| I shot this
picture of Pomander Walk through a
thick set of bars; it's one of the most private, guarded streets in
Manhattan. Between W. 94 and W. 95 Sts. near Broadway, it is the only
street in Manhattan named for a stage play. The alley and its row of small
town houses were constructed in 1922 and have pretty much stayed unchanged
since then.
In 1920,
nightclub proprietor Thomas Healy acquired the property and hired the
architectural firm King & Campbell, which designed a row of Tudor
style buildings with various styles of brick, stucco and mock
half-timbering.
"The effect obtained is
as though a portion of the olden times was transported through the heart
of the modern world."--Architecture & Building Magazine,
1922.
Healy meant to
tear down the buildings after a few years and construct a hotel, but this
reminder of an earlier age is still there!
Some Pomander Walk residences
preserve peculiarities from when they were first constructed, like
exterior dumbwaiters. Although all originally were rentals, all apartments
now sell for a quarter mil and up. |