General Information

Pomander Walk is a cooperative apartment complex in the borough of Manhattan, located on the Upper West Side between Broadway and West End Avenue. The complex consists of twenty-seven buildings. The area was featured in the 1986 film “Hannah and her Sisters” by Woody Allen.

Additional Information

The complex is named for “Pomander Walk”, a romantic comedy by Louis N. Parker that was played in New York in 1910. The play is set on an imaginary byway near London. The place as built bears a tenuous resemblance to the setting described there.

Hannah and Her Sisters: Highlights

Pomander Walk is where the architect (played by Sam Waterston) takes Dianne Wiest and Carrie Fisher on a building-sighseeing trip, including a walk through the beautiful mock-Tudor area.

Architecture: Highlights

Each building originally had one flat on each floor. In recent years, some buildings have been reconfigured to serve as duplexes and single-family homes. Pomander Walk is startlingly different in style and out of scale with the tall buildings that surround it.

History: Highlights

Pomander Walk was built in 1921 by nightclub impresario Thomas J. Healy who planned to build a major hotel on the site. When Healy was unable to get financing for a hotel, he erected the houses that stand here today, apparently to provide a temporary cash flow while he waited to raze them and build the hotel.