8 Old Fulton Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 8 Old Fulton Street by Carter Horsley

This very handsome and prominent, 5-story building at 8 Old Fulton Street at Furman Street in the Fulton Ferry Historic District in Brooklyn was erected in 1861 and converted to cooperatives in 1975.

It has 10 apartments.

The building has spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was built about 20 years after the building, and was once known as 8 Cadman Plaza West.

Bottom Line

A very elegant, 19^th Century Italianate building with very large layouts and wondrous vistas of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan!

Description

The ornate Italianate-style building originally was the headquarters of the Brooklyn City Railroad that by 1867 had 12 lines and in later years served as quarters for the Berglas Toilet Seat Company.

According to a September 21, 2017 article by Tanay Warerkar at ny.curbed.com, the Brooklyn City Railroad “provided horse-pulled trolley that ran on rails, and provided a vital connection from different parts of Brooklyn to the Fulton Ferry Terminal.

Its red-brick front façade has granite quoins and window surrounds and a cornice.  There are two fire escapes on one of its side façades that also has a red door on the ground floor.

Amenities

Laundry room and storage

Apartments

Apartment 1W is a triplex unit with an 11-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 35-foot-long living/dining room with an open, 15-foot-long kitchen with a breakfast bar and a spiral staircase to a 17-foot-long recreation room and a 17-foot-long storage room on the lower level.  There is a 24-foot-long loft on the top level.  The unit has exposed brick walls and beamed, 12-foot-high ceilings and some very attractive wooden columns with fancy capitals along lone wall. A September 22, 2017 article by Emily Nonko at 6sqft.com noted that the apartment was owned by Caro Heller, “an accomplished sculptor whose work focused on love, death, and voodoo” who also kept a studio in Brooklyn Heights with skeletons, taxidermy and voodoo altars, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Apartment 5N is a duplex with 2,868 square feet and a 47-foot-long living room with an 18-foot-wide dining area next to an 18-foot-long open kitchen with an angled breakfast bar. In the middle of the living room is an angled staircase to the upper level’s two bedrooms and a home office.  The unit also has a 400-square-foot roof deck.

Apartment 1S is a two-bedroom duplex unit with a 10-foot-long entry foyer leading to a 30-foot-long, double-height living/dining room and a 15-foot-long open kitchen with an island on the lower level.

Apartment 1N is a triplex unit with a 26-foot-long entry foyer that leads past an open kitchen to a 21-foot-long, double-height living room with spiral staircase down to a 20-foot-long recreation room and up to a loft space.

Apartment 2N is a two-bedroom duplex with a 20-foot-long entry foyer that leads past a 17-foot-long open kitchen to a 30-foot-long living/dining room and a 10-foot-wide office.