The New York herald., 1920-12-05
THE REFORMATIONOF OF
DERELICT
Architect Rescues Old Houses on
Grove Court, Once Pigs Alley,
for MIR. Average Man

try as best they could, but still keeping
IN the general neighborhood OF their
wners. The sight of these animals
areerng up and down the narrow way
or looking out at the gate brought the
place its first name, Pigs Alley"
History Mixed Pigs with Ale.
New York was growing fast the popu-
lation shifted and changed and live stock
gave way to shipping, the little alley be-
coming a settlement Of old time long
shoremen. These were a rough and
bosterous lot, and again conditions gave
the place a name, this time Mixed Ale
Alley" From then on the locality sub
sided into the commonplace. the atmos-
phere grew less turbid and less indl-
vidual until at last, in default OF any
distinctive characteristic, 1t took its
name of Grove Court and Its place as a
dependency of Grove street.
Thus 1t has stood in recent years. a
row Of excellent old houses on the street
hidden beneath dull. dingy paint. behind
them cheerless back yards with high
walls and ramshackle outbuildings. Be-
hind them came the second row Of
houses, the old Pigs Alley. fronted by
its pavement of brick and stone. 1t was
of very moderate cost. sure enough, but
hardly a promising candidate for a
colony whose surroundings were to be
p 'easant and attractive But 1t Is hard
to go too much by appearances, for there
have been very unpromising buildings
of this type in neighborhoods where they
are sold merely for the value of the land
that have been inexpensively trans
formed into houses of considerable ar
chitectural distinction. Even the re-
markable little group of the Minettas
a he
the title of the pest hole of New York.
has been touched by the wave of rec
lamation and will probably show in a
few years astounding changes
With Grove Court developments came
quickly. II was discovered and mostly
sold through the efforts of Vincent c..
Pepe, who has long been an enthusiast
in the preservation of the fine old archi-
lecture of the neghborhood. Many Of
his predictions have been justified ex-
pertinent having proved that II is better
business to retain than to destroy
architectural beauty in a building when
adapting it to modern renting conditions.
Impossible Was Not Undertaken.
Now sthe architectural problem came
up in Grove Court, and plans were made
for its rehabilitation as a desirable liv-
ing site. 1t was decided to restore a
good appearance to the row on Grove
street and to the houses in the court,
opening Up the land between them now
occupied by back yards. as a garden
space. This situation was somewhat
similar to that existing at Turtle Bay,
on East Fifty-second street, where the
interior of a block was made into a COM
munity garden. except that an effect
had to be attained in Grove court on
smaller space, and. on account of the
conditions of the prospective owner and
the materials available, at Infinitely less
expense.
The houses on Grove street were easy.
All they needed was to be allowed to
look like themselves. In this connection
1t is not too much to repeat the obvious
truth, at times grossly disregarded, that
frog cannot successfully look like
COW. nor a good Colonial or Greek revi-
val city, house like an Elizabethan manor
or bungalow on the Wabash. Neither
can what was designed as a simple
scheme Of red brick, relieved by ju-
dicious proportion of white trim be i'm
proved by daubing It up In the lurid
tones dear to the amateur artist. It is
always distressing to see structure