Building of the Day: 1020 Atlantic Avenue

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 1020 Atlantic Avenue, near Grand
Name: Long Island Railroad Substation No. 1
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 1905
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No

Why chosen: In 1905, the LIRR began electrifying its tracks, changing from coal fueled trains to electric. The section of track between the Atlantic Avenue Terminal and Jamaica Station was the first on the line to be electrified, and this substation helped make that possible. What does a substation do? Substations covert high voltage alternating current to lower voltage direct current and control its distribution to the third rail. Transformers lower the voltage from 11,000 VAC to 650 VAC, which is then converted to direct current. The early substations accomplished this with rotary converters motor generators. – AARTS-archives.com, a history of the Long Island Railroad. The only other substation in Brooklyn was located in East New York, near the LIRR station at Broadway Junction. It has been an abandoned ruin for a long time. This unprepossessing building is quite handsome in its utility, and fits in quite well with the surrounding industrial and commercial buildings on Atlantic Ave. The substation housed in this building is still in operation after 105 years. Not bad.