By Gus Saltonstall
A rare opportunity has presented itself to live on one of the Upper West Side’s most unique streets.
There is a two-bedroom apartment for sale on Pomander Walk, which is a co-op community that holds a collection of two-story English-style village houses nestled between West 94th and 95th streets, between Broadway and West End.
The secret street holds 27 homes with just 60 units on either side of a gated courtyard, and was built by Irish immigrant Thomas Healy in 1921. You can’t see the majority of the homes or the courtyard from the adjacent sidewalks and streets.
The home for sale within the community?
A 600-square-foot two-bedroom unit with four total rooms and one bathroom, as first reported by the New York Post. The home also comes with a private outdoor space. It has a current asking price of $749,000 and comes with a $2,000 a month maintenance fee.
“Welcome to one of New York City’s most enchanting hidden gems — Pomander Walk,” reads a listing for the unit. “This rarely available first-floor two-bedroom home offers a perfect blend of historic charm and modern functionality, nestled within a private Tudor-style enclave on the Upper West Side.”
Here’s a quick video tour of the homes along Pomander Walk and the central courtyard.
The name and design of the community were inspired by the play “Pomander Walk,” which opened on Broadway in 1910 and included a tiny street in 18th-century London, according to the UWS preservation group Landmark West!
In 2005, restoration work took place on the facade of the co-op complex that included a $650,000 masonry and stucco restoration, along with a restoration of wooden doors and windows, and the removal of old facade coatings.
More history about the hidden Upper West Side street is available — HERE.
You can also check out the Rag’s piece on Pomandor Walk all the way back in 2011: The English Country Village inside the Upper West Side
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Wow, beautiful. I never knew this street existed.
We lived there in a sublet for a year. It was magical but it has limitations, especially for older folks.
This place has been pretty visible in the last 10/15 years, but unfortunately the inside of these homes will need a drastic renovation if allowed since it’s all landmark inside and out and way overpriced, one of the reasons they don’t show you the insides on video, because it needs such an overhaul.
And $2,000 a month maintenance? OMG way too much for the size and condition. Definitely lots to renovate (Kitchen. Can only imagine the bathroom) And landmarked? Avoid Avoid Avoid unless you can live with not being able to renovate as you desire. So this is not such a desirable property.
Where the heck do you park???
I heard there’s a subway nearby but not sure.
It’s on 96th and Broadway.
The subway is literally one block up on 95th street. Multiple entrances over several blocks on Broadway.
On the street or in a garage, just like anyone else who has a car in NYC.
Place like that I’d want a private garage. Especially with the maintenance fee. Hell, you can rent a place and park on the damned street!
This is standard for NYC
Truly a fantasy!
“This Time Tomorrow” by Emma Straub prominently features Pomander Walk. It’s a fun read for Upper West Siders who lived here in the 1990s.
Years ago I looked at an apartment on Pomander Walk; I was 6’2 at the time, and could not get out of there fast enough. The ceilings are very low.
How tall are you now ?
Humphrey Bogart once lived in one of those apartments.
Yes. I had heard that.
What about affordable housing? The rich and the privileged are playing English country manor in the middle of the UWS while working families can’t afford to stay in this city. Disgusting!
I really hope this is tongue in cheek. If it’s not, then lord help us. Go move to Russia.
First of all, someone who’s buying a $749K property is hardly rich (at least in the context of NYC). Second, those buildings are 100 years old and were here long before the current housing crisis. What do you suggest we do with them? Raze them? And then what? That street is essentially an alleyway behind other buildings; I’d suspect it would not be possible to do any new construction there.
Why not be indignant about something that you can actually do something about?
Well, I for one cannot afford it.
A person who can afford $2,000 a month plus mortgage is not rich, but they are not a regular, working class citizen—as are many in the city, many folks we depend on for the work and services they provide but for which they are frequently underpaid (looking at you health care aides and the like).
The income you need to rent even a studio in Manhattan does not meet what “real” people earn. You are well off if you can afford this type of cost.
It’s adorable!
It is actually relatively affordable for UWS??
2 bedrooms in my building going for $8,000/mo
NYC in general, wonderful as it is— and it IS!— at some point becomes “not worth it” if you grew up elsewhere. I’m 72– wistfully leaving this summer— 45 years here— but my freedom became more important— I can live just fine on my social security out west.
My “heart” will always be here!! Enjoy!!
You must be new here. Under articles about real estate, we automatically talk about affordable housing, indignantly scold the rich and privileged investors, admonish the millions of foreign oligarchs who can’t wait to park their billions in that one specific UWS condo under construction, knowingly declare what “we need,” and show all our self-righteous concern for the “workers” (because, apparently, only non-workers pay market rates), etc. etc.
Regardless of how (ir)relevant it might be.
I loved peeking through those gates whenever I was up that way. I’m talking about the 1960s-70s.
We looked at an apartment there years ago.
It would’ve been like living in a dollhouse. Sweet but not at all practical.
exactly, we did the same.
About 15 years ago, when I was shopping for my current place, the was a listing on Pomander Walk for a complete building that had been converted into a single triplex dwelling. It was way out of my budget, but I remember being enchanted with the whole package: the privacy, the charming street, the space, and the idea of owning what’s essentially your own house in Manhattan.
I love to glimpse through the gate on 94th during the holidays when they decorate the common walkway with lights.
You mean a “gated” community? One the UWS? Where are the protests?
Chill Ida
West 94th St./Riverside Drive, it’s a long walk. I’m parking your car. The rooms in inside these old English style houses are very small.
Very rarely you’ll see the insides online.
They need a lot of work and it’s very cold inside. Many have to be brought up to code.
600 square foot 2 br? That’s small for a 1br. I’ll pass.
600 SqFt and a 2K/month common charge…LOL Welcome to NYC.
I used to live across the street from there at the Stanton!
No you didn’t.
Did too!
Pomander Walk is beautiful but the area itself is awful. I live in the building next door and I can not wait to move out of there. It is full of homeless people and drug dealers on the street corners and if I see anymore human excrement on the street, I think I will have a nervous breakdown. I would not pay a dollar to buy there.
Drug dealers on W94th? I live on 92nd and West End and homeless // drugs are never a problem
Yes, 94th is not a great street, particularly between WEA and Riverside.
The interior of this apartment is featured in the listing. The place looks charmless and standard, with one of those awful builder-grade 1980s kitchens.
We took our kid trick or treating in there when we knew someone who lived there. They give out whole entire candy bars, just leave them in bowls out for the taking.
Street views only? I watched the entire thing to get a glimpse of the house for sale.
Deliveries and packages are probably also difficult.