THERE’S a lot going on in this photo I cribbed from Al Ponte’s Time Machine on Facebook of the west side of 4th Avenue between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue in 1928. First of all, there’s the entrance to the BMT 4th Avenue Line Pacific Street station, which since 2012 has been dubbed the Barclays Center station. Here, one can transfer to the Brighton BMT running through Flatbush to Coney or into the Bronx, or perhaps the IRT, running to Flatbush, East New York, midtown Manhattan and the Bronx. The Long Island Rail Road will take you to the east end of Long Island from here, too.
Most importantly, in 1928, most of the 4th Avenue Line BMT stations were actually located in the center median of 4th Avenue. At some time in the past, they were moved to the sides of the street and the median narrowed to add traffic lanes (probably at the behest of Traffic Czar Robert Moses).
When the 4th Avenue Line was built from 1915 to 1916, the Sea Beach line, originally a steam train coming north from Coney Island, eventually used the express tracks in today’s configuration. Today, though, I want to talk about its exquisite wrought-iron entrances, with ornamental touches like lantern-style lampposts (it’s likely they used the green glass BMT stations originally employed), as well as signage like this:
I have no idea how long these large signs on the entrances lasted past 1928. In the second decade of the line’s existence, the quick travel times into Manhattan and Queens were still a revelation. You can also get a close up look at the entrance lanterns in this picture.
In the ensuing decades, these elaborate entrances were replaced with more mundane entrances, with the exception of the southbound 77th Street entrance/exit. But even there, the lamps and signs were removed long ago.
On the left side of the picture we see the erstwhile Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. The church, still advertised by this mosaic that can be seen just down the entrance steps, was razed in late 2015-early 2016. It did not have protection by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, even though the Gothic-style Church of the Redeemer was built in 1866 and was designed by pre-eminent ecclesiastic architect Patrick Keely, who generally worked on Catholic church commissions. Maintenance had been deferred over the years and the church, which served a West Indian and Caribbean congregation, had incurred $4m worth of repairs — prompting the Long Island Episcopal Diocese to close it.
The church was later replaced by this Thing on the corner of 4th and Pacific. Surprisingly, the other two buildings in the 1928 photo are still there, though stripped of most of their external brickabrack. Note the signs for the dentist office: “Teeth carefully extracted by modern methods.” In 1928, commercial radio had only been around for about 8 years and was still a novelty. In ’28, “To Let” was still preferred over “For Rent.”
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1/20/22