Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue is an elevated station with eight tracks and four island platforms; trains enter from both compass north and south.

The station is located at the corner of Stillwell and Surf Avenues in Coney Island, the site of the former West End Terminal.

[7][9] The nearby Culver Depot, along the Atlantic Ocean waterfront near the site of the present-day West Eighth Street station, served the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway (now the Brighton Line) and Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad (now the Culver Line).

[10] However, the Brighton, Culver, Sea Beach, and West End railroads were acquired by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) by the late 1890s, and the Dual Contracts, signed in 1913, allowed many more subway lines to be built within New York City, which had been incorporated fifteen years prior.

[15] This project entailed rerouting the Brighton and Culver Lines from a ground-level alignment to an elevated structure with eight tracks and four platforms.

[3] Riders at the new station were promised trains that ran every three minutes during rush hours, but this quickly proved not to be true.

This service would operate express (except in evening rush hours) providing a direct route from Franklin Avenue to Coney Island.

Culver elevated trains would operate to either Sands Street or Park Row depending on the time of day.

[27] In 1979, the City Planning Commission proposed something similar, in that Coney Island residents would get a free transfer between the B36/B74 bus routes and the subway station.

The free transfers would allow a $200 million apartment complex nearby, funded by the government, to get more residents to move in, as well as diversify Mark Twain Junior High School and attract a stable middle class.

[28] The experimental free transfer was instituted in November 1980, following three years of continuous advocacy by a Coney Island tenants' group.

According to the New York Daily News, the renovated station would get "a bright, new airy look" as well as one of the system's first installations of continuously welded rail.

[33] The New York Times wrote in 2008: "The old station was a gaping masterpiece of stalactited decrepitude [...] nicely mirroring the seedy ambience of the Coney Island Boardwalk.

"[34] Plans to renovate the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station were brought up again in the late 1980s, after restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding the nearby Steeplechase Park.

Work on the change proceeded on April 1, 1994, and additional workers, including asbestos and lead abatement, were retroactively approved on May 23, 1994.

[32] The Brighton and Culver Lines' platforms, hosting the F and Q services, were closed in September 2002, as was the adjacent West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium station.

[16] One platform at a time remained open during construction so the West End services (the W until February 2004 and the D afterward[47]) could keep serving the station.

[48] During the 2003 season, merchants in Coney Island reported that their business had declined significantly because of the station's partial closure.

[16] Luna Park operator Central Amusement International agreed to lease nine storefronts at the station in 2019, covering 7,000 square feet (650 m2).

[57][58] These stores were supposed to have opened in 2020,[57][58] but all attractions on Coney Island were closed during that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.

[52] As part of the MTA Arts & Design program, an artwork by Robert Wilson, My Coney Island Baby, was installed in 2004.

[74] The station house, called the Portal Building, was designed by di Domenico + Partners[38][67][71][75] and built by Vertex Engineering Services.

[32][38] The three-floor, 34,000-square-foot (3,200 m2) Portal Building,[32][71] located at 1243 Surf Avenue, has a terracotta facade in imitation of the former terminal, including restored BMT signs and logos, and a parapet salvaged from the original station house.

[16][66] The original station house had about 580 terracotta tiles, as well as green medallions with the initials "BMT"; these had been covered with billboards during the late 20th century before being restored in the 2000s.

[32] The roof is glazed with photovoltaic (solar electric) panels, consisting of 2,730 thin-film modules from Schott AG,[80] which cover about 76,000 square feet (7,100 m2).

[83] Due to their location near the beachfront, the station roof's solar panels needed to meet stringent hurricane standards.

[81] At the time of the panels' installation, Con Edison did not generally allow solar systems to be designed to feed energy back into its grid.

[78] Other nearby attractions include the original Nathan's Famous store and the Riegelmann Boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean.

[78][70] The nearby area also has assorted amusement park attractions, such as bumper cars, carousels, and ice skating rinks, especially along Surf Avenue.

[96][97] The former Shore Theater is located on the northwest corner of that intersection, west of the station and north of Nathan's Famous.