Two of Hull-House's Thirteen Buildings Survive as a Free Museum
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull-House in 1889; a university campus later took eleven of its thirteen buildings, and the two that survived are now a free museum you can walk through room by room. Half a mile south, a deli opened by Russian Jewish immigrants in 1942 is still run by the fourth generation of the same family — a separate landmark, the same story of an immigrant institution outlasting its block.
Two stops, 11 to 12 minutes apart
🏛 The Two Buildings the Bulldozers Missed
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull-House in 1889; by the mid-1960s its thirteen buildings had mostly been bulldozed for a new campus, leaving two.
The 1856 Hull mansion is where Addams lived, and it is still furnished as a house: parlors, the second-floor bedroom she kept, and exhibition rooms. Next door, the Residents' Dining Hall — 1907, per the museum — was the settlement's public living room, where residents, neighbors and visiting reformers ate and argued together.
The guided tour is free too, Tuesday and Friday at 2:00 PM, about 45 minutes, limited spots, best reserved online. Admission is free; open Tuesday to Friday 10:00 AM-4:50 PM and Saturday 10:00 AM-3:00 PM, closed Sunday and Monday, and also November 25-28, 2026 and December 20, 2026 through February 26, 2027.
🥪 The Same Story, Told Beside It
Manny's is not part of Hull-House and never was: it opened in 1942 as a separate immigrant family business, and it is still one. Jack and Charlie Raskin, Russian Jewish immigrants, went into business together that year; when Jack later bought a shop called Sunny's he renamed it Manny's for his son, and only two letters on the sign had to change. Four generations of the family have run it since, and it is still a cafeteria: take a tray, and split the corned beef sandwich with someone. Open Tuesday to Saturday 8:00 AM-7:30 PM, Sunday 8:00 AM-3:30 PM, closed Monday.
🚶 Two Immigrant Eras, One Short Walk
From the museum door it is about half a mile south and east, eleven to twelve minutes on foot, flat the whole way along the campus edge. The Blue Line's UIC-Halsted stop is a nine-minute walk from the museum. Pair the free 2:00 PM tour with lunch first: Manny's opens at 8:00 AM, the museum at 10:00 AM.
