Hull-House Museum

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum at 800 S Halsted Street on the University of Illinois Chicago campus in Chicago, Illinois, preserves the home where Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened a settlement house in 1889. The building was originally a Victorian residence built in 1856 for Charles Hull, and it stood in a neighborhood crowded with immigrants from Italy, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Hull-House offered kindergarten and nursery care, English classes, an art gallery, a gymnasium, a labor museum and a meeting place for neighborhood clubs. It also became a base for research and reform: residents such as Florence Kelley and Alice Hamilton worked on child labor laws, factory inspection, juvenile courts and public health. Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, and Hull-House became a model for the American social work movement. At its peak the settlement occupied a complex of buildings, but most were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the university campus, and only the original Hull residence and the former dining hall remain. They were restored and are operated as a museum by the university. Visitors see period rooms, exhibits of documents and photographs, and spaces that interpret the social reform work and the immigrant neighborhood. The museum's approach is thematic and builds on contemporary issues, with rotating exhibitions that connect Hull-House history to present-day concerns such as immigration, labor and public health. The architecture is typical of an 1850s Italianate-influenced house with later additions, and its restored rooms are carefully maintained. Admission is free with donations suggested, and opening days are limited, typically Tuesday to Friday, so hours should be confirmed on hullhousemuseum.org. A visit usually takes about an hour. The museum is a short walk from the UIC campus and the Maxwell Street area, and it combines well with a walk through the surrounding university grounds.