POMANDER WALK: An English Country Village (c) By Polly Guerin

New York City is full of surprises! No need to travel to Europe to get a glimpse of an English country village. Just get off the beaten path and go to the upper west side and stroll down from Broadway to West End Avenue and you will literally stumble upon Pomander Walk located between 94th and 95th streets.. This picturesque charming village conceals eight attached Tudor-style houses hidden behind locked wrought iron gates, so entry is very private. One wonders, however,—who lives here?—and how and who was the builder of the Lilliputian town?
POMANDER WALK INSPIRED Once upon a time, after a run in London, the play "Pomander Walk," a romantic comedy came to Broadway in 191l--and there you are-- that’s how this hidden treasure got its name. Thomas Healy, an Irish immigrant who made his fortune as a restaurant owner and ardent theater lover, purchased the land for the walk in 1920. He commissioned the architects Shiras Campbell and Beverly King to build a residential enclave there, and asked them to replicate the country village of the sets from “Pomander Walk.” The sets were used as inspiration but the architects altered the original design to look more Tudoresque.
WHO LIVES THERE? It is legend that Healy built Pomander Walk to attract actors and Pomander did draw the theatre folk. It is said that Lillian Gish, Humphrey Bogart lived there, but it is more than certain that that flamboyant Rosalind Russell and Paulette Goddard did have digs of their own.. At first the houses were built with two bedroom apartments, but later renters combined the two making the house into a family home trimmed with bright reds, greens and blues, some with shutters, some with window boxes and a miniature garden in front. Pomander Walk was landmarked by the city in 1982.

As high-rise buildings hover over Pomander Walk the Lilliputian houses are miniaturized and made even more intriguing by the sheer charm of the place . Even if you fancy having the opportunity to live there, affording it can be a drawback. In today’s market, a single family house can go in the millions and an apartment pricey as well. For now we can only peer through the gates at a living stage inspired by the sets in a play by the same name.