CHAMBERS STREET BMT STATION, City Hall

by Kevin Walsh

I first visited the Chambers Street BMT station, which serves J and Z trains during the week and is the southern terminal for the J train on weekends, for Forgotten New York in 2003. I remember I also used the station on the exhilarating day I appeared on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC radio show, then produced in the NYC Municipal Building, on October 23, 2006 (I was told I had sold 50 ForgottenBooks during their pledge drive that day, and my amazon.com rank temporarily bulleted into the top 500) and just to treat myself, I got a J train out of the Chambers Street station and went straight to Bushwick (where else?) where I got several photos used on a number of webpages.

Chambers Street, like Canal, 14th, 34th and 42nd Streets, has stops on the trunk lines of IRT (1, 2, 3) IND (A, C) and BMT (J, Z) trains. By far, however, the BMT Chambers Street is the most decrepit, not only on its particular line, not only on the old BMT, but most likely in the entire system. It is a dungeonlike space, with destroyed walls, disgusting mold, and wonderful mosaics and terra cotta plaques that were once beautiful, but have slipped into utter decrepitude.

On weekends, this is a line terminal, and sits directly under the NYC Municipal Building — one of the seats of NYC government and services.

 

The BMT Chambers Street station has an adjacent connection to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line (#4, 5, 6) Brooklyn Bridge station. For those interested in seeing the long-shuttered, yet picturesque IRT City Hall Station (seen on this FNY page), you stay on the #6 downtown train as it loops around to the uptown track. I’d estimate that these days, you stand an 8 in 10 chance of not being accosted by train personnel or gendarmes for deigning to sightsee in this fashion.

 

New indicators and old play a part in this corridor connection. Formerly, black decal letters were applied to tile walls to direct passengers to track connections, or simply to tell them were the toilets were (functioning ones in subway stations are now rare). For a few years now, IND trains (except the #7) as well as the BMT L 14th Street Line, have had trip wires located along the tracks that communicate to platform indicators that tell platform idlers how soon their train can be expected.  Along selected IND lines, automated voice announcements are made telling people how many minutes there are until a train rumbles in. Most of the BMT lines are the laggards so far, and have neither.

Other ancient directional signs pointing to the IRT Lex line can be found on platform columns.

 

As the stygian depths to the platform are negotiated, falling plaster is noted on the towering station ceiling.

 

The Chambers Street station consists of two center platforms, a surviving wall platform (on the east side) and a destroyed wall platform on the west side. Uptown trains use the eastern center platform and the western track that used to face the destroyed wall platform: now there is a bare-bones, 1960s-era tile wall with station ID. That downtown wall platform was eliminated when the adjacent IRT Lexington line Brooklyn Bridge station platform was extended.

Note the plethora of tiled columns. The BMT Chambers station sits directly beneath the Municipal Building, and in such an occurrence throughout the system, the iron station columns are generally buttressed with extra concrete that is covered with tilework.

Now to the abandoned eastern platform. When the Chambers Street station opened in March 1913, the side platforms were used for exiting the station exclusively,and the station served as the southern terminal. In 1915, the station also began to serve as the terminal for trains coming off the southern tracks on the Manhattan Bridge. Originally, tracks were supposed to connect with el lines running on the Brooklyn Bridge, but that connection was never made.

In 1931, two extra station were added south of Chambers: Fulton and Broad; and the tunnel was extended to connect with the BMT Montague Tunnel, currently serving R trains. After the M train was routed off the Nassau Street BMT and up 6th Avenue in 2010, that connection has not been used in revenue service. The Broad Street station, as well as the 8th Avenue station on the L train Canarsie Line, was built according to standards then in use on the IND stations, with unicolored wall signs and sanserif type. You can see those elements on the right side of this photo. In the 1990s, both stations got makeovers that made them look like early BMT stations, which is more fitting.

From 1913 to 1917, the station also served as the southern terminal for some Long Island Rail Road trains! The LIRR would use BMT tracks on the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Broadway el on Broadway and Fulton Street, and use a flyover at Chestnut Street (now the site of the west end of Conduit Boulevard) to Long Island Rail Road tracks on Atlantic Avenue, long before they were placed in a tunnel under the avenue in 1940. The LIRR would then use the Rockaway line, still under its control, and cross Jamaica Bay to the Rockaway peninsula. If only there were this kind of service flexibility today!

The station identification signs, along with those on Canal Street and Bowery, are unusual for the BMT in that they employ sanserif lettering on the mosaics. The diamonds, though, are standard items on BMT decor.

