Before and after renovation.
T
he short stretch of West Fourth Street between
Avenue of the Americas and Sheridan Square in New
York City defines urban eclecticism: townhouses and
tenements, 150 years of architectural styles, English and
Irish pubs, ethnic restaurants, shops purveying "exotic
novelties," a candy store selling handmade chocolate
truffles and a cubbyhole of a patisserie with temptations
that, as one online reviewer avers, will "deliciously
transport you to the Rue de la Paix."
But the "sweetest" place on this Greenwich Village
block, a delight for the eye rather than the palate, are a
pair of small, two-story, Federal-style brick houses that
look as though they might have been there since the
days when a large part of this neighborhood was the
estate of the third vice-president of the United States—
and one of the most controversial politicians in its history
—Aaron Burr.
HYLAND
