MuseumCast: The New York Transit Museum Podcast Series show

MuseumCast: The New York Transit Museum Podcast Series

Summary: MuseumCast is the New York Transit Museum's podcast series. The New York City Subway is an undiscovered museum without walls. Each of its 468 stations has a story tell. Enjoy these audio tours of the city's undiscovered, underground gems.Explore further on the MuseumCast guided map, and create your own custom playlist by visiting http://www.transitmuseumeducation.org/museumcast.

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 86th Street IRT Dual Contract Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:22

86th Street IRT Dual Contract Station

 Dyckman Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:13

Despite its name, the subway is not completely below ground. Station entries and exits, control houses containing fare collection equipment, and electric power facilities sit aboveground. And in instances where engineering and cost considerations make underground stations problematic, elevated stations dot the landscape. The original IRT route had 49 stations that opened between 1904 and 1908. Thirtyseven were below ground and 12 like Dyckman Street were elevated.Even among the elevated stations, Dyckman is unique. It was built into a side of a hill, just outside of the Fort George Tunnel, which runs for twomiles deep underground from 158th Street to Hillside Avenue in Manhattan. At its south end, the Dyckman Street station adjoins the tunnel portal. Like the station, this portal was designed by architects Heins amp LaFarge. At its north end, the station is on an elevated viaduct. So from an architectural point of view, Dyckman Street is a transition station, instead of a standard elevated station. It is an excellent example of the way that engineering issues dictated design decisions during subway planning.To enter the station, passengers pass through a control house built under the tracks. Heins amp LaFarge designed the control house in the same BeauxArts style that they used throughout the system. The exterior is clad in concrete a standard material in station construction. But the concrete is patterned to resemble ashlar stone. Ashlar stone is made of large rectangular blocks with sculpted square edges. It is sometimes used as an alternative to brick.During the day, the interior of the control house is filled with light, thanks to the massive windows along its western wall. The east wall once had three windows, but today a contemporary token booth sits in that space. An original green mosaic frieze adorns the walls on the eastern, western, and northern walls of the control house. The south wall also contains ceramics, but these are recent additions. During the 1991 station renovation, MTA Arts for Transit installed a subtle but beautiful piece of art. quotFlightquot by Wopo Holup features groups of birds made out of station wall materials taking flight.

 Prospect Avenue IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:14

The original 1904 subway was, like most things in New York, Manhattancentric, but it did in fact reach into the Bronx. The Prospect Avenue station opened in November 1904, a month after the official subway opening. It was one of twelve elevated stations on the line. As with most elevated stations on the IRT, Prospect Avenue stations most distinctive feature is the control houses used for passenger entry. Here, there are two north and south bound. They are set indirectly across from one another on a busy and confusing cross section of Westchester, Prospect, and Longwood Avenues, and East 160th Street. In their design, architects Heins amp LaFarge were inspired by the existing Manhattan elevated railway stations. The larger structures are more traditionally Victorian than much of the firms subway work, but the platform lighting and details express the BeauxArts style Heins amp LaFarge used in most of their station design.The general size and style of the control houses has not changed in the past century. One of their most distinctive features is their roofs. They are low hanging hipped roofs, with all four roof faces rising to a ridge across the top. As a result, the front slope has a broader face than the narrow side sections. They were built with steel framing and wood siding, and covered in copper. The exterior walls were also covered in copper. Copper has been used as a waterproof roofing material for centuries. Since it is also resistant to corrosion, malleable, and strong under stress, it worked well as a material for the control houses. The copper is painted brick red, and is decorated with a fleurdelis decoration on the bracketed eaves.To enter the control houses, passengers walk through central bays on their street side. These bays project onto the sidewalk, and extend to the control house roof line. There, it is topped with an ornamental fan grill.Inside, the tall spaces are spanned by two steel arches. The spaces that originally served as public bathrooms are utility rooms today.Steel and cast iron stairways lead passengers up to the station platforms. The stair canopies also have gabled roofs. They have typical IRT station ironwork details, including a C scroll pattern that Heins amp LaFarge also used in brass and on castiron interior decoration.On the platforms, the dominant station feature is the windscreen, installed to protect passengers and their belongings from the elements. Original cast iron lampposts have been removed. But the replacements, painted green, are replicas of the originals. The economics of massproduction inherent in cast iron allowed the architects to design highly ornamental BeauxArts details for the lampposts.The graceful lines of this QueenAnne and BeauxArts style control house helped this prominent neighborhood structure blend into the surrounding architecture. When the station opened, this section of the east Bronx was considered an upandcoming upperclass neighborhood. Large, elegant apartment buildings surrounded the station, desirable because now their residents could easily commute across the Harlem River into Manhattan.

