[6] Due to the station's proximity to the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River, instead of typical cut-and-cover (or open-cut) construction methods, the station site was constructed 70 feet (21 m) below the street (the tunnel is 90 feet (27 m) below the surface at its lowest point) using mining techniques.

The station was built between the eastern ends of the cast-iron river tubes reinforced with cement, leading to its tubular design.

The trains ran through the station without stopping, because the escalators to the street had not been completed due to lack of funding.

[2] The station was located below the sites of the Sands Street terminal for BMT elevated trains, some of which traveled over the Brooklyn Bridge.

[13] The High Street station was the site of an attempted robbery of subway revenue on June 18, 1954, in which the unarmed perpetrator was fatally shot by one of the two armed transit employees collecting fares and already-used transfer slips from token booths.

[23] It is the northernmost Brooklyn station on the line, which then enters the Cranberry Street Tunnel and passes under the East River into Manhattan.

[25] Both trackside walls have a dark lavender trim line with an eggplant border, below which are small tile captions reading "HIGH" in white lettering on a black background.

Thick I-beam columns painted dark indigo run along the platform at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.

The current exit staircases lead to ether side of Adams Street, acting as a pedestrian underpass.