Court Street (R) - The SubwayNut

The BMT platform at Court Street are far deeper than the IRT stations in the complex. The station's platform is a single island platform beneath Montague Street, which is also the name of its tunnel into Manhattan, the Montague Street Tubes. The tracks have curved walls since the stations in a deep-boar tunnel. There are lots of yellow-painted I-beam columns along the entire length of both tracks. The track walls are tiled for their entirety with Court St name tablets in the typical dual-contract era style. These name tablets are completely detached from the dark and hard to see trim line that is mostly brown, with a colorful boarder. In the trim line there are figures of the Borough Hall. At the western end of the station (railway north), a very small section of the walls don't have this decorative trim-line, and are tiled white with generic Court Street signs on it.

This platform has two exits, one is towards the eastern (southern) end where a pair of staircases lead up to an escalator bank and a short upper passageway with a gentle ramp up that leads to the 2/3s IRT mezzanine area and the transfer to those lines (4 and 5 trains are via the 2/3 platform), and the station exit right into the plaza on the northside of Borough Hall along with two streetstairs at the SW corner of Montague and Court Streets.

There is a part-time exit towards the western (northern) end of the platform. A staircase leads up from the platform to a small lower mezzanine where there are two elevators and the emergency exit that is open to the public for access to the upper mezzanine that is the shortest elevator of any of the seven stations in the subway system that have exits that are only accessible by elevator. At the other 6 you have to take the elevator, stairs are not an option. As of a 2023 visit, the staircase is no longer open regularly to the public with large Emergency Exit to Street signs replacing the stairs signs, and the doors to it painted a bright red color, with additional Emergency Exit signs.

The upper elevator bank is quite unusual because there is access to doors on both sides of each elevator before fare control is reached. This fare control area had (before turnstiles were left unstaffed starting in 2010) part time turnstiles during daytime hours, a now-removed burgundy Customer Service Booth, and High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles and TVMs for access at other times.

There are two staircases up to Montague Street near the NW corner of Clinton Street alongside St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church, a National Historic Landmark Church built starting in 1844, and opened in 1847. These wrought iron streetstairs are very unusual and contain antique-looking green subway globes that say subway on them. A third streetstair leads out to the SW corner of Montague & Clinton Streets. This streetstair has a similar black wrought iron railing, alongside a historic building, but more standard Green glass globes to indicate it's a subway entrance. This exit requires a going through a bit of a passageway, alongside the elevator landing before a second shorter staircase down to the fare control area next to the High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles.
Photos 1-3: January 15, 2005; 4: April 2, 2006; 5: August 13, 2008; 6-15: July 6, 2009; 16: May 19, 2010; 17: October 8, 2018; 18-23: November 12, 2013; 24-27: September 18, 2014; 28-40: September 24, 2023;

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Looking out along one of the tracks at Court Street, at a name tablet on the track walls, there is also a sign on a platform column saying that special J trains stop at this platform that are replacing 4 train service between Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn.

A close up of the quite hard to see representation of Borough Hall that is in the track walls trim line at Court Street.

A Court St name tablet on one of the track walls.

Looking down the single island platform at Court Street towards a staircase up to the small lower-mezzanine landing that leads up to the escalators and the IRT transfer.

A Court Street column sign.

One of the entrance staircases to Court Street, it is extremely unusual, in front of St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church.

Another unusual entrance staircase to the Clinton Street exit at Court Street.

A close-up of the old-fashioned stained glass subway sign on one of the entrances to Borough Hall, it has booth green and white glass.

Approaching one of the two station staircases alongside St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church to the Court Street Subway Station.

A mosaic sign for the Church of the Holy Trinity in the small upper mezzanine level at the top of the elevators to Clinton Street at Court Street.

A view of the upper-mezzanine area at the top of the upper elevator landing at the Clinton Street entrance to Court Street.

Looking down the narrow island platform at Court Street.

Approaching the northern (western) end of the platform at Court Street, the walls become single white tiles with simple station name signs.

Signs and the staircase up to the lower-landing for the Elevator to Clinton & Montague Streets.

The tiling of the platform walls at Court Street are extremely decorative and colorful, with rainbow colored boarders around the name tablets and trim-lines.

On the 'emergency exit' staircase at the Montague Street entrance, this is the only station where elevators are provided that seem required but the 'emergency' staircase always seems to be unlocked.

The Next Train display turned off with service in both directions, but I believe left over Court Street was the terminus on the weekdays section of the Brooklyn-only R train during the Montague Street tunnel's renovation closure from August 2, 2013 to September 14, 2014

An R Train terminates at Court Street 'Last Stop' during the Montague Street tunnel closure, before another trip back to Bay Ridge

ADA sing for Court Street R Manhattan and Queens that's incorrect, R trains run from here to Bay Ridge only because the Montague Street tunnel is closed

One of two elevators at the lower elevator landing

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