 Dyckman Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:13

Despite its name, the subway is not completely below ground. Station entries and exits, control houses containing fare collection equipment, and electric power facilities sit aboveground. And in instances where engineering and cost considerations make underground stations problematic, elevated stations dot the landscape. The original IRT route had 49 stations that opened between 1904 and 1908. Thirtyseven were below ground and 12 like Dyckman Street were elevated.Even among the elevated stations, Dyckman is unique. It was built into a side of a hill, just outside of the Fort George Tunnel, which runs for twomiles deep underground from 158th Street to Hillside Avenue in Manhattan. At its south end, the Dyckman Street station adjoins the tunnel portal. Like the station, this portal was designed by architects Heins amp LaFarge. At its north end, the station is on an elevated viaduct. So from an architectural point of view, Dyckman Street is a transition station, instead of a standard elevated station. It is an excellent example of the way that engineering issues dictated design decisions during subway planning.To enter the station, passengers pass through a control house built under the tracks. Heins amp LaFarge designed the control house in the same BeauxArts style that they used throughout the system. The exterior is clad in concrete a standard material in station construction. But the concrete is patterned to resemble ashlar stone. Ashlar stone is made of large rectangular blocks with sculpted square edges. It is sometimes used as an alternative to brick.During the day, the interior of the control house is filled with light, thanks to the massive windows along its western wall. The east wall once had three windows, but today a contemporary token booth sits in that space. An original green mosaic frieze adorns the walls on the eastern, western, and northern walls of the control house. The south wall also contains ceramics, but these are recent additions. During the 1991 station renovation, MTA Arts for Transit installed a subtle but beautiful piece of art. quotFlightquot by Wopo Holup features groups of birds made out of station wall materials taking flight.

 181st Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:09

Lodged into Manhattan bedrock 121 feet below ground, the 181st Street IRT station in Manhattan is the subways deepest. It is also one of the oldest. 181st Street opened as part of the original subway system. Most of these stations opened in 1904, but a few like 181st Street did not open until 1906. Why the delay 181st Street sits deep in the Fort George Tunnel. The tunnel is the second longest tunnel in North America and its construction was the biggest engineering challenge of subway construction. This unique situation created a station of exceptional scale, with threestory ceilings at its peak.Being in the 181st Street station is a unique subway experience. The station is and feels vast and cavernous. This is not a result of the length of the station it is the same size as other IRT stations. Instead, it is a result of the depth and height of the station, sitting 121 feet below St. Nicholas Avenue. While the ceiling heights at either end of the station are the standard 10 to 12 feet high, the center of the station is a sight to behold. It stands three stories high, and has passenger walkways suspended above the platform. In the midst of this expansive station are highly decorated walls. Along the walls are traditional IRT station name plates. Here, the words 181st Street are written in white mosaic tile on a dark background with a floral and geometric border. These are similar, but not identical to many of the other original IRT mosaic name plates. Brightly colored rosette mosaic flowers sit above the name plates. One important ceramic detail in this station did not exist when it opened in 1906. The George Washington Bridge, whose name is rendered in mosaic tile on the name plates, did not open until 1931. The name does not look like a later addon it looks to be an original part of the name plate. So, its likely that these name tablets are not original to the 1906 station, but were designed in the style of those ceramics, and installed in the 1930s.

