Voelker Orth Museum

What Voelker Orth Museum does

The Voelker Orth Museum is a private non-profit historic house museum operating a single site at 149-19 38th Avenue in Flushing, Queens. The museum preserves an 1890s home originally purchased by Conrad Voelcker, a German immigrant and newspaper publisher who emigrated in 1881, along with the family's papers, period furnishings, and possessions spanning three generations of middle-class immigrant life through the 1930s. After Elisabetha Orth bequeathed the estate in 1995, a board of trustees formed in 1999 to restore the property, and the museum opened to the public in 2003. The site also includes an award-winning Victorian-style garden with honeybee colonies and a designated bird sanctuary, both open year-round. The property received New York City Landmark status in 2007 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Conrad Voelcker House in 2020.

The institution's core offerings are organized around guided house tours (Sundays and Wednesdays, suggested donation $5), a year-round garden, rotating exhibitions featuring local and documentary photographers, structured school group programs at $125 per class covering history, science, plants, and urban wildlife for PreK-6 audiences, family workshops, public events including Shakespeare in the Garden and seasonal festivals, and venue rental for private events such as weddings, photography shoots, and meetings. Distribution is entirely on-site, supplemented by a Virtual VO program providing online access to collections. The museum operates with a small professional staff of 1-10 employees and a volunteer board of 11 trustees.

The business model is multi-stream and consistent with a small heritage non-profit. Earned revenue includes seven-tier annual memberships ranging from $20 (Student/Senior) to $500 (Corporate), school and group program fees, and private event space rental priced from $350 for two hours plus incremental hours. Individual donations and admission donations form the philanthropic backbone, materially supplemented by public funding from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Queens Borough President, and supporting council members. No technology product, SaaS platform, or commercial licensing arrangement exists; the institution's economic engine is built on-site visitation, education contracts, rental income, and grant-funded cultural programming.

Name

Voelker Orth Museum

Legal name

Voelker Orth Museum

Website

https://vomuseum.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Voelker Orth Museum is a non-profit historic house museum in Flushing, Queens that preserves an 1890s German immigrant family's home, Victorian garden, and bird sanctuary, offering tours, educational programs, exhibitions, and community events for families, school groups, and local visitors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Historic House Museum

NAICS

Historical Sites (71212), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Historic Sites, Heritage Landmarks & Archaeological Sites (THAJACAC), History Museums (THAJADAB)

Keywords

• Historic house museum
• Cultural heritage preservation
• Educational museum programs
• Victorian garden tours
• Venue rental events

Headquarters

HQ city

Flushing

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees ranging from $20-$500 annually, providing discounted admission and gift shop discounts to members.
2. Individual Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individual contributors used to support museum programs, restoration, and operations. Endowment fund partially maintains the property.
3. Space Rental: Rental of Victorian garden and museum spaces for private events including weddings, parties, and photography shoots. Accommodates up to 75 guests in garden with annex.
4. School Group Programs: Onsite educational programs for school groups at $125 per class, covering history, science, plants, and urban wildlife topics for grades PreK-6.
5. Admission Donations: Suggested donation of $5 per person for guided house tours on Sundays and Wednesdays.
6. Group Tours: Group tours by appointment with minimum fee of $40, accommodating up to 15 visitors per guide.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Voelker Orth Museum operates an 1890s landmarked historic house museum, Victorian garden, and bird sanctuary in Flushing, Queens. It provides guided house tours, rotating art and cultural exhibitions, structured school and family educational programs, public events such as Shakespeare in the Garden performances and seasonal festivals, and Victorian-property space rental for private events.

Product overview

The Voelker Orth Museum operates as a single-site cultural institution offering an integrated portfolio of heritage preservation, education, and community engagement services centered on its landmarked 1890s house, Victorian garden, and bird sanctuary in Flushing, Queens. The museum's core offerings include guided and self-guided tours of period rooms, rotating art and cultural exhibitions, structured educational programs for school groups, family activities, public events including Shakespeare performances and seasonal festivals, and venue rental services for private events. The museum generates revenue through membership subscriptions at multiple tiers, space rentals, school group program fees ($125 per class), and individual donations. No digital product platform or SaaS offering exists; the institution operates exclusively as a physical-site cultural organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Museum Tours

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,000 school children participated in educational programs annually
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Councilwoman Sandra UngminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe museum acknowledges support from Councilwoman Sandra Ung representing the district.
• Materials for the ArtsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe museum receives support from Materials for the Arts for program supplies and materials.
• Queens Memory ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Queens Memory Project for the Stories and Snacks: A Festival of Home Cooking event, an immersive celebration of food and cultural memory.
• Hip to Hip TheatrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHip to Hip Theatre Company provides free Shakespeare performances in the garden during summer months, family-friendly productions.
• Literature to LifeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArts and literacy program providing performances and workshops exploring themes of immigration and cultural identity.
• Asian/American Center of Queens CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided translation services for museum materials into Spanish, Chinese, and Korean languages to serve Queens' diverse communities.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Wyckoff House Museum: NYC's oldest building (c. 1652) operating as a house museum in Brooklyn. Functions as a small historic house museum with educational programming, school tours, and community-driven operations - structurally analogous to Voelker Orth.
• Bowne House: Historic house museum located in Flushing, Queens, near Voelker Orth. Operates as a preserved 17th-century house museum with similar immigrant/heritage focus, comparable small non-profit scale, and overlapping visitor pool.
• Dyckman Farmhouse Museum: Historic Dutch Colonial-era farmhouse museum in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood. Comparable small non-profit with school programs, public tours, and cultural heritage programming aimed at a local community.
• King Manor Museum: Historic house museum in Jamaica, Queens, operated by a small non-profit staff, focused on local heritage preservation, school group programs, and community events - directly comparable to Voelker Orth's operating model in scale and offerings.
• Alice Austen House: Historic house museum on Staten Island dedicated to photographer Alice Austen. Small non-profit with similar offerings including tours, exhibitions, educational programs, and event rentals - directly comparable in scale and operational profile.
• Old Stone House: Historic 1699 Dutch farmhouse replica in Brooklyn's Park Slope. Small heritage site offering educational programs, tours, and community events with a similar operational footprint and reliance on public funding.
• Lewis Latimer House Museum: Historic house museum in Flushing, Queens, dedicated to inventor Lewis Latimer. Operates with small staff delivering educational programs, exhibitions, and tours in a New York City Landmark residence.
• Queens Historical Society: Local historical society serving Queens County with preservation initiatives, exhibitions, and educational programming. Directly comparable audience and mission overlap with Voelker Orth's Queens-focused offerings.
• Merchant's House Museum: Preserved 1832 Federal-style rowhouse in Manhattan serving as a museum of domestic life. Operates as a small NYC Landmark with guided tours, educational programs, and event rentals - same operating model in a different borough.

Broad incumbents

• Queens Museum: Larger art and history museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Overlaps with Voelker Orth on Queens cultural programming, educational outreach, and school group visits but at substantially larger scale and with broader public funding.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/vomuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/voelker-orth-museum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Voelker Orth Museum