 

Because the line was originally going to connect to tracks on the Brooklyn Bridge, large T-shaped terra cotta plaques depicting the bridge were installed on the two exit platforms. The plaques depict the East River looking south, with a steamship on the left and Statue of Liberty on the right. The Brooklyn Bridge’s crosswise cables were not part of the design, whether for a lack of money or because of difficulty depicting them.

Large plaques such as this were done by original subway station designers Heins and LaFarge, but by this time Squire Vickers had assumed the mantle. He executed large terra cotta plaques here, but they were more simplified than the ones done by H&F. On Vickers’ later BMT and IRT stations, he designed smaller mosaic plaques as station identifiers, and with the Machine Age IND, dispensed with them entirely.

 

Among the station’s anachronisms can be considered this 1960s-era analog clock. There are a number of these still kicking around the subway system. Twice per year, they have to be changed by hand for daylight savings or eastern standard time. I can first remember seeing them in the early to  mid 1960s.

Chambers Street, of course, has been equipped with standard white on black directional signs that first became standard, with the Helvetica font, in the 1980s.

The side exit platform at Chambers hasn’t been used since 1931, when the line was extended south, and appears to have been given absolutely no maintenance other than the bare minimum since that time. So, you would almost be able to give the Transit Authority, later the MTA, a pass for not maintaining the side platform at all, since no one uses it (a similar situation exists at Hoyt-Schermerhorn in Brooklyn, where a platform servicing trains that used to arrive from the Court Street Shuttle has been closed down; and a center platform at the IND Columbus Circle station has been converted into a walkway — train doors don’t open onto it.

Puzzling, though, in an era when many stations, especially in Manhattan, have been given the TLC treatment with the restoration of station mosaics on the BMT Broadway and other improvements, is why not a finger has been lifted to at least clean the mold off the tiling at Chambers Street.

 

Doors to nowhere on the eastern platform. These have probably been locked for years and at best, lead to rooms used for storage.

 

A look toward the disused center platform. A train is preparing to cross over to run uptown.

Though mostly home to newer cars these days, J train regulars can still spot the occasional R-32 (corrugated stainless steel exterior) and R-42 (built like the slant-nosed R-40s, but without the slant). The older cars are expected to be retired within a couple of years.

 

A view of the side platform, ID and terra cotta plaques, pretty much unmaintained since 1931.

 

A section of the strip mosaics has worn away here. The MTA is unlikely to spend millions to bring an unused platform up to standard, so there it stands. But why not the rest of the station? It sits at the seat of city government.

Could part of it be that the J spends so little time in Manhattan, and goes to outposts such as Williamsburg (formerly a free-fire zone), Bushwick, East New York, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Jamaica?

 

This tunnel dead-ends north of the Bowery. Tracks here formerly connected to the Manhattan Bridge. Revenue trains on this side can switch over to tracks using the Williamsburg.

More: Joe Brennan’s Abandoned Stations and Pete Dougherty’s Tracks of the NYC Subway at NYC Subways

1/14/15

 

19 comments

douglas January 14, 2015 - 5:15 pm

those are doors to old bathrooms

Reply
chris January 14, 2015 - 8:59 pm

Looks like that station’s gonna get the”deferred maintenance” treatment so beloved by
incompetent city government.

Reply
Lady Feliz January 14, 2015 - 9:05 pm

An absolute, utter disgrace. When I worked night shifts I would take the J train home from the station, and I kept saying to myself “they really don’t give a damn about this station or its riders.” That was almost then years ago, and the station is as disgusting now as it has been for decades. I swore if I had the chance I would move out of NYC, since the MTA and just about every other city/state agency clearly doesn’t give a damn about residents.

I moved three years ago, and except for an occasional visit to FNY, I’ve never looked back, and certainly don’t regret the move.

Good luck guys. Hopefully the station will be rehabbed sometime in the next century. I wouldn’t hold my breath, however.

Reply
NY2AZ January 17, 2015 - 9:29 am

Amen, Lady Feliz. I recently discovered a new way to look back at NYC. HuLu , a video streaming site, has episodes of the “Naked City” TV series. It was filmed on location, 1958-63. Great scripts by Sterling Siliphant. What a great time capsule look at the 20th century. NYC as it once was before hipster trust fund kids & assorted foreign billionaires made it their private playground. Speaking of Sterling Siliphant, his other masterpiece was “Route 66” (2 NYC refugees in a Corvette discovering the rest of America). It too is available on HuLu & offers a similar time capsule experience. Damn, what a great nation we were back then.

Reply
Lady Feliz January 18, 2015 - 11:09 pm

A big fan of both the 1948 movie and 1958-63 television versions of “Naked City.” Unfortunately, we can’t time-travel back to postwar NYC. If we could, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The neglect that started under Mayors Wagner, Lindsay et al continues to this day, except of course where the rich congregate, such as Central Park. Otherwise, the city makes it very clear you’re on your own. Couldn’t take it any more, and am very happy I got out.

