59th Street station (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)

59th Street is an express station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at 59th Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, it is served by the N and R trains at all times, as well as some W trains during rush hours.
The 59th Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line, which was approved in 1905. Construction on the segment of the line that includes 59th Street started on March 15, 1913, and was completed in 1915. The station opened on June 22, 1915, as the southernmost station of the initial portion of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line. The station's platforms were lengthened in 1926–1927, and again during the 1960s. Elevator access was added in late 2020, in tandem with a station renovation between 2018 and 2020 to make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
History.
Construction.
The 59th Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line, the plan for which was initially adopted on June 1, 1905. The Rapid Transit Commission was succeeded on July 1, 1907, by the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), which approved the plan for the line in late 1907.
As part of negotiations between New York City, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company for the expansion of the city's transit network, the line was leased to a subsidiary of the BRT. The agreement, known as Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts, was signed on March 19, 1913. In 1912, during the Dual System negotiations, the construction of an extension of the Fourth Avenue subway from 43rd Street to 89th Street, just south of the 86th Street station, was recommended. The proposal was approved by the Board of Estimate on February 15, 1912. The PSC directed its chief engineer to create plans on June 14, 1912. The two contracts for the extension, Route 11B, were awarded on September 16, 1912, to the Degnon Construction Company for a combined $3.8 million (equivalent to $ million in ).
Construction on Route 11B1, the section of the extension between 43rd Street and 61st Street, which includes the 59th Street station, began on March 15, 1913. Originally, this section was planned to have two tracks, but after the connection to the Sea Beach Line was added to the plan during the middle of construction, the plan was changed to four tracks. This section was completed in 1915. 59th Street opened on June 22, 1915, as part of an extension of the subway to Coney Island, which included the segment of the Fourth Avenue Line to the north of the station, as well as the entire Sea Beach Line to the south. The station's opening was marked with a competition between two trains heading from Chambers Street station in Manhattan to the Coney Island station, one heading via the West End Line and the other via the Sea Beach Line; the latter got to Coney Island first. Since 59th Street was an express station, the platforms were originally long, allowing eight-car express trains to stop there.
Renovations.
On June 27, 1922, the New York State Transit Commission directed its engineers to prepare plans to lengthen the platforms at 23 stations on the lines of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), the successor to the BRT, to accommodate eight-car trains. As part of the project, 59th Street's platforms would have been lengthened from to . Though the Transit Commission ordered the BMT to lengthen these platforms in September 1923, progress on the extensions did not occur until February 16, 1925, when the New York City Board of Transportation (NYCBOT) directed its engineers to prepare plans to lengthen the platforms at this and eleven other stations along the Fourth Avenue Line. It estimated the project's cost to be $633,000 (). The NYCBOT received bids for the project on February 25, 1926. The contract was awarded to the Corson Construction Company for $345,021 (). The extensions opened on August 1, 1927.
1960s.
In the 1960s, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) started a project to lengthen station platforms on its lines in Southern Brooklyn to to accommodate 10-car trains. On July 14, 1967, the NYCTA awarded a contract to conduct test borings at eleven stations on the Fourth Avenue Line, including 59th Street, to the W. M. Walsh Corporation for $6,585 () in preparation of the construction of platform extensions. The NYCTA issued an invitation for bids on the project to extend the platforms at stations along the Fourth Avenue Line between 45th Street station and Bay Ridge–95th Street, including this station, on May 3, 1968. However, work had already started on the platform extension project in February. The platforms were extended by to the north.
2010s.
Elevator access for this station had been proposed for the late 2010s. However, the installation of elevators was delayed due to a column replacement project above this section of the Fourth Avenue Line. Both the column replacement and the elevator installation required temporary lane closures on Fourth Avenue, a major artery. An elevator contract was supposed to be awarded in November 2016, but was pushed back to July 2018. A $55.2 million contract for the installation of three elevators at the 59th Street station was awarded in late 2018. Substantial completion was expected in July 2020, but the project was delayed and the elevators opened on November 6, 2020.
Station layout.
This station is the southernmost four-track express station on the Fourth Avenue Line with two island platforms. South of the station, there are two diamond crossovers, allowing trains to cross between each pair of local and express tracks. The local tracks continue along Fourth Avenue to Bay Ridge–95th Street while the express tracks turn east and become the BMT Sea Beach Line. The N and R stop here at all times, while some rush-hour W trains stop here in the peak direction.
The station walls have mosaic trim lines on top of the white tiles, and spell 59th Street at intervals. The northern sections of the station are where the platforms were extended in 1970, and they have no mosaic trims or tiles along the wall, instead including an extension of the tunnel benchwall. Two sets of columns run along the entire length of both platforms and are painted yellow. The mosaic trim lines are also present in the mezzanines. At the top of the pairs of staircases to each of the platforms, in the trim lines, there are directional mosaics. Those to the Brooklyn-bound platform say "UP TOWN TRAINS", while those to the Manhattan-bound platform say "DOWN TOWN TRAINS".
Exits.
The street-level entrances are at the southern end of the station, with one entrance along either side of Fourth Avenue between 60th and 61st Streets. This part-time exit is unstaffed and has High Entry-Exit Turnstiles. There are also four exits to Fourth Avenue and 59th Street, with two each to either northern corner, at the north end of the station. Each entrance has its own small mezzanine, and allows for crossovers between platforms.
Provisions for proposed extensions.
Immediately south of the station, there are tunnel stub headings running straight from the local tracks. They run for about and would have been for a line to Staten Island via the Staten Island Tunnel under the Narrows, which was aborted by Mayor Hylan before it was completed. There is a "maintenance of way" shed that was built on the southbound trackway. The northbound trackway is unobstructed, albeit much darker. The northbound trackway ends on a brick wall, with evidence of a void space beyond. South of this station, the bridge over the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch has four trackways, with the outer tracks occupying the two western ones. The tracks of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line are under the western half of Fourth Avenue at this point so that two additional tracks could be laid in the future if traffic warranted it.
The original proposal planned a connection from a point between 65th and 67th Streets, just south of the station, running to Arrietta Street near the Tompkinsville station in Tompkinsville, Staten Island. A later plan called for a connection to St. George, Staten Island, near St. George Terminal. Construction for the latter started in 1923, but the project was canceled in 1925.
Points of interest.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the largest church in Brooklyn, is located one block east on Fifth Avenue between 59th and 60th Streets. The Brooklyn Army Terminal is located two blocks west, along with the NYC Ferry pier there, though there is no free transfer between the subway and the ferry.