Summary: With the opening of the Borough Hall subway station on January 9, 1908 Brooklyn and Manhattan were linked not only by a classic 19th century bridge, but by a 20th century engineering marvel. The Borough Hall station was one of four to open as part of the IRT subways contract II construction into Brooklyn. The others were Hoyt Street, Nevins Street, and Atlantic Avenue. Today Borough Hall is a sprawling station, with additional areas that opened in 1919. The original structure comprises the area where the 4 and 5 trains run, and the mezzanine area above those tracks. This original station was designed by the firm Heins amp LaFarge, the architects for the system from 1902 to 1908. Sadly, Heins did not live to see his work open in Brooklyn. He died in 1907.The subway executives and city leaders who built the subway were proud of the Brooklyn extension, seeing it as just the beginning of the subways journey in transforming the borough. This pride can be seen as soon as you enter the station. On the mezzanine level on the north wall of the downtown platform, are two bronze plaques celebrating the extension into Brooklyn. One plaque reads The first Rapid Transit Railroad constructed in the Borough of Brooklyn begun by the Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners in the year 1902 Completed by the Public Service Commission for the first District in the year 1908. The other reads This plaque is erected to commemorate the opening of the first subway uniting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. January 9, 1908. The only other station featuring IRT commemorative plaques was City Hall, the flagship of New Yorks 1904 subway system. Both sets of plaques are bronze, a popular material in the early stations. At Borough Hall, the plaques are incorporated into large mosaic tablets featuring an elaborate floral and swag design. The mosaic tablets provide a preview of the beautiful ceramics in the rest of the original Borough Hall station. The ceramics along with those for the rest of the stations opening between 1904 and 1908 are designed in the BeauxArts style that was popular at the time. The ceramics on the walls of the Brooklynbound platform remain in very good condition. The station name is laid out in white in a flat mosaic tablet surrounded by decorative green tiles, and decorative patterns beyond. A square motif contrasts with curves of swags and rosettes in shades of blue, green, red, and cream. In the interest of saving time and money, this station plaque is similar to those that were designed at Wall, Fulton, and 33rd Street stations in Manhattan on todays 23 line. Directly above the name plaque is a unique piece of faience, or glazed terra cotta. The threedimensional keystone design contains a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, which was a popular symbol of prosperity in the 19th century. Another unique piece of threedimensional faience can be seen in intervals along the top of the station walls. The letters BH are surrounded by a wreath and scrollwork. A thin line of green faience molding in a massproduced egganddart pattern sits at the top of the BH faience, and below this molding and encircling the BH is another thin band of green beadandreel molding. Grueby Faience Company of Boston, Massachusetts, produced these ceramics. They were famous for this particular shade of green. It was used in many of their popular arts and crafts pottery pieces that today are much soughtafter by collectors. Below the ceramics, the base sections of the walls are pink marble. The extensive use of this expensive material speaks to the importance of the Brooklyn station most station walls were made of brick. If you have an observant eye, you might have noticed small square openings in the marble. At one time these contained small brass weephole grilles. These graceful brass pieces allowed moisture to seep out of the walls. While the ceramics illustrate the BeauxArts school of design employed by Heins amp LaFarge, one important feature of the station is out of character with the rest of this style the station benches. The benches you see in the station are reproductions of the originals and reflect the Arts and Crafts style, not BeauxArt. Arts and Crafts was growing in popularity in the US and Europe at the time, and heavily influenced later subway station architecture and design, including the 23 and MR sections of this station. To learn more about these parts of the station, visit our Squire Vickers Borough Hall podcast.
