[log in to unmask]"> <<<The three brick houses on Macdougal Street are also pretty worn, but their age works for, not against them.   The Ionic columns at the doorway of 129 - where Eve's patrons once entered - are almost submerged in layers of paint, the outlines of their ridges and details barely breaking the velvety, mottled surface, as if for air. The columns at 131 were, at some point, turned 90 degrees, so that only one side of the Ionic capital is visible.  Each is painted in a pleasingly differing palette:  grey (127), green (129) and cream (131).  No restoration could ever duplicate the wonderfully soft contrasts - perhaps they do need protection - from a  restorer.>>>