Step into this West 12th Street courtyard oasis behind a row of 1840s residences
Shrouded in the 19th century West Village streetscape are backyard gardens, former carriage houses, and residential walkups constructed in the pre-Civil War days when building lot regulations weren’t always enforced.
Usually these private spaces are walled off or locked behind fences. But on a recent walk through the Village, I noticed the wrought iron gate to the courtyard at 291 1/2 West 12th Street was open, beckoning me in.
This slender triangle of a courtyard, formed by the coming together of four buildings dating back to the 1840s, would be a lovely place at any time of the year. But on a late June evening, with the lush gardens and bluestone path illuminated by strings of light, it’s magical.
The cheerful and whimsical space, complete with summary blooms on a wood deck and a red brick wall crawling with ivy, comes almost to a point at two red doors, one at ground level and the other up a small staircase.
Presumably, some lucky New Yorkers live behind these red doors. They appear to be the back doors for two adjacent buildings that have addresses around the corner at 24 and 26 Eighth Avenue.
The rear of a neighboring building on the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 12th Street, No. 22 Eighth Avenue, forms a sliver of the courtyard but with doorway to the inside. The fourth building with the long ivy wall, also with no doorway, is at 291 West 12th Street next door.
It’s the kind of awkward, leftover space too small to build on that’s often found in the Village, with its twisty streets that refuse to conform to any kind of street grid.
Once an actual sparsely populated village miles from the main city, the Village underwent rapid urbanization after yellow-fever outbreaks in the late 18th and early 19th century sent residents fleeing to the countryside.
All four of the buildings that form the courtyard date back to the Village’s growth era in the first half of the 19th century. The walkups at 22 and 24 Eighth Avenue, were constructed by the same builder in 1840, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s report on the Greenwich Village Historic District.
The third building, trapezoid-shaped 26 Eighth Avenue, is the product of another developer. The fourth building, at 291 West 12th Street, was put up by another builder in 1848, states the LPC report.
Presumably the courtyard has existed since the four abutting buildings went up, though it doesn’t seem to be noted in any historical record or archive.
The 1940s photo (fourth image, above) of West 12th Street reveals a slender opening where the courtyard is today, with a gated fence blocking passage. Could it be the same fence there now, unrecognizable without the greenery?
At some point in time after the photo was taken, a creative resident must have a vision—turning the courtyard into a charming oasis that feels far removed from the sidewalk action.
The courtyard has a name: Grenville Court. You won’t find it on any street map. But that makes this tiny space feel like even more of a secret.
[Fourth photo: NYC Department of Records & Information Services]
