Upgrade of 1907 Midwood subway now 21st century
Wooden station house dates to era when forest was cleared
The Avenue H station in Midwood on the Q line — one of the most unusual subway stations in Brooklyn, and a New York City landmark — has now reopened as a fully accessible station, the MTA announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Customers can now access the northbound (Manhattan-bound) platform by using a new ramp that leads to a new turnstile area for access to the platform. A new underpass for an accessible path leading to the previously existing ramp to the southbound platform was also created improving customer flow and station environment.
The wooden station house serving the northbound platform resembles a rural railroad station of yesteryear. It originally wasn’t even a transit station — it was built in 1896 as a real estate office to serve homebuyers for Fiske Terrace, then a newly-built community on what had previously been forest land. When Brooklyn Rapid Transit (now part of the transit system) built the Avenue H station in 1907, it appropriated the building for transit use.