Summary: 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.
