Lost Park Slope - Charles Feltman Residence

Congratulations to reader "LGR" who correctly identified the subject of our recent "Lost Park Slope" feature as the former Charles Feltman mansion, which stood at the southwest corner of 8th Avenue and Carroll Street.

Below is another photograph of the Feltman mansion during demolition, along with the present 130 8th Avenue apartment house that replaced it. In the older photograph, one can also see the side of 140 8th Avenue, an Art Deco apartment building built in 1935-36.

Charles Feltman Residence
Montrose W. Morris, Architect (demolished ~1950)
photo: Brooklyn Public Library

130 8th Avenue - Park Slope Historic District

The Brooklyn Eagle ran the top photograph in 1950, and the apartment house was constructed the same year, according to the Park Slope Historic District's Designation Report. It is likely that nearly all of Park Slope's taller apartment buildings replaced earlier mansions that became "soft" development sites only a few decades after they were built.

The Designation Report continues: "The palatial Romanesque Revival Feltman mansion, designed by Montrose W. Morris, was originally located on this corner. Charles L. Feltman was the inventor of the American "hot-dog-on-a-bun" of Coney Island fame, and Montrose W. Morris was the most popular architect among the wealthy residents on The Slope."

It is unclear when the Feltman residence was constructed. On January 2, 1891, when the Brooklyn Eagle announced the tragic death of Feltman's son, the family's address was given as 422 3rd Street, so the new mansion must not have been finished yet. The mansion somewhat resembles Morris's great Hulbert mansion on Prospect Park West, built between 1889-1892.

It was said that Charles Feltman "sold to the masses and lived with the classes." Such is the kind of palatial residence that hot dogs can buy. Feltman died in 1910 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.