[2] The Laurens Street section of tunnels at Upton–Avenue Market station were constructed in a cut-and-cover operation through deeply weathered residual rock from a parent granitic gneiss material.

Extensive exploration and mapping of the subsurface conditions was conducted prior to excavation and construction in order to obtain a detailed understanding of the heterogeneous mixture of soft and hard residual material at the site.

Classification of the residual materials informed the tunnel design, which was supported by liner plates, steel ribs, posts, wall plates, and invert struts; the final lining was made from reinforced, cast in-place concrete.

[3] The MTA commissioned artist Romare Bearden $114,000 to create "Baltimore Uproar", a 14' x 46' Venetian glass mosaic in the station's mezzanine.

[4] Constructed in Italy before being shipped to the US, the mosaic features Baltimore-native Billie Holiday and six jazz instrumentalists.