History and architecture
The Battery Park Control House is an entrance and exit for the Bowling Green Station of the Lexington Avenue Interborough Rapid Transit Line. It stands near the original shoreline of Manhattan Island, close to the site of the western bastions of Fort emsterdam, first laid out in 1625-26, and to the site of the first windmill erected in New Netherlands, prior to 1628.
Construction of the station was begun in 1904 and completed in 1905. Designed by the noted architectural firm of Heins & LaFarge, this structure of brick, stony and glass, is an example of the influence of the French Ecole des Beaux Arts. It is one of the last remaining examples of a type of monumental subway entrance which expressed the City’s pride in the great accomplishment of its first subway system. The building is scheduled for restoration and renovation in connection with the enlarged Bowling Green Station currently under construction. A long future life is thus assured for the structure serving the same purpose for which it was originally built.
Each corner of the yellow brick building is marked by limestone quoins, and an elaborate triglyph with guttae and cresting ornament. Smooth lime-stone banding, which encircles the building just below the triglyphs, ties it together horizontally. Below this band, the plain brick walls, on the east and west sides, are pierced by simple high windows. The entire building rests on a dark granite base. The gable ends of the building are decorated with a central bull's-eye with four radiating keystones. A banded wreath follows the curve of the bull's-eye and is crowned by an arched stone coping which descends along the sides of the tables. At the southern end, the bull's-eye is still filled with its original terra-cotta sunburst.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.