 168th Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:12

The New York City subway was a marvel of 20th century engineering. Engineers and workers faced a variety of challenges as they planned and tunneled through Manhattans varied geology. The greatest of these challenges occurred in the construction of the Fort George Tunnel through the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights. The twomile tunnel runs deep underground from 158th Street to Hillside Avenue in Manhattan. Lying deep within this tunnel, eight to ten stories below the street, are the subways deepest stations, 168th and 181st Streets. Owing in part to its depth, 168th Street is one of the most visually stunning stations in the subway system.The 168th Street station opened in 1906, two years after most of the original stations. Thanks to its incredible scale, the station has been called undoubtedly one of the grandest in the system. While its length and width 517 and 47 feet, respectively, today are similar to other early stations, its height most certainly is not. The center section of the station measures 26 feet high, more than twice the height of most other stations. At the highest points of these ceilings massive chandeliers once hung to illuminate the station. The chandeliers have been replaced with huge light fixtures, but the dramatic design anchoring the lighting still remains.This station relied on another critical invention of the era the elevator. Subway engineers met with representatives from the Otis elevator company in 1901, early in the planning stages. Four elevators bring passengers from the mezzanine to the downtown platform. Two crossovers allow passengers to access the uptown platform. The original crossing at the center of the platform incorporates a typical IRT station railing, iron with round finials above the top rail. The second crossing was added later, but was designed in a similar style as the original. Both have original lamp fixtures topped with large white shades.Standing on the main platform, it is difficult to believe that youre in a New York City subway station. Why There are very few columns. Columns are defining elements of most stations, so their scarcity here is noticeable. They can only be seen on the southern end of both platforms. But if you take a look at the walls youll be quickly reminded that you are in one of New Yorks early IRT stations. The ceramics designed by architects Heins amp LaFarge should be a familiar sight to most subway riders.168th Street features eight mosaic name tablets, four on each side of the station. With white letters, a dark green background, and a border featuring floral and geometric motifs, these plaques are similar to those youll see in Manhattans southernmost stations, ten miles away. But look above the name tablet and youll see something unique, a departure from the standard motifs of the name plaque. Here are stunning large mosaic rosettes in pink and brown. The 181st Street station also in the Fort George tunnel is the only other place these appear. So despite the stations outstanding scale, it retains the look of the other Heins amp LaFarge stations.When the platform extensions were added to the southern end of the station in 1909 and 1947, the wall treatments were sympathetic to the original station walls. There are a few differences in color, and some details, such as the large pink and brown flowers, are absent.Despite this wall treatment, the areas with the platform extensions have a very different feel from the rest of the station. Here, the lighting changes dramatically the harsh florescent lights stand in sharp contrast to the soft light of the original station. Columns suddenly appear. These columns are decorated with a variation of the mosaic band that can be seen all the way along the platform. But the most striking feature of the extension area is the ceiling height. Here the ceiling height is the same as in a normal station, as opposed to the dramatic high ceilings of the rest of the station.The need for these platform extensions underscores the subways impact on Washington Heights. When the subway first opened, the area contained several large estates and medical facilities. Soon the neighborhood became a busy residential area. In 1928, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center opened. Today, it helps define the neighborhood.

 145th Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:27

The subway opened to great fanfare in 1904 with its slogan promising New Yorkers could travel from City Hall to Harlem in fifteen minutes While this might have been a slight exaggeration, there is no doubt that the subway had a great impact on Harlem. The last station on the Lenox Avenue line of the original IRT was in Harlem, at 145th Street. The 145th Street Station is one of the few 1904 stations that have not had its platforms extended. They remain 348 feet long. As such, today the station looks much the same way that it did to the first riders. It was a typical local station, with two platforms and two entrances at street level. The station ceramics also look much the same way they did in 1904. They are a fine example of the typical ceramics designed by the architects Heins amp LaFarge for the original IRT stations. Just below the egg and dart molding along the top of the station wall, youll see a number of faience plaques. The plaques have a beige 145 on a blue inset background, with a beige cornucopia and border. The cornucopia was a popular 19th century motif. It was a symbol of New York Citys commercial prosperity. The mass production possibilities of ceramics are evident in the 145th Street station plaque. It has two sections. The station number is an inset and was usable only at 145th Street. But the surrounding cornucopia and border was massproduced and could be used at any station. It can also be seen at the 86th, 137th, and 157th Street stations.The mosaic station name tablet is another ceramic detail that can be seen at many IRT stations. This is standard design, with names spelled out in ceramic tiles inside a rectangle with a flowery BeauxArts border. Except for differences in colors, the name tablets at 33rd, Fulton, and Wall Streets are nearly identical to the one at 145th Street. Surrounding these name tablets, modern ceramic tiles have been used to replace the original glass tiles at the south end of the uptown platform. Today, this is a standard method of station renovation. In addition to ceramics, this station retains some of its original marble details. In the fare collection area on the uptown platform are rooms that once served as public restrooms. Above these doors are marble lintels carved with the words MEN and WOMEN. The words are flanked by rosette details that Heins amp LaFarge used throughout the original stations. The rosette was a popular motif in BeauxArts design. Heins amp LaFarge had it executed in both stone and ceramic. It is also a decoration used on Heins gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Heins died in 1907, in the midst of his firms subway contract. LaFarge continued working on the subway for another year.Interestingly, this station was once slated to be closed. The original IRT plans did not include a station at 145th Street. Instead, it had its final station at 141st Street. When it was decided to build a maintenance yard at 148th Street, the 141st Street station was scrapped, and changed to 145th Street. In 1968, another station was built in the 148th Street yard, and 145th Street with its shorter than standard platforms was set to close. But the community insisted the station stay open, and today, it stands as a symbol of the beauty of stations deigned by Heins amp LaFarge.

