Fort Greene

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Former Feuchtwanger Stable, now condos
Address: 159 Carlton Avenue
Cross Streets: Willoughby and Myrtle Avenues
Neighborhood: Fort Greene
Year Built: 1888
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architect: Marshall J. Morrill, conversion to residential by Anderson Associates
Other Work by Architect: Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene, also Newsboy’s Home on Poplar Street in Brooklyn Heights, as well as row houses in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed Stuy, Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights
Landmarked: No, but on the National Register of Historic Places (1986)

The story: Even in the 19th century, a Brooklynite with means needed a place to stash the family vehicle. Like today, most people did without their own transportation, and used public transportation, but some, whether for convenience or status, had to have their own wheels. But you can’t leave a 19th century hay burner and rig out on the street, so commercial stables were the obvious solution. The wealthy had their own private stables, but less wealthy people with horses boarded them in places like the Feuchtwanger Stable.

As the residential streets of Fort Greene grew, the service buildings, especially stables, were established on the fringes of the neighborhood, mostly in wooden framed buildings on Fulton Street and Myrtle Avenue, close enough to walk to easily, but far enough away for most, so that the by-products of horse ownership were not smelled all day. But wood framed buildings were fire traps, so that by the end of the 19th century, city regulations and stable owners began to prefer masonry stable buildings. Since the Victorian aesthetic of beauty carried over to even these humble service buildings, the result could often be a building of great beauty, as well as functionality. This one is certainly a beauty. (more…)