Station: Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (IRT East Side Line)
From nycsubway.org
IRT East Side Line at Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. Photo by: Zach Summer, October 2009.
| IRT East Side Line |
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Woodlawn · Mosholu Parkway · Bedford Park Boulevard · Kingsbridge Road · Fordham Road · 183rd Street · Burnside Avenue · 176th Street · Mt. Eden Avenue · 170th Street · 167th Street · 161st Street-Yankee Stadium · 149th Street-Grand Concourse · 138th Street · 125th Street · 86th Street · 59th Street · Grand Central · 14th Street-Union Square · Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall · Fulton Street · Wall Street · Bowling Green · Borough Hall · Nevins Street · Atlantic Avenue · Franklin Avenue · Utica Avenue |
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Pelham Bay Park · Buhre Avenue · Middletown Road · Westchester Square · Zerega Avenue · Castle Hill Avenue · East 177th Street-Parkchester · St. Lawrence Avenue · Morrison-Soundview Avenues · Elder Avenue · Whitlock Avenue · Hunts Point Avenue · Longwood Avenue · East 149th Street · East 143rd Street · Cypress Avenue · Brook Avenue · 3rd Avenue-138th Street · 125th Street · 116th Street · 110th Street · 103rd Street · 96th Street · 86th Street · 77th Street · 68th Street · 59th Street · 51st Street · Grand Central · 33rd Street · 28th Street · 23rd Street · 18th Street · 14th Street-Union Square · Astor Place · Bleecker Street · Spring Street · Canal Street · Worth Street · Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall · City Hall |
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Overview
Opened: 10/27/1904
Transfer here to: BMT Nassau Street-Jamaica Line
Express station with four tracks and two island platforms in use, two side platforms abandoned. The station has been recently renovated, with new tile (poorly approximating original IRT tile) and ADA-compliant elevator access.
Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station is the southern terminal of the East Side IRT local service, assuming this role from the City Hall Loop station in 1945. South of the station, the downtown local track splits into three tracks. The right-most leads into the City Hall Loop (and thence returns to the uptown side of this station). The other two are layup tracks parallel to the downtown express track. Until the 1960s they merged into the downtown express track north of Fulton Street station but since then they are spurs ending a little ways north of Fulton St. Trains are occasionally stored there.
The Brooklyn Bridge station has a number of abandoned areas as construction and service patterns have required changes to be made to the station. In addition to the two existing island platforms, there are two short local platforms on the outer edges of the station. These local platforms were built to the 5-car length of original IRT local trains presumably to accommodate extra passenger volume. (Similar platforms were built at the express stations at 14th Street and 96th Street.)
These side platforms did not see much use as they were located at express stations that required transfer via the island platforms, and, as the trains were lengthened to their current 10-car length it was impractical to lengthen both these small side platforms and the island platforms. They were closed in 1910 after only six years in operation and walled off along the platform edges.
The side platform on the southbound is now home to some electrical equipment and a backup control tower for the Brooklyn Bridge interlocking. This tower is functional but not normally used, because the Grand Central tower is the primary control point for the whole line. The interlocking board can be seen through a window along the wall along the southbound local trackway. The south end of the downtown side platform is still visible near the dispatcher's booth on the downtown island platform.
There are also some closed portions at the south ends of the existing express platforms. During the station lengthening projects it was easier to lengthen the express platforms to the north. The curves at the south end proved impossible to rework so the station was lengthened northward (allowing Worth St. to be abandoned), and the curved southern ends of the express platforms closed. Gap fillers and original mosaic tiles remain in the closed ends.
Detailed construction plan of the Brooklyn Bridge station as originally built, from the book The New York Subway: Its Construction and Equipment.
Another diagram of the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall loop and station elevations. Click to enlarge.
Present-day diagram of the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall loop and station elevations. Click to enlarge.
Artwork
Cable Crossing, Mark Gibian (1996)
Buildings, Boats, and a Bridge, Students of PS 126 and PS 20
Photo Gallery - Open Areas
 Image 3178 (164k, 1024x674) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 3449 (77k, 600x450) Photo by: Trevor Logan Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 3512 (127k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 12282 (207k, 1024x701) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 17485 (180k, 1024x815) Photo by: Detroit Publishing Co. Collection of: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 34369 (139k, 720x478) Photo by: Peter Ehrlich Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 65615 (144k, 1024x670) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 68407 (78k, 660x500) Photo by: Charles Ali Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 71341 (148k, 1024x677) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 75457 (166k, 1044x788) Photo by: Danny Molina Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 97905 (190k, 1044x702) Photo by: Richard Panse Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 132120 (418k, 655x1024) Photo by: John Dooley Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 132326 (267k, 1024x687) Photo by: Wilfredo Castillo Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 136864 (274k, 1024x687) Photo by: Wilfredo Castillo Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
 Image 138672 (280k, 1024x655) Photo by: John Dooley Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall |
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-150
Photo Gallery - Abandoned Areas
 Image 74 (25k, 422x676) Photo by: Peter Dougherty Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Express Platform) |
 Image 75 (50k, 497x749) Photo by: Peter Dougherty Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Express Platform) |
 Image 76 (63k, 785x533) Photo by: Peter Dougherty Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Express Platform) |
 Image 77 (69k, 785x519) Photo by: Peter Dougherty Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Express Platform) |
 Image 79 (204k, 1044x710) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 80 (67k, 734x491) Photo by: Adam Weiss Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 81 (66k, 734x491) Photo by: Adam Weiss Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 82 (74k, 734x488) Photo by: Adam Weiss Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 84 (261k, 1044x700) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 44165 (226k, 1044x699) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 80898 (118k, 704x1044) Photo by: Filip Matuska Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Express Platform) |
 Image 112354 (170k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Blair Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 112355 (172k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Blair Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 112356 (179k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Blair Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
 Image 112357 (180k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Blair Location: Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall (Closed Side Platform) |
More Images: 1-21