Arts for Transit and Urban Design

Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum

Arts for Transit Collaborative

New York City Architectural Artifacts from the Collection of the Brooklyn Museum, 2004

Terra cotta artifacts and glass mosaic on mezzanine and stairway walls

The Brooklyn Museum has long served as a repository for ornamental architectural forms salvaged from significant buildings that were being demolished. Seventy-eight of these artifacts are installed in the Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum subway station, enriching the environment and creating an introduction to the museum above. Among these are plaques, lunettes, keystones, and other decorative elements that represent the city's architectural heritage. The project is a successful example of institutional collaboration. The Brooklyn Museum, working with MTA Arts for Transit and Vel Riberto Consulting, selected the artifacts and donated them to the project. New mosaic designs were added, to frame the objects and to make connections with the architecture of the station.