Van Siclen Avenue is one of the stations on the Pitkin Subway Extension of the Fulton Street Line that opened just after World War II on November 28, 1948. It was a unfished shell during the war that couldn't be finished because of material shortages from the war effort. This meant the station got a very unusual tile job and design for the mezzanine compared to the rest of the IND local stations.
The station's one exit mezzanine is in the extreme center of the station, the conductor stop board is looking at the passageway back from each of the platforms to where the single staircase down from the mezzanine connects to the platform, facing the opposite direction, meaning rides must turn around and walk through this short passageway to get to the platforms.
The mezzanine itself is extremely narrow by IND standards. On it a fence runs down the center allowing there to be a free transfer between directions with the turnstiles in the middle. Opposite the turnstiles is the token booth and four sets of staircases to street level, one near each street corner at Van Siclen Avenue and Pitkin Avenue (some of them have underground passageways that meander a bit to get to their actual exit). A tiny walled off area has been added to the mezzanine with some doors and an Air Conditioner sticking out of added out of to create a small non-public area.
The station walls have larger than normal basic tiles with a cream color. The name tablets have white text on a dark purple background with a lighter purple boarder. The station also has the trim that is standard for an IND station, two full light purple tiles with a half-tile purple boarder. White text and dark purple tile spell out Van Siclen below the station's trim. On the mezzanine are two quite old fashioned looking phone kiosks, in addition to very unusual looking handrails on the platform stairs that look like they could be original from 1948.
Photos 1-16: May 29, 2009;
R32 #3856, the last car of a Manhattan-bound C train that has closed its doors after making its brief stop at Van Siclen Avenue.
Looking down towards the very eastern and back end of the Manhattan-bound platform at Van Siclen Avenue.
Looking down the long and empty Manhattan-bound platform at Van Siclen Avenue.
A Van Siclen Ave name tablet with the arrow pointing towards the station's only exit at Van Siclen Ave below it.
A close up of the Van Siclen tiling beneath the stations purple trim line.
The conductors zebra striped board indicating the train is fully stopped in the station, its right in front of the passageway that leads to the platforms single exit staircase. No reason to add TV monitors for the conductor here, the platform is so straight as an arrow there is no reason for them.
The single staircase up to the mezzanine from the Manhattan-bound platform at Van Siclen Avenue, that arrives at it at a perpendicular angle, notice the platform and tracks are to one side of it.
The handrails on the staircases at Van Siclen Avenue have a very unusual design. This is a close-up. I wonder if this was the original design for them or something added in experimentation years later.
The up the staircase towards the quite small mezzanine level (by IND standards), both staircase side handrails have the very unusual and unique design I've scene nowhere else.
The top of the staircase for Manhattan. One of the passageways leading to a staircase to street level loops around it
A pair of telephones on quite old and old-fashioned looking metal posts, still with an older AT&T/Bell Atlantic/NYNEX logo next to phone, instead of the modern Virizon one in an area within fare control at Shepherd Avenue. Also notice the sign telling people to wait in the waiting area, and the older metal fence that separates the area within fare control with that outside of it at Van Siclen Avenue.
The three turnstiles out of the system and the only way to leave it at Van Siclen Avenue.
The staircase down to the platform for Lefferts Blvd & The Rockaways at Van Siclen Avenue from the mezzanine. It also has the unusual looking handrails.
The narrow mezzanine outside of fare control as passengers get off of an arriving C train, notice the newer and untiled wall, this leads me to believe that a room has been carved out of the mezzanine and is now used for some other purpose at Van Siclen Avenue.
A old painted enamel sign for the East End Baptist Church 1/2 block north from the Van Siclen Avenue Station.
A final view down the long and bare Manhattan-bound platform at Van Siclen Avenue.
Last Updated: March 16, 2023
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