Myrtle Avenue Line station Wyckoff Avenue station on the Myrtle Avenue Line opened on July 20, 1889, with a single island platform and two tracks. The station was located past the curve to the east of the current station. The line was subsequently extended in 1906 to the street level right-of-way to Metropolitan Avenue, and again in the 1910s during the Dual Contracts era onto the present elevated structure. On July 29, 1914, the station was reconfigured to two island platforms to accommodate a new express track to
Broadway – Myrtle Avenue. (The remainder of the line east of this station has always been a two-track configuration.) When the elevated was rebuilt to three tracks, the
BMT Canarsie Line was still planned to be on an elevated line between Montrose Avenue and Broadway Junction. The express track was in anticipation of a potentially different service pattern and the anticipation of a Canarsie Line on Wyckoff Avenue that would have had track connections just east of this station between the two lines.
Canarsie Line station Background The Dual Contracts also called for a subway line initially known as the
14th Street–Eastern District Line, usually shortened to
14th Street–Eastern Line. The line would run beneath 14th Street in Manhattan, from
Sixth Avenue under the East River and through Williamsburg to
Montrose and Bushwick Avenues in Brooklyn.
Booth and Flinn was awarded the contract to construct the line on January 13, 1916.
Clifford Milburn Holland served as the engineer-in-charge during the construction. Due to the city's failure to approve the section of the line between Montrose Avenue and East New York, the 14th Street/Eastern Line was initially isolated from the rest of the system. In 1924, a temporary connection was built from the
Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s
Bushwick Yard that ran via Montrose Avenue and then connected to the 14th Street/Eastern Line under
Bushwick Avenue near the Montrose Avenue station. This was done to allow the delivery of
BMT Standard subway cars. The first of the cars were delivered by this ramp on June 20, 1924. On June 30, 1924, the section between Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and Montrose Avenue in Brooklyn opened.
Construction and opening For the extension of the 14th Street/Eastern Line from Montrose Avenue to East New York, the
New York City Board of Estimate had initially given its consent to an elevated line over the
Evergreen Branch of the LIRR. The Board of Estimate subsequently refused to allow a construction contract for the elevated line, while the BRT did not want to build an underground line. The extension was changed to an underground alignment following opposition from industries on the Evergreen Branch. In July 1924, the
New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) approved a modified route for recommendation to the Board of Estimate. The route would be wholly underground and consist of three tracks. From Montrose Avenue, it would curve east under McKibbin Street, private property, and Harrison Place. Past Varick Avenue, it would turn southeast to
Wyckoff Avenue, underneath which it would run to Eldert Street. This plan was to cost $8 million. In September 1924, the BOT approved the remaining section of the route between Eldert Street and Broadway Junction in East New York. East of Eldert Street, the route would turn south to a ground-level alignment parallel to the LIRR's
Bay Ridge Branch, then run southeast in a tunnel underneath private property to the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Bushwick Avenue, where it would emerge onto a ramp leading to the existing Canarsie elevated. An ornamental viaduct over Bushwick Avenue and Eastern Parkway was removed from the original plans due to opposition from property owners. Three contracts for the construction of the extension were awarded in December at a total cost of $9,531,204. The section from Montrose Avenue to Varick Avenue was awarded to the Underpinning and Foundation Company, while the section from Varick Avenue to Bleecker Street and from Bleecker Street to Halsey Street went to the Oakdale Contracting Company. On July 14, 1928, the line was extended further east beneath Wyckoff Avenue and then south paralleling the Bay Ridge Branch to a new station at
Broadway Junction, above the existing station on the
Broadway Elevated (Jamaica Line). At this time, it was connected to the already-operating elevated line to
Canarsie. The Myrtle Avenue station opened as part of this extension.
Station renovations By 1946, the center track was removed, and the two platforms were joined by a wooden walkway near the station's two staircases, which was later replaced by a concrete connection. Railings were installed where the center track right of way remained exposed. In the 2000s station reconstruction, the double staircases were replaced with a single wide staircase. This staircase, located toward the north end of the station, is the station's only connection to the rest of the complex. Beginning in 2004, the station underwent rehabilitation that included structural steel repairs and significant expansion. The work, completed by Judlau Contracting in May 2008, cost $51 million. From 2000 to 2008, Dattner Architects had a joint venture with
Parsons Brinckerhoff to build the station's new
station building. On April 19, 2007, the newly expanded main station building at the triangle of Myrtle, Gates and Wyckoff Avenues was formally opened. Improvements to the complex included lighting upgrades, stairway reconfigurations, new interior finishes, and a new communication system. In the fall of 2007, the station became
ADA-accessible as three new elevators were put into service. A glass-enclosed rotunda adorns the front of the building. In 2016, the block of Wyckoff Avenue in front of the station house, between Myrtle Avenue/Palmetto Street and Gates Avenue, was closed to vehicular traffic and converted to a pedestrian plaza. ==Station layout==