 116th Street-Columbia University IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:46

At the turn of the 20th century Columbia University and the IRT subway changed the face of Manhattans Morningside Heights neighborhood. In 1897 Columbia University had moved uptown to its current campus, defining the neighborhood as we know it today. Speculation about subway construction in the area also helped to spur development. By the time the 116th Street station opened in 1904 vacant land in the neighborhood was a scare commodity.The subways chief engineer, William Barclay Parsons, was a Columbia alumnus and trustee of the university. He made sure that the architects Heins amp LaFarge paid special attention to the station ceramics. Fittingly, the ceramic design is derived from the Columbia school seal and a prominent campus sculpture.Columbias seal designed in the 1700s when the school was known as Kings College depicts the figure quotAlma Materquot holding a book of wisdom with three children seated at her feet. While we now think of quotAlma Materquot as referring to the college one attended, its Latin meaning is quotnourishing mother.quot A statue also named quotAlma Materquot sits on the Columbia campus. Designed by the noted American sculptor Daniel Chester French, quotAlma Matersquot design was approved in 1901 and dedicated in 1903. The sculpture is rich with imagery the chair arms each have a torch that symbolizes Sapientia Wisdom and Doctrina Teaching. An open Bible sits on her lap.In the subway quotAlma Materquot is set within a wreath and surrounded by blue faience plaques. These plaques are the school color, known as quotColumbia blue.quot Parsons himself selected the exact shade of blue in October 1903. The plaques are flanked on each side by a torch designed from the ones that the Alma Mater sculpture holds. These torches are not just decorative, though. There are holes in the ceramics negative space, through which excess water can seep out of the station walls.Spaced in between the plaques lower on the station walls are more typical subway ceramics. The name quotColumbia Universityquot is written in mosaic tiles surrounded by floral and geometric motifs. Heins amp LaFarge used this ceramic treatment at many stations, including Wall, Fulton, and 33rd Streets. Parsons ensured that even this standard design was special at Columbia. The top two corners of the name plates feature icons of the university. On the left is an open book, and on the right is a lamp of knowledge.While the ceramics remain intact, significant changes have been made to the station since it opened. Until the 1960s, passengers entered and exited the station through a control house located in the median strip on Broadway. This control house was similar in design to the ones that still stand at 72nd Street and Bowling Green in Manhattan, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. During a 1960s renovation the control house and its stairs into the station were removed. They were replaced by the current stairways on the side of each platform.The new 85 square foot newsstand on the downtown platform was an expensive addition to the station. Because the station is a historic landmark, the construction could not interfere with the original station details and had to be approved by the local community board. Due to the high cost of construction, the lessee was allowed a longer licensing term than the standard five years. Newsstands and other concessions can be found in the busiest hundred subway stations.

 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:07

The 110th StreetCathedral Parkway IRT subway station is a lovely example of the classic treatment architects Heins amp LaFarge gave to every original subway station. 110th Street is not a large station. It is a threetrack side platform station that sits fairly close to the street surface. The original platforms were 350 feet, but during an expansion in the teens, they were lengthened to 520 feet to accommodate the longer subway cars introduced to keep up with the high demand for subway service.Heins amp LaFarge knew that on a crowded train it would be important for passengers to be able to easily identify their station stop. Thus, the ceramics along station walls would serve a practical, as well as a decorative function. Placed every fifteen feet along the walls on pilasters are ceramics that serve as station identifiers. In blue ceramic cartouches with green backgrounds sits the number 110, surrounded by a tan border, and flanked by tulips. A decorative green faience cornice surrounds each plaque.Ceramics that were meant to be both functional and decorative sit at the station eyelevel, too. Name tablets reading quotCathedral Parkwayquot appear on the walls between the 110 Street station cartouches. These tablets are set in a green mosaic tablet field, framed by floral and geometric flourishes.Both of these ceramic elements illustrate the economic reality of subway construction in 1904. Like municipal projects today, the original subway was built with a limited budget. The construction contract demanded that stations be beautiful, but did not allocate limitless resources to achieve this goal. So Heins amp LaFarge designed ceramics that could be used at multiple stations. The cartouche at 110th Street is similar to many others, including those at the station just to the north, 116th StreetColumbia University, as well as at 3rd and Atlantic Avenues, and Spring and Worth Streets. The mosaic name plaques can be seen throughout the original IRT stations. Picture Wall, Fulton, and Spring Street stations and youll recognize the design.In addition to ceramics, this station retains its original marble details. The fare collection area on the uptown platform has two metal doors that once served as public restrooms. Above these doors are marble lintels carved with the words quotMENquot and quotWOMEN.quot The words are flanked by rosette details that Heins amp LaFarge used throughout the original stations. The rosette was a popular motif in BeauxArts design. Heins amp LaFarge had it executed in both stone and ceramic. It is also a decoration used on Heins gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Heins died in 1907, in the midst of his firms subway contract. LaFarge continued working on the subway for another year.The stairs that lead passengers out of the station and into the Morningside Heights neighborhood are based on the design of the original IRT station railings. Above ground, the neighborhood is vibrant. This is due, in part to the subways opening in 1904. The subway spurred residential and commercial growth in the area, as did the move of Columbia University to the neighborhood from its original downtown location.

