Building of the Day: 605 Park Place

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Park Place Station, Franklin Avenue Shuttle
Address: 605 Park Place
Cross Streets: Franklin and Classon Avenues
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: Original station-1900, rebuilt 1906. This station-1999
Architectural Style: Vaguely Mission style
Architect: Unknown MTA architects; railings and gates by Isha Shabaka
Landmarked: No

The story: The history of our subway system has always fascinated me. I’m certainly not the only one; there are clubs, chat rooms, websites, books, tours and other materials associated with the subways out there. There are thousands of subway and train aficionados all over the world who love the NYC subway. Many of these people have spent years finding out and cataloguing all kinds of trivia and minutia about our train system. Some are so dedicated they can tell you what kind of bolt is holding down the track in front of you, when it was made, who made it, and some of them can probably tell you who drove the bolt into the ground, too. The subway, like Star Trek, has that kind of fan base.

The Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a favorite of subway buffs, and for good reason. First of all it’s old, and predates the entire subway system. The original tracks here were the end of the line for the old Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad, which ran along here in 1878. It enabled passengers on that line to transfer to the LIRR train at Bedford and Atlantic Avenue, and vice versa. At the time, the train ran on the surface between Franklin Avenue and Park Place, and then dipped into an open cut to connect to the rest of the line at Park Place.

By 1905, a ramp had been built up to an elevated Franklin Avenue stop, followed by the rest of the line to Park Place being raised up as well. There were stops at Franklin Avenue, Dean Street, Park Place, Consumer’s Park and Prospect Park. Before 1905, the station at Park Place consisted only of a platform on the outside of the double tracks. When the station was raised above street level on an embankment, platforms were built along the bridge over Park Place, and a station house was built on the south side of Park Place, across the street from where it is now.

Many changes happened along the line since then. The most significant was the horrific Malbone Street Wreck, which happened in 1918, when a speeding train approaching the tunnel at Prospect Park crashed into the walls of the tunnel, killing more than 93 people. It remains the worst subway disaster in the city’s history. Malbone Street became Empire Boulevard in an attempt to help people forget. In 1928, the Consumers Park Station, which opened onto the Consumers Park Brewery and beer garden, also closed after being replaced by the new Botanic Gardens stop, five blocks away.

By 1963, the line was a full time shuttle train. Over the years, ridership declined, and as the city began to make deferred maintenance their official policy, the Shuttle deteriorated big time. By the 1980s, the city started talking about eliminating the shuttle altogether. Fortunately, the communities along its route rallied along with political allies, the MTA changed its mind, and in the 1990s, decided to close the shuttle while they rebuild the entire line.

All of the stations were rebuilt. The Dean Street stop was eliminated, as it was too close to Franklin and Fulton, and awkward, anyway. The wooden Park Place Station was torn down in 1996, the embankments and the tracks were rebuilt and re-laid, and the new station house was placed across the street, on the northern side of Park Place. It opened in 1999.

It was designed to resemble the World War I era stations on the BMT Brighton line, like the Parkside Avenue station in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Park Place has the distinction of being the only line in the entire subway system to have just one track for trains running in both directions, and the only stop along the shuttle line that has no transfers. The platform is only long enough for two subway cars.

The original embankment that the platform and tracks are on is so old and low that Park Place, the street, has to dip underneath the el. There are still stairs that lead from the street to the sidewalk to accommodate the dip. The railing in and around the station is an artwork commissioned by the MTA. It’s called Units of the Free, and was installed in 1999, when the station was re-opened. The artist is Isha Shabaka. GMAP