Church Avenue
Church Avenue is a Brighton Line Express Stop. It has two island platforms for the four-tracked line. It is located in the portion of the line that is inside an open-cut, with lots of portions that enter tunnels and feel like your in a 'subway'. About half of the platforms feels like there underground on each end of the station, with the middle having some natural light, albeit only over the express tracks, the local tracks, along with the platforms are completely covered, dug into the earth at the sides of the open cut. The station got a fairly unusual renovation in the 1980s, and the roofs of both platforms are metal. It looks like its been added in strips, this metal curves down towards the center of each platform, where there is a vertical section that provides lighting, and has some illuminated oldfont signs. From this, and down the center of each platform is a line of round cream-colored columns. Along the edges, at the top, of each platform is a hanging area that is lined by now bare florescent lights, These now mostly bare florescent bulbus was originally built to provide illuminated station name signs, and service signs, although the MTA has removed all of this non-standard signage because it found it way too hard to change. In 2004 a few faded signs about M train service, which was eliminated via the Brighton Line from 1973 until 1986 were slightly visible as turned off platform service signs. An exception to this are a few Station name signs that are still illuminated although most sings are the standard metal ones that are now affixed to this lighting area above each platform.
The station has two exits, each in their own station house at the extreme ends of each platform. Each is accessed by a single staircase through a short passageway from the ends of each platform. The fully staffed station house is at the extreme southern end of the platforms and a single staircase leads up to a 1980s 'modern' looking station house that whose interior was completely changed then. It includes amenities like metal sheeting on the ceiling, and modern doors into the station that have a red entrance awning. It has grey tiles on the non-doored portion that fits right into the low-lying stores along the northern side of Church Avenue at the western side of its corner with East 18th Street.
The other station house is still staffed at all times expect between 10pm and 7am, (in 2011 this token booth was closed and removed, with the turnstiles left unstaffed) it has mostly a bank of turnstiles with a Single High Entrance/Exit Turnstile available when the token booth is closed. It is located at the Southeast corner of Caton Ave & Saint Pauls Place. This station house wasn't changed much during the 1980s renovations and is still fully tiled, with a trimline on its interior. The exterior of it has very few tiles and no awnings, and looks like completely bare concrete without the standard arts and crafts era tiling of the BMT open-cut line station houses. It is accessed from each platform from staircases at their extreme northern ends.
Above the middle of the Coney Island-bound platform is an abandoned Exit House, covered in garafetti, a former, now sealed staircase once led up from the Coney Island-bound platform only to a small brick headhouse at street level with High Exit Only Turnstiles and an exit out to 18th Street, just north of Church Avenue.
Photos 1-22: June 29, 2009; 23-30: September 24, 2013
Station Subway Lines (2000-2004)
