58 Joralemon Street

58 Joralemon Street, in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York, United States, is a Greek Revival structure built in 1847 as a private residence but is now a New York City Subway vent. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company acquired the property in 1908, gutted the interior, and converted the structure to "the world’s only Greek Revival subway ventilator".[1] The ventilator also serves as an emergency exit from the eastern end of the New York City Subway's Joralemon Street Tunnel, which carries the IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4 and ​5 trains) between Bowling Green and Borough Hall, where it becomes the IRT Eastern Parkway Line (2, ​3, ​4, and ​5 trains).[2]

The door to 58 Joralemon

The facade of 58 Joralemon Street.

Through acquisitions, the property passed to the New York City Board of Transportation in 1940 and to the New York City Transit Authority in 1953, its current owner. As of 2010 it was valued at $2.8 million.[3] The exterior facade and black Lexan windows are the result of a 1999 agreement with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to help the facility blend into the neighborhood, which is a city-landmarked historic district.[4]

See also

• 23-24 Leinster Gardens, a similar mock residential building that serves as a screen for a London Underground route

References

1. "A History of Willowtown & the Willowtown Association". Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
2. Hays, Tom; Sherman, Samantha (April 12, 2010). "Subterranean Police Presence Protects Subways From Terror". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Archived from the original on July 1, 2010.
3. Arak, Joey (April 13, 2010). "Brooklyn Heights Townhouse is actually a decoy". curbed.com. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
4. Gill, John Freeman (December 26, 2004). "A Puzzle Tucked Amid the Brownstones". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2012.