 79th Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:55

The 79th Street IRT subway station is modest in many ways. It is a local station, with just two platforms. It was originally small, measuring only 200 feet long by 55 feet wide. When it opened, its entrances and exits were marked with the standard castiron and glass kiosks given to most stations, while just seven blocks to the south the express station at 72nd Street received one of only six large control houses to be built in the system.But this does not mean that 79th Street is a secondtier station. In fact, the opposite is true. At 79th Street, architects Heins amp LaFarge presented some of their most beautiful and unique station details. Roman brick, faience, mosaic tablets, and marble details remain intact today, contrasting with the modern treatment given to the walls on the platform extensions added in the mid20th century.The wall decoration features the standard 1904 station combination of mosaic and faience elements. Every fifteen feet, beautiful fluted pilasters have been created using tan and red mosaic tiles. At eye level in these pilasters, the number 79 sits in white tile surrounded by green tile and floral designs. The tan and red mosaic tiles continue to the top of the wall. There, sits an elaborate cream colored plaque. In the plaque, two cornucopias surround a decorative pattern featuring two rosettes. This cornucopia pattern was a popular 19th century symbol of New York Citys commercial prosperity. Heins amp LaFarge used it at other stations too, including 137th StreetCity College and Borough Hall.Across the tops of the walls, continuing between these faience plaques, are elaborate ceramic treatments, using an egg and dart design combined with a beaded molding. Interspersed between the mosaic pilasters are faience plaques, again featuring cornucopias but this time with the station number, 79, in the center. These plaques were produced by the Rookwood Pottery Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The company also produced faience for the South Ferry, 23rd, 86th, 91st, Fulton, and Wall Street stations.Lower on the walls, in the wainscot section made of roman brick, are small bronze weep hole grilles. These beautiful objects actually serve a very important purpose. They allow water to escape from the station walls, thus protecting the ceramic tiles from popping off.By the time the 79th Street station opened, the Upper West Side was a bustling residential and commercial neighborhood. New Yorks first grand apartment building, The Dakota, opened on 72nd Street twenty years earlier, ushering in a wave of apartment building construction. In the early 20th century, theaters and restaurants opened, catering to local residents and their guests who came to the neighborhood on the newly completed subway.

 72nd Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3:28

If you dont go aboveground at 72nd Street, youll miss the stations most distinctive feature its entrance. Instead of the standard IRT cast iron kiosk, 72nd Street received one of only six specially designed control houses. These brick and stone Flemish Renaissanceinspired buildings have exterior features executed in terra cotta. Of the six original control houses, only three still exist today. They are located at 72nd Street and Bowling Green in Manhattan, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The control houses at 103rd Street, 116th StreetColumbia University, and 149th Street in Manhattan were torn down. The 72nd Street control house was restored in 2003.An ink on linen drawing in the collection of The NewYork Historical Society dated October 22, 1903 shows a nearly final design for this control house. While most control houses were similar in design, the amount of available land allowed for a larger building at 72nd Street. In order to save interior space, the original design did not permit free transfers between the uptown and downtown platforms. Still, it was overcrowded from opening day. MTA helped alleviate some of this overcrowding by building a contemporary control house on the northern side of 72nd Street in 2003. Designed by architects Gruzen Samton and Richard Dattner amp Partners, this building is a contemporary reimagining of Heins amp LaFarges original control house. Natural light now streams into the station below, while at street level a newsstand and plaza seating contribute to the vitality of local street life. Back underground, the station has retained much of its original unique ceramic detail. Here, Heins amp LaFarge made a departure from their standard design the station name does not appear in any of the ceramics. Instead, the design is comprised of large mosaic panels every 50 feet. These are sometimes referred to as quotrugsquot because they look like oriental carpets. With blue as the featured color, fleurdelis, leaf, and geometric patterns make up these richly detailed mosaics.By the time the 72nd Street station opened in 1904, this Upper West Side neighborhood was thriving. Many large apartment buildings including the Dakota and the Ansonia opened in the area in the late 1800s. But the subway ushered in further growth as the area became an easy commute to downtown. Commercial endeavors restaurants, shops, and theaters catered to the burgeoning population.

