The Sniffen Court Historic District is a small close-ended

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 ...

, running perpendicularly southwest from East 36th Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues in the Murray Hill neighborhood of

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 ...

in New York City. The district, one of the smallest in New York City, encompasses the entire

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane ...

, which consists of 10 two-story brick

stables A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

built in 1863-1864 in the early Romanesque Revival style. The

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

designated Sniffen Court as a city historic district on June 21, 1966,

"Sniffen Court Designation Report"
(June 21, 1966) and the district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on November 28, 1973.

Description and history

Sniffen Court may have been named after John Sniffen, a local builder, although ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' could not find evidence of his involvement with the alley. As the need for

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

s lessened, the buildings were converted for other uses. In 1918, two of the stables (#1, also known as 150 East 36th Street, and #3) were bought by the Amateur Comedy Club, which has been in existence since 1884, to be their clubhouse and theatre; they remain that today. In the 1920s, the process of conversion continued, and by 1966 one of the buildings was in use as an architect's office, the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d building at #2 (156 East 36th Street) was the home of a noted architect, while the remainder were small private residences. Two artists associated with the mews were the sculptors

Malvina Hoffman Malvina Cornell Hoffman (June 15, 1885July 10, 1966) was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble. Hoffman created portrait busts of working-class people and ...

and

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (September 17, 1880 – January 1, 1980) was an American sculptor known for her works in bronze. Life She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents divorced when she was in her teens, and she moved to Europe wi ...

, both of whom had studios in the Court. On the rear of the alley are mounted two sculpted plaques of Greek horsemen by Hoffman.

Notable people

Composer Cole Porter once owned a residence at 2 Sniffen Court as well as the townhouse next door at 4 Sniffen Court in order to discreetly put up his boyfriend at the time, all while he was in residence at the Waldorf-Astoria. In the 1930s, author

Pearl Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buc ...

resided in what had been Hoffman's home. Also, legendary comedian Professor Irwin Corey owned a home on Sniffen Court for many years. Since then, the street has played host to model

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...

, Lenny Kravitz and, more recently, British talk show host

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comed ...

In popular culture

*Sniffen Court is used for the cover of the '' Strange Days'' album by

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

, released in 1967.

Gallery

File:Sniffen Court 1 150 East 36th Street.jpg, 1 Sniffen Court is also 150 East 36th Street File:Sniffen Court 1-9 (west).jpg, The buildings on the east side of the mews File:Sniffen Court rear Malvina Hoffman sculptures.jpg, Sculpted plaques by

References

External links

* {{Authority control Carriage houses in the United States Romanesque Revival architecture in New York City Houses completed in 1864 Murray Hill, Manhattan Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Carriage houses on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Historic districts in Manhattan New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York City designated historic districts