Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building
New York, Kings County, New York
Marker Inscription
Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building 8 Old Fulton Street This handsome red brick building was built in 1860-61 as offices for the Brooklyn Railroad Company, one of New York's first large-scale transit operators. By 1897, the company served 22 million passengers annually, operating twelve lines radiating from the Fulton Ferry Terminal. Designed in the Italianate style, the building's distinctive façades incorporate granite quoins and cast iron piers. The building served as a factory before its conversion to residential use in 1975 by architect David C. Morton. It was later encompassed within the Fulton Ferry Historic District.
Erected by New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation
The Story
Built in 1860–61 beside the Fulton Ferry landing, this red-brick Italianate building housed the offices of one of New York's earliest large-scale transit companies. By the century's end its dozen streetcar lines fanned out from the ferry terminal, carrying tens of millions of riders a year through a booming Brooklyn. After a later life as a factory, the building was converted to residences in the 1970s and folded into the Fulton Ferry Historic District.
Why it matters
It captures the era when ferries and street railways knit Brooklyn to Manhattan, fueling the growth that would make them a single great city.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- South Street Seaport Museum0.5 mi away · 12 Fulton Street
- Museum of American Finance0.8 mi away
- Fraunces Tavern Museum0.9 mi away · 54 Pearl Street, New York, NY
- Hall des Lumières0.9 mi away · 49 Chambers Street, New York, NY
- MĒRCER LABS1.0 mi away · 21 Dey Street
- National Museum of the American Indian1.0 mi away · 1 Bowling Green, New York, NY
Attractions
- Brooklyn Fleanearby
- Brooklyn Bridge0.2 mi away
- Kayak Brooklyn0.3 mi away
- Brooklyn Heights Promenade0.4 mi away
- PIER 170.4 mi away
- Ambrose0.4 mi away
Food & drink
- Maman2.2 mi away
- Bluestone Lane2.2 mi away
- Yaso2.2 mi away · 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
- Sweetgreen2.2 mi away
- Krispy Pizza2.2 mi away · 33 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
- Semicolon Cafe2.2 mi away
Places to stay
- Holiday Inn Express0.7 mi away · 126 Water Street, New York, NY
- Hotel Indigo0.7 mi away · 120 Water Street, New York, NY
- The Wall Street Hotel0.7 mi away · 88 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Hyatt Centric0.7 mi away · 75 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Radisson Hotel New York Wall Street0.8 mi away · 52 William Street, New York, NY
- Wall Street Inn0.8 mi away · 9 South William Street, New York, NY
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Manhattan Plaza
New York, NY
Opened on May 25, 1950, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel runs beneath New York Harbor to link Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn, and at 9,170 feet was celebrated as the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. Built in the era of Robert Moses's sweeping public-works program, it threaded automobile traffic under the harbor rather than over it, preserving the view from Battery Park. This plaza marks its Manhattan portal.
West
New York, NY
The Lighthouse Act of 1790, championed by Alexander Hamilton and signed by George Washington while New York City served as the nation's capital, placed the young country's lighthouses under federal care. Along the New York and New Jersey coasts, generations of these towers guided mariners safely past shoals and into harbor. This panel commemorates that early federal commitment to safe navigation.
Samuel Sloan Monument
Hoboken, NJ
Samuel Sloan (1817–1907) was one of the towering railroad executives of the Gilded Age, long serving as president of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, whose terminal anchored Hoboken's waterfront. Under his leadership the line became a major carrier of anthracite coal and commuters between New Jersey and the industrial Northeast. His monument stands near the great rail-and-ferry gateway his company built.
North River Bridge Company Cornerstone, 1895
Hoboken, NJ
This cornerstone marks an audacious Gilded Age dream: a great bridge across the Hudson—then called the North River—to carry railroads directly into Manhattan. Ground was broken here in Hoboken in June 1895, and the first foundation masonry was laid days later. Though the bridge itself was never completed, the effort captured the era's soaring ambition to conquer the river that separated New Jersey's rail terminals from New York City.