 59th Street-Columbus Circle IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:32

Like Union Square, Times Square, and Borough Hall, the 59th StreetColumbus Circle station is one that has retained elements of its original 1904 design, despite having been greatly changed over the past hundred years. The original station, which is described here, was a mere 200 feet long and 55 feet wide. It serves todays number 1 line. In the1930s the station expanded to dual twoplatform stations, serving the A, B, C, and D lines. The original subway lines were constructed between 1900 and 1904. 59th Street was one of the first completed stations. As such, it allowed Heins amp LaFarge, the subway architects and the manufacturers of various station elements, to test prototypes of their products. Grueby Faience Company of Boston was a favorite manufacturer of Heins amp LaFarge. They produced ceramics for many stations, so much so that they fell behind in production. But Grueby was meticulous. Here at the 59th Street station, Grueby sent employees to install sample ceramics. Their goal was to quotlearn the color effects of their product on an untried situation.quot For a company with a reputation as esteemed as Gruebys, this highprofile commission could not be undertaken haphazardly.The ceramics in the station remain one of the most striking features today. At many stations, Heins amp LaFarge designed ceramics to commemorate the neighborhood aboveground. With a name like quotColumbus Circlequot its not difficult to guess what the ceramics depict. Here, Christopher Columbus ship the Santa Maria sails across choppy water, sails billowing, with seagulls keeping the sailors company on their voyage across the Atlantic. This image is set in an elaborate green border decorated with the rosettes and floral swags that can also be seen in other 1904 station ceramics. In some areas below the plaques, a vertical mosaic panel extends to the middle of the wall, where ceramics are replaced by standard Roman brick wainscoting. In other areas that mosaic band has been replaced with white tiles. The beautiful ceramics garnered much attention in 1904. In a book celebrating the subways opening, the IRT called the ships, quotthe great navigators Caravan,quot while a magazine article called the ship quotthe galleys of Columbus.quot Toward the south end of the uptown platform, the plaques have been replicated in mosaic. These were likely completed when the platforms were extended around 1910. Spaced lower on the wall between these plaques are large mosaic station name tablets.Sitting above the plaques is a rare remaining station element by Heins amp LaFarge sections of a ceiling cornice. Most stations had this type of cornice, but it is a detail that has been lost as station wear, renovations, and construction have transformed the system. The rosette was a popular motif in BeauxArts design. Heins amp LaFarge also had it executed in stone and ceramic, and used it on Heins gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.The neighborhood surrounding Columbus Circle changed dramatically as a result of the subway. Before 1904 it was an industrial area filled with warehouses and armories. But, like much of the Upper West Side, the subway opening spurred residential development. With the opening of additional subway lines in the teens, the area took on a slight resemblance to Times Square. Theaters, restaurants, and nightclubs were drawing fashionable New Yorkers to the neighborhood.

