The Marine Grill Murals were created for the restaurant of the McAlpin Hotel at 34th Street and Broadway by artist Fred Dana Marsh in 1913, with maritime themes celebrating New York's important seaport. The subject matter ranges from Henry Hudson's ship to Fulton's steamship in NY Harbor. These terra cotta murals were so celebrated that the restaurant was later renamed "Marine Grill" - hence the title of the murals. In 1989, the McAlpin was being converted into a residential cooperative. NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission took possession of the dismantled terra cotta tiles and arranged for their storage. A decade later, MTA Arts & Design was asked by Landmarks if the murals could be incorporated into a New York City Transit subway station. With the help of designers and preservationists, six of the murals and the Marine Grill's famed ironwork entrance gate were installed in the passageway of Fulton Street/Broadway-Nassau station in 2000. 

In 2011, following major station renovations the murals and the iron gate were re-located to the new William Street entrance of Fulton Center, thereby keeping alive an important piece of the City's heritage and an excellent work of terra-cotta craftsmanship. The murals are comparable to the subway system's historic medallions and plaques, many of which were also made by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. Collectively, they provide a rich and visually engaging environment in the transit system. 

Fred Dana Marsh (1872-1961) was an American artist and illustrator. Born to a prosperous Chicago stockyard merchant, Marsh attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, Marsh learned the big brush techniques of mural painting while working as part of a team of artists preparing murals for the Chicago World's Fair. Afterwards, Marsh went to Paris where he married Alice Randall, another Art Institute of Chicago alum. While living in a studio in Montparnasse they started their family. His "Lady in Scarlet", a full-length portrait of his new wife, won the International Bronze Medal and was exhibited extensively. Marsh and his family returned to New York area at the turn of the century, where he continued his career in the arts before attending Yale University and working as the Editor for the Yale Record for a time. He created paintings for wealthy clients, as well as a series of murals entitled "Allegories of Industry" for the New York Engineering Society Library, incorporating maritime themes and subjects as frequently as the opportunity allowed. Marsh largely retired from commercial art in 1928 and relocated to Florida shortly thereafter.