What architectural feature most defines NYC? For me, a brownstone with a stoop is definitely one of them. I remember my first time sitting and chatting on the stoop of a friend’s building in Prospect Heights and feeling like I finally became a bona fide New Yorker.

I always wondered why people wanted to raise their house aboveground. If anything it seemed like the stoop would make construction longer and costlier. There are a couple of theories for why the stoop was popular.

According to one source, back in the day when horses were used as the main means of transportation, their manure would be piled as high as sixty feet and line city streets. When it rained, the manure would flood the crosswalks and seep into people’s basement. The stoop allowed people to raise their parlor floor above this stream of manure water.

A less disgusting theory for the popularity of the stoop was that it afforded a second entrance underneath the main staircase for servants, deliverymen, and tradesmen to enter the house. I really hope this was the reason.