Charles Mielatz achieved fame as an etcher of architectural subjects. His interest in the pattern and structure of urban buildings is evident in the metal bridge in Cherry Street, done in 1904. Seven years later, when Mielatz portrayed an early-twentieth-century ice cream salesman in Bowling Green, he gave equal attention to the row of buildings in the distance.

Mielatz was born in Germany but spent most of his career in the United States. During the 1880s, he was active in Newport, Rhode Island. His work is in the collections of The New York Public Library and The Parrish Art Museum.