Reply
Roy J. Tellason, Sr. July 12, 2021 - 4:32 pm

Hah! I remember mayor wagner. And lindsey. He of the “vest pocket parks”…

I got the chance to get out in the summer of 1977, and as of the betinning of 1978 I took it. Been back for some visits now and then, but there’s no way I would ever go back there to live.

Reply
Jeff B. January 15, 2015 - 12:33 am

I can think of 2 reasons the MTA would leave Chambers St this way 1) Showing City Government just what they think of them, or 2) They want to abandon the station and are letting it deteriorate like they tried to do with the Franklin Shuttle. I’m going to place the blame on the MTA and not the TA for letting the place fall apart – I’ve seen pictures of Chambers St from the late 50’s, early 60’s and the station was clean, bright and well maintained.

Reply
Bill Tweeddale January 15, 2015 - 9:27 pm

The Brooklyn Bridge’s “crosswise cables” are called “diagonal stays”. Washington Roebling added them to the original design to stiffen the decking when he discovered too late that a contractor had supplied inferior wire for the main cables.

Reply
Gary January 17, 2015 - 6:52 pm

I’ve always scratched my head as to why this station has been allowed to deteriorate to its present condition., given its proximity to city governmental buildings.

The 3rd Avenue station on the 6 line sure could use some attention, soon!

Thank goodness the Sea Beach line (N) in Brooklyn is getting an overhaul.

Reply
Nicole January 18, 2015 - 11:10 am

Rumor has it, this station, or at least a major part, is set to undergo a HUGE renovation in the near future. I’m just hoping since the side platforms are unused, they don’t demolish/hide all of the original signage & plaques.

Reply
Ceya January 20, 2015 - 4:55 am

Those doors are still used. They do wipe down the walls every so so often on the old exit side. There was to be two more tracks going east but never made it. Those tracks to nowhere still in use but you will see the old spur to the Manhattan Bridge when the train switch tracks.

I wish they still used the old Jamaica side from Canal (the old walk way from Dtwn to Jamaica) ,Bowery stations.

South bound was to be built under William St but instead were built under Nassau. Brooklyn Bridge was built but no tracks laid, the train was to go from Bridge to westside tracks

Reply
Ceya January 20, 2015 - 5:19 am Reply
Ceya January 20, 2015 - 5:47 am

http://tramway-null.blogspot.com/2014/06/typology-near-municipal-building.html

This is why I think Chambers looks the way it does. Dampness from the old pond.

Reply
Larry January 21, 2015 - 1:15 pm

I first discovered this station in the early 50’s…It was not as run down as it is now, but had a funny odor even back then…….It’s right under the Municipal Building so it cant be tampered with too much………It is a shame that it looks like this now….

Reply
jimmy z February 14, 2015 - 8:47 am

That connection from the southern division to the eastern division was via the Nassau St. loop, as it was called.

Reply
The Magical MTA | It's Shorty Time February 25, 2015 - 1:10 pm

[…] The station is falling apart. It’s embarrassing. It’s a disgrace. If you don’t believe me, click HERE. […]

Reply
john dereszewski July 28, 2015 - 6:56 pm

During Rudy’s administration, there was a horrible proposal to provide Kennedy and LIRR access to lower Manhattan by basically stealing the A and C train lines from the daily commuters. Thankfully, this terrible idea got no where.

However, in re-thinking this, a real alternative proposal seems possible. Specifically, why not link the Flatbush Ave. bound LIRR line not to the A line but to the little used R line. (Currently, only the R goes through the Montague St. tunnel.) After traversing Metrotech and Brooklyn Heights, the line could then branch off to the J train line in Manhattan. It would then stop at (Broad) Wall St., the Fulton St. mega station and then end its route in the thoroughly revamped Chambers Street station, right next to City Hall and the courts. This would not – unlike the crazy A train alternative – negatively impact local commuters but will provide a wonderful entry to lower Manhattan.

What do you think about this not entirely unrealistic pipe dream?

Reply
Tim Dowd August 21, 2015 - 12:58 pm

Given what just happened at Bowery and Canal stations on the J (each of them had half the station closed) wouldn’t that make sense to do with Chambers? I mean I love the old mosaics as much as everyone else, but if there’s only stub ends for the inner tracks then why not put a wall on the edge of the abandoned center platform, make a track connection from that stub end to the main line and close everything east of the new wall to the public? The 1960s wall is in ok shape and all of the really deteriorated stuff would then be out of sight.

Reply
LLGGBBTTQQ January 24, 2024 - 4:25 pm

couldn’t this station be linked up with the new 2av line, and serve as a terminal station?

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.