people who made public housing, home. We’ve always had a voice. Now we have a place that listens.” NPHM executive director Dr. Lisa Yun Lee said the longterm mission is solidifying housing’s place as a human right, not a commodity. Lee envisions it as an “important civic anchor that brings people together to imagine innovative solutions and envision a more equitable future.”