 28th Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:10

28th Street is one of the sixteen fourtrack local stations that opened as part of New York Citys first subway in 1904. It was this track setup two for local trains and two for express trains that made New York Citys subway unique. Though all of these stations have changed throughout the years, many retain important elements of their original architectural details. Since station renovations over the past century have been sympathetic to the original design, riders today can experience the station as architects Heins amp LaFarge intended when it opened in 1904.While the general layout of 28th Street is similar to other local stations, the station has a number of unique features. The most noticeable of these are the ceramics adorning the station walls. Large faience plaques have the number 28 as well as the words TwentyEighth Street. The use of numbers and words is unusual in IRT station ceramics. The station name is surrounded by a more typical ceramic design. The numbers and letters are surrounded by a Greek key design, with rosettes in each corner, and a foliate design along the top and bottom of the plaque. If you look towards the top of the wall, youll see a ceramic egg and dart terra cotta cornice band. Every fifteen feet are additional plaques surrounding the ceiling beams. The yellow number 28 is on a light green background with a decorative dark blue border.All of these ceramics were made by Grueby Faience Company of Boston. Grueby Faience Company was a favorite of Heins amp LaFarge. In fact, the company received so much subway work that in November 1902, the architects were ordered not to give them any more orders until they made deliveries on those already commissioned. But, as you can see at 28th Street, the company was meticulous in its subway ceramic production. This delivery delay for these large orders was probably a result of the immense popularity Grueby was enjoying at the time. Its Arts and Crafts pottery was highly sought after, especially by two of Americas design giants. Tiffany Studios used Grueby Pottery for lamp bases, and Gustav Stickley used Grueby tiles in his stands and tables.The station platforms were extended from their original 200 feet twice, once around 1910 to 225 feet, and again in 1948. At that time, they became their current length 520 feet. During each of these projects, the subway architects and engineers took care to closely replicate the original Grueby ceramics. The newer ceramics feature white and blue tiled name plates with the 28 and are placed periodically down the platform wall, along with more recent 28th ST signs. Sadly, 28th Street lost one of its most lovely original features. When the station opened it featured a beautiful decorative plaster ceiling. Archival photos show a white ceiling with bands of decorative molding in the areas around columns and along the edges of walls. Today, that ceiling is gone. In its place is a plain painted arched ceiling, similar to those you can see at any number of subway stations.Like many subway stations, the stairways from 28th Street lead both to the street and into a private building. Three stairs lead to the street and one leads into the Met Life Building on 27th Street. New York was already a crowded city when the subway opened, and it was sometimes necessary to have stairwells open into private buildings. It also made sense to do this for the passengers using 28th Street, many of whom would be working in the Met Life Building. In the same vein, in the 1920s a passageway was constructed at the southwest end of the station to the New York Life Insurance building on Madison Avenue in the 1920s. In fact, the existence of a station at 28th Street is believed to be one of the main reasons New York Life Insurance opened its headquarters at this location. The area was an active business district for many decades before the subway opened the subway sustained and even encouraged neighborhood businesses.

 Astor Place IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:03

What is a true New York City icon The Statue of Liberty, of course. And the Empire State Building. Lets not forget the Brooklyn Bridge. But if you ask anyone at the Transit Museum what their favorite city icon is, youll often get an unusual response the famous Astor Place subway station beaver.Every 15 feet along the walls of the south end of both platforms are blue faience plaques featuring a beige beaver busy gnawing on a tree. Architects Heins amp LaFarge designed these ceramics to commemorate John Jacob Astor, for whom Astor Place is named. Astor was Americas first millionaire, thanks in large part to his lucrative business dealing in beaver pelts. Astor started trading furs with the Indians in the 1780s, and opened his own shop in Manhattan. Soon, his furs from as far north as Canada and the west coast of the continent were being sold to Europe and Asia. Additionally, Astor was an early Manhattan real estate speculator. So, fittingly, a city street bears his name, and a reminder of the beaver pelts that helped make his fortune adorns its subway station.While the beavers are unique to the subway system, the borders of their faience plaques are not. The ornate green border can also be seen at the 50th Street IRT station on the number 1 line. These plaques have a five oh in place of the beaver. Both were made by Grueby Faience Company of Boston and feature their famous matte green glaze. But the beaver is not the only distinguishing element of the station. Its difficult to miss the large KMart store entrance on the north end of the downtown station platform. Because the subway was built in an alreadycrowded city, it was necessary to work around existing structures. The building that now houses KMart was built decades earlier. As the station was built, so was this building housing the Philadelphiabased Wanamakers department store. Heins amp LaFarge added additional BeauxArts details to the station. If you look on the uptown platform, two stone lintels sit above doorways that originally led to public restrooms. You will note the words quotMENquot and quotWOMENquot are carved into the stone. Stone rosettes surround the words. These rosettes were used by Heins and LaFarge to ornament both stone and ceramics, and can be seen in a wide variety of stations. Near this entrance and on the northern most section of the uptown platform, is graphic designer Milton Glazers 1986 untitled art work. Porcelain enamel in geometric patterns and bright colors adorn the platform walls. Glaser, most famous for designing the quotI Love New Yorkquot logo, created artwork that complements the existing historic station elements, but still makes a bold and modern statement. Glaser described his approach as, quotbasically a variation on the existing forms. By extracting fragments of the motifs on the tile panels, enlarging their scale, and placing these pieces in a random pattern, they take on the appearance of a puzzle.quot Another important modern addition to the station reflects its historic fabric. If you exit the station on the uptown side, youll come up in a very Victorian looking cast iron structure. This is a replica of the kiosks that Heins amp LaFarge designed for the original subway stations. Those kiosks were modeled after the quotkushksquot of the Budapest metro that opened in 1896. The original kiosks were manufactured by Hecla Iron Works in Brooklyn. The 149 kiosks erected in New York came in four sizes, depending on the available sidewalk space. They were easily recognizable to people on crowded streets entrance and exit kiosks had different style roofs. Kiosks provided protection from bad weather and incorporated a pipe system to bring fresh air into the stations. Eventually all of the kiosks were removed they clogged the already overcrowded sidewalks and blocked the views of automobiles. Its only at Astor Place that you get a real sense of how New Yorkers entered and exited the subway in 1904.

