Pomander Walk is a cooperative apartment complex in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, located on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

between

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and

West End Avenue West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. The complex consists of 27 buildings. Four buildings face West 94th Street, and another seven face West 95th Street, including one with a return facade on West End Avenue. The "Walk" itself, consisting of two rows of eight buildings facing each other across a narrow courtyard, runs through the middle of the block between 94th and 95th, with a locked gate at each end. Each building originally had one apartment on each floor. In recent years, some buildings have been reconfigured to serve as single-family homes. Pomander Walk is different in style and out of scale with the tall buildings that surround it. Author and former resident

Darryl Pinckney Darryl Pinckney (born 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. Early life Pinckney grew up in a middle-class African-American family in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended local public schools. He wa ...

called it "an insertion of incredible whimsy" into the Upper West Side. It is not open to the public and visit is by invitation only.

History

The complex is named for ''

Pomander Walk Pomander Walk is a cooperative apartment complex in Manhattan, New York City, located on the Upper West Side between Broadway and West End Avenue. The complex consists of 27 buildings. Four buildings face West 94th Street, and another seven face ...

'', a romantic comedy by

Louis N. Parker Louis Napoleon Parker (21 October 1852 – 21 September 1944) was an English dramatist, composer and translator. Parker wrote many plays, developing a reputation for historical works. His 1911 play ''Disraeli'' is one of his best known, written a ...

that opened in New York in 1910. The play is set on an imaginary byway near London. The place as built bears a tenuous resemblance to the setting described in the play as "a retired crescent of five very small, old-fashioned houses near

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

, on the river-bank. ... They are exactly alike: miniature copies of Queen Anne mansions". New York City's Pomander Walk is Tudoresque, a style that enjoyed a vogue in America in the years following World War I. The Walk is not a

mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

, though often so-called, having no history as a stables. The buildings may fairly be described as

Storybook Houses Storybook architecture is a style popularized in the 1920s in England and the United States. Houses built in this style may be referred to as storybook houses. Description The storybook style is a nod toward Hollywood design technically cal ...

, an architectural trend of the 1920s in England and the United States. Pomander Walk was built in 1921 by nightclub impresario Thomas J. Healy who planned to build a major hotel on the site. According to city historian

Christopher Gray Christopher Stewart Gray (April 24, 1950 – March 10, 2017) was an American journalist and architectural historian,Schneider, Daniel B (August 27, 2000)"F.Y.I. Hell's Kitchen in the Raw" ''The New York Times''. March 4, 2010. noted for his week ...

, when Healy was unable to get financing for a hotel, he built the houses that stand on the site today, apparently to provide a temporary cash-flow while he waited to raze them and build the hotel. It was designed by the New York architecture firm King and Campbell. Healy died in 1927, however, so Pomander Walk remained. By the 1970s, the complex was rundown and at risk of being demolished. However, it was saved with a City, State, and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

designation in 1982 after tenants banded together to block redevelopment. An earlier application for City Landmark status had been rejected in 1966. In 2009 the owners completed a four-year facade renovation, restoring architectural details that had been lost for decades. In 2008

Landmark West! A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

bestowed their Building Rehabilitation Award on Pomander Walk. Past residents of Pomander Walk include

Nancy Carroll Nancy Carroll (born Ann Veronica Lahiff; November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress. She started her career in Broadway musicals and then became an actress in sound films and was in many films from 1927 to 1938. She was t ...

Ward Morehouse Ward Morehouse (November 24, 1895 – December 7, 1966) was an American theater critic, newspaper columnist, playwright, and author. Life and career Born in Savannah, Georgia, Ward Morehouse first worked as a reporter for ''The Savannah Press ...

Herbert Stothart Herbert Pope Stothart (September 11, 1885February 1, 1949) was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score for '' The Wizard of Oz''. Stothart was widel ...

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career a ...

Michael Sorkin Michael David Sorkin (August 2, 1948 – March 26, 2020) was an American architectural and urban critic, designer, and educator. He was considered to be "one of architecture's most outspoken public intellectuals", a polemical voice in contemporar ...

and

Rosalind Russell Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, comedienne, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary ''Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the H ...

In popular culture

The protagonist of ''This Time Tomorrow'', a 2022 novel by

Emma Straub Emma Straub is an American novelist and bookstore owner. Her novels include ''Modern Lovers'', ''The Vacationers'', ''Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures'' and ''All Adults Here''. She is the author of a short story collection entitled ''Other Peop ...

, grew up living on Pomander Walk.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Historic districts in Manhattan Neighborhoods in Manhattan New York City designated historic districts New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Upper West Side West End Avenue