The Characteristics of a Halloween-Friendly Street

Historic Earle Street in Greenville, S.C., passes the Trick-or-Treat test of a Halloween-friendly neighborhood with welcoming home facades and lots of street space for pedestrians, says Housing Design Matters.

The street features rear garages, houses with large front porches, and spacious sidewalks on both sides of the street that allow trick-or-treaters to come and go with ease.

There is a street in Greenville, South Carolina that has all of the ingredients of what makes a Halloween friendly street. New Urbanists like to describe it as the Trick-or-Treat test. Put simply, a Halloween-friendly street is pedestrian-friendly with large and welcoming front porches. The houses are either alley loaded or feature the houses forward and the garages pushed back. 

In the case of historic Earle Street, the garages are way back – behind the houses with only a ribbon driveway on the side, barely suggesting that there are even garages on the site. Most of the houses were built in the 1910’s and 1920’s – with the notable exception of the Colonel Elias Earle town home. The homes are well cared for today and provide excellent examples of historical revival architecture including Dutch Colonial, Neo-Classical, Georgian Revival, English Country, Tudor, and Craftsman styles.

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