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Manhattan's Secret Streets

While Manhattan's streets were largely laid out with the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, this grid system was only implemented between Houston and 155th Streets. The plan left Greenwich Village with its long-established mews, alleys, and courts, many of which date to the city's early colonial period, intact. While not exclusively in the Village, most of the secret streets on this list are located there among the organically developed 18th-century street plan. While some changes have come to these streetscapes in the last century, in most cases their concealment and a healthy dose of historic preservation work have aided in their continued survival in the 21st century.

ByUrban Archive logoUrban Archive
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MacDougal Alley
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MacDougal Alley

MacDougal Alley is truly a mews, whose buildings once served as the stables for the large homes that lined nearby West 8th Street and Washington Square North.
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Grove Court
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Grove Court

Locked away behind a gate, Grove Court is a residential cul-de-sac of six, brick-faced townhouses originally built in 1853 as 'backhouses,' for poor residents.
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42 Washington Mews
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42 Washington Mews

Like MacDougal Alley, this mews served as stables for larger homes on the nearby large streets. And similar to MacDougal, these quaint structures were later home to artists.
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Great Jones Alley
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Great Jones Alley

The land that encompasses Great Jones Street and Alley was donated to the city in 1789.
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1 Extra Place
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1 Extra Place

Created around 1800 when a large farm was divided between siblings and this area was "extra," this small alley was the quiet location of garages, manufacturing shops, and supposedly during Prohibition a few speakeasies. It was a dirt road until 2009!
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Milligan Place
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Milligan Place

Milligan Place’s four houses were built in 1852 by Aaron Patchin and saved from development in the late 1960s via landmark status.
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Patchin Place
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Patchin Place

Patchin Place is a single dead-end block off of West 10th Street with homes that date to the 1840s. When threatened with demolition in the 1960s, Patchin resident and writer Djuna Barnes said that being forced to move would kill her and that the "destruction of the neighborhood would leave local youths with nowhere to practice their mugging."
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17 Laight Street
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17 Laight Street

The small alley seen at center between the buildings on Laight Street is St. John's Lane. A fashionable residential street in the first half of the 19th century, today large commercial building line the alley, though the paving stone street remains.
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2 York Street
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2 York Street

York Street is an even smaller alley that intersects St. John's Lane, just off of Sixth Avenue. The wood-frame house seen here is no more, and it too is lined with large commercial structures.
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Charles Lane
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Charles Lane

Charles Lane is a narrow street with no sidewalks and unique brick paving. Today the lane is quiet and quaint , lined with brick buildings, some of which were originally stables.
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19 Sylvan Terrace
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19 Sylvan Terrace

Currently the only uptown hidden street on this list, Sylvan Terrace was originally the carriage drive of the Morris-Jumel estate. In 1884 twenty wood-frame townhouses were built, lining the narrow street.
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