 33rd Street IRT Station | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 6:18

The 33rd Street IRT station might be small in size, but thanks to architects Heins amp LaFarge, it is huge in architectural and design detail, well deserving its spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The original station is a standard four track 1904 local station, measuring 200 feet long and 55 feet wide, and sitting close to the surface of Park Avenue. The ceilings on the downtown platform and fare collection area are higher than average they are fifteen feet high instead of twelve, the standard for most 1904 stations. Chief Engineer William Barclay Parsons called this a high arch station when he and LaFarge visited it in September 1903 to check on its progress.One of the stations most striking features are the original ceramics adorning the walls on the north side of the downtown and uptown platforms. Every 15 feet along the cornice are faience plaques featuring an eagle holding a blue and white shield containing the station name, 33. On the uptown platform, near the exit turnstiles, you will see that the eagle motif is carried through later design for a station expansion. While nearly identical in design to the original faience eagles, the newer eagles are made of flat mosaics. These mosaics were found to be easier to maintain than the threedimension faience plaques and became the standard for ceramic ornament.The stately eagle with his shield pays homage to the 71st Regimental Armory that once stood above the station and was built at the same time as the subway it opened in 1905. Since George Heins was the State Architect of New York at that time, he oversaw the construction of the armory and would have been especially sensitive to tying this neighborhood structure into the character of the subway station. The armory was home to the 71st Regiment, New York National Guard. Designed by the firm Clinton and Russell, it was modeled after the town hall in Siena, Italy. With the grand, imposing armory flanking the graceful IRT station kiosks, the corner of Park Avenue and 33rd Street must have been an impressive sight in the early 20th century. Sadly, like the subway kiosks, the 71st Regimental Armory no longer exists. It was torn down in 1972, a decaying building too expensive to maintain. Today, a mixeduse skyscraper sits in its place.The station plaques were made by Grueby Faience Company of Boston. Similar eagles were installed at the 14th Street and Brooklyn Bridge stations, though neither of those locations had armories. Were these stations examples of Heins amp LaFarge reusing an attractive design in the interest of cost and time Quite possibly. The 33rd Street and Brooklyn Bridge eagles were manufactured from a 15 part mold. Oddly though, the Brooklyn Bridge ceramics were made from a sevenpart mold, so Grueby may not be the manufacturer. Today, some of the 14th Street plaques are still visible, but those at Brooklyn Bridge can only be seen in a closed track area.Two dimensional mosaic name tablets are also prominently featured on the 33rd Street station walls. In these, white mosaic tiles reading 33RD ST sit in a blue, green, and buff tablet, surrounded by scrolls and foliate motifs. Here again, Heins amp LaFarge adapted a standard design for this particular station. Similar name tablets can be seen at the Fulton and Wall Street stations. Interspersed with these are mosaic tablets with the number 33. Here, white 33 tiles sit in a blue background, with green and buff pilasters coming down from the number.The ceiling at 33rd Street has also retained much of its original design. Look toward the northern end of the uptown platform near the exit and youll see a strikingly ornate decorative cornice that divides the ceiling into rectangles. The station design has not remained static. In 1997, Arts for Transit installed unique station seating. James Garveys Lariat Seat Loops are bronze seat rests attached to platform columns. Bronze was an important material in the Heins amp LaFarge stations. Using bronze as a station element that blends both form and function helps to integrate Lariat Seat Loops into the spirit of the historic station.The stairs also received a nod towards historic design. The modern railings are designed and constructed to look similar to original IRT railings. They have small spikes, squared plinths, and column lampposts on either side of the entrance. The signage here is thoroughly modern though, and adheres to current design guidelines.Today, the Kips Bay neighborhood surrounding the station owes its development, in part, to the opening of the 33rd Street subway station. Though the area was already heavily populated thanks to the 2nd and 3rd Avenue elevated lines, the subway opening in 1904 increased the pace of development in this fashionable neighborhood. Subway access also contributed to the decision to build Bellevue Hospital in the neighborhood. The hospital opened in 1908 and since then has grown into a major medical center.

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