In the 19th century, when the preferred method of transportation was the horse-drawn carriage, the city was full of mews—rows of stables, often with accompanying carriage houses. The mews also frequently had living quarters for servants built above them, and were constructed around a paved courtyard. When, in the early 20th century, automobiles began to replace carriages, the mews were demolished, put to commercial use, or converted into residences. Today, few of them remain, but the ones that do—most of which are protected landmarks—exist as little pockets of seclusion in a loud, bustling city, and, as such, are prime real estate. And, since they’ve all been around for over 150 years, many of them largely unchanged compared to the surrounding areas, they contain quite of bit of history. We put all of the remaining mews we could find into a handy map.
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York TimesA model of the faux-vintage electric car that horse advocates say could replace carriage horses in New York, with Ed Sayres, left, and Steve Nislick of NY-Class, the group that sponsors the cars.
