Little Doors on Dennet Place

The blog of George Weber “the news guy,” features a story on the little doors on Dennet Place. The doors are 4-5 feet high, and the reason is unknown.

Historically, we know that homes built back in the 1700′s typically had smaller interior doors, because, people then were shorter. But, these 2-to-4-story homes were built in the late 1800′s. One recent real estate offering showed a four-story townhouse built in 1899 for 1.2 million dollars. But, another web search revealed that in 1860, a family named Sweeney lived on the block. Dennis Sweeney, an immigrant from Ireland, was a longshoreman, like many of the folks who settled in Carroll Gardens at the time. The Irish populated the neighborhood in the 1800′s and were followed in the 1900′s by a large Italian population.

Any ideas?