In Forgotten NY’s piece about “monumental” subway stations clad in concrete on street level, I wrote about the Ocean Parkway station serving Q trains…
Ocean Parkway is the only “monumental” built for the Brighton line. though it was originally built as an express station only the tracks serving the local Q train are in service today. The station was completely renovated a few years back, with a refinishing job on the concrete, ornamental lamps placed on the span beside the tracks, and some new terra cotta artwork added. Like the Pelham Parkway “monumental” it spans eight lanes of traffic and two medians.
Sculptor Deborah Masters created the Coney Island Reliefs in cast concrete. The 1260 sq. ft. of relief panels fit within existing recesses in the viaduct. Tinted a terracotta color to harmonize with the sandstone color of the Ocean Parkway viaduct, a massive structure that carries the subway across six lanes of traffic and an Olmstead parkway, the reliefs portray scenes from the history and legends of Coney Island, including Neptune, a mermaid, beach, boardwalk, and amusement park scenes. The designs are based upon photographs, drawings, and interviews by the artist with local residents and visitors to the famed amusement park. On the north and south facing facades, there are six triangular shapes in which Neptune and the Mermaid repeat in paired groupings, as well as large rectangular panels at either end of the viaduct facade that feature scenes of Coney Island. MTA Arts For Transit
I didn’t mention Ocean Parkway’s unusual complement of “cluster” station lamps, with five lamps covered by white globes. I see them as reminiscent of the “Brighter Brooklyn” cluster lamps that pop up in Brooklyn and even Manhattan, notably in Union Square. They were installed during the same renovations in which Coney Island Reliefs were. Unusually they are not on station platforms but on the station exterior.
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4/24/25