The Registry Room at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is the space where millions of people once began their lives in America, and also what most visitors remember long after they leave the island.
I think the Ellis Island Immigration Museum was one of the most impressive museum experiences that I’ve had anywhere in the world. It is designed so that visitors can go through the same process that immigrants had to go through back then, and the atmosphere somehow still carries the weight of that past.
A thousand emotions a day
Most visits to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum begin with a ferry ride. Once inside the main building, visitors go through the Baggage Room and into the Registry Room itself, where original wooden benches, inspector podiums, and iron railings remain in place. Many visitors agree that the Registry Room is the most affecting stop of the museum.
More than twelve million people passed beneath this room’s ceiling between 1892 and 1954, making Ellis Island the busiest gateway to the United States in history. The Registry Room could once process up to 5,000 immigrants daily during the peak years.
You really feel how people were both hopeful and scared during the process, since at any point they could be stopped, questioned, or turned away. For many of those who made it through, the room marked the line between an uncertain past in Europe and a new beginning in America.
The Guastavino tile ceiling
Look up in the Registry Room and the room’s most striking feature becomes clear: a vast, vaulted ceiling made of Guastavino tile. The tilework was created by Rafael Guastavino and his son, Spanish immigrants themselves, using a patented system of interlocking terracotta tiles that required no internal steel support.
The same technique appears elsewhere in New York, including Grand Central Terminal, but the version above the Registry Room remains one of the most photographed examples in the city.
Photo ideas at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum
I took this photo from this position because this hall, from this very angle, is the first scene you would see coming to the Registry Room in Ellis Island as an immigrant. I wanted to capture that moment and take that in, seeing the American flags in such a beautiful hall.
However, a third-floor balcony offers a wider view down into the Registry Room, useful for grasping its full scale in a single glance, including more details of the Guastavino tile.
I also found it interesting how the sunlight goes through the doors and windows, which creates interesting patterns and reflections into the interior of the Great Hall, especially if you are into architecture photography or abstract details.
Finally, Ellis Island itself is a privileged point to photograph the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty from a distance, so don’t miss the chance while you’re there!
