2. Pomander Walk is a private walkway based on a London street

Pomander Walk on the Upper West Side

Pomander Walk on 95th Street is one of the Upper West Side’s hidden gems, carved out mid-block between Broadway and West End Avenue. The private street, accessible only to residents, was first designed in 1921, and it has retained its elusive and exclusive charm exactly 100 years later. Pomander Walk was the brainchild of Thomas Healy, an Irish immigrant and successful restauranteur and hotelier who was one of the first to be indicted under federal Prohibition laws. Landmarked in 1982, Pomander Walk was described as “a prototypically ‘American’ tale combining a pragmatic entrepreneurial spirit with an unabashed romanticism” by a Landmarks Preservation Commission report.

Pomander Walk was named after and inspired by a popular play set on a London street from the Georgian Period. Although Pomander Walk consists of mass-produced housing, many of the details are visually compelling, even if they’re non-functional. The Tudor details are of wood-wrapped steel on the facades, which made the original houses quite cheap ($2,950, or $42,701 today). Facades consist of three different types of stucco in contrast with brick, and roof styles also vary from one house to another. The flower boxes and most of the doors are original to the design.