QUAINT BUT ALOOF ENCLAVES

Pomander Walk runs from W94th to W95th Street just east of West End Avenue

Manhattan's 71,000 dwellings are mainly tenements, high-rise apartments, and single family units, the latter often broken up into apartments. But occasionally this predictable grid changes, and the oddities produced make for some enjoyable viewing.

Pomander Walk is a double row of storybook Tudor cottages that were built in 1922 and were a re-creation of the stage set for an English play of the same name that was a hit on Broadway in 1910. Not accessible to the riff-raff but viewable through the oddest of wrought-iron fences.

Sniffen Court just off E 36th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues

Sniffen Court an urban enclave of 10 ornate Romanesque Revival carriage houses built in the 1850's and converted to residential use when the horses grew tired of them. The two-storey ex-stable houses flank a paved courtyard decorated with guess what - iron horse heads.

Grove Court is found at 10 Grove Street in Greenwich Village

In a similar cul de sac is found Grove Court, an irregular row of brick-faced working men's cottages, was built in 1854 and was first known as Mixed Ale Alley. The 'great unwashed' can peer at this gem of NYC's architectural and historic heritage and the front gardens, through another impenetrable iron fence.

Washington Mews between 5th Ave and University Place

Here's one that us lesser beings can actually set foot on! Washington Mews - the British term for a row of stables with residences above - consists of a row of nineteenth-century stables on the north side and stucco houses on the south side dating back to 1939. A walk through this courtyard paved with Belgian blocks will give you a sense of being somewhere other than New York City.