Subway Archives
Torch from 116th Street/Columbia University IRT Station
Architects of the NYC Subway, Hines & LaFarge: The Tradition of the Great Public Works, Part I, at the New York Transit Museum, 212-878-0106, March 19, 2007 - July 8, 2007, at the New York Transit Museum’s Gallery Annex at Grand Central, Monday-Friday, 8 am - 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 6 pm. Admission is Free.
Fulton Street IRT Station - exhibition starts today 3/19/07
Architects of the NYC Subway, Hines & LaFarge: The Tradition of the Great Public Works, Part I, at the New York Transit Museum, 212-878-0106, March 19, 2007 - July 8, 2007, at the New York Transit Museum’s Gallery Annex at Grand Central, Monday-Friday, 8 am - 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 6 pm. Admission is Free.
Architects of the NYC Subway, Heins & LaFarge: The Tradition of the Great Public Works, Part I - 3/19/2007 - 7/8/2007
We do not normally reproduce press releases on AGINY, but the subway is so integral to NYC, and the design impacts so many people every day, that we are reproducing this press release, and encouraging our friends and readers to stop by the Transit Museum’s Gallery Annex in Grand Central Station and see these exhibitions, opening March 19, 2007.
Chandelier from City Hall Station Station opened 1904. Material: Bronze. Image credit: New York Transit Museum
Architects of the NYC Subway, Heins & LaFarge: The Tradition of Great Public Works, Part I (3/19/2007 - 7/8/2007) and Architects of the NYC Subway, Squire Vickers and the Subway’s Modern Age, Part II, (7/30/2007 – 10/28/2007)
Be sure not to miss two new exciting - consecutive - free exhibits at the New York Transit Museum entitled, Architects of the NYC Subway, Heins & LaFarge: The Tradition of Great Public Works, Part I (3/19/2007 - 7/8/2007) and Architects of the NYC Subway, Squire Vickers and the Subway’s Modern Age, Part II, (7/30/2007 – 10/28/2007). Culled from the extensive collections of the New York Transit Museum, The New York Historical Society, the Episcopal Diocese of New York, The Bronx Zoo / Wildlife Conservancy Center, and private collectors, more than sixty historic artifacts, architectural drawings, and photographs will display, the vision of the subway’s first architects, John L. Heins and Christopher G. LaFarge and the subsequent work of Squire J. Vickers at the Transit Museum’s Gallery Annex in mid-town Manhattan.
From 1901 to 1908, John L. Heins and Christopher G. LaFarge not only designed the first subway stations, but also the control houses, power substations and ornamental kiosks, in the popular Beaux-Arts style, evoking classical architecture using ceramics, metal, and wood. Because Heins & LaFarge began working more than a year after subway construction began, their primary duty was to decorate and make beautiful the stark utilitarian spaces built by engineers achieved by using ceramics, terra cotta relief’s and unique station plaques to identify and adorn each station. Says Roxanne Robertson, Director of Special Projects,“The crown jewel of the subway is the old City Hall Station which was designed by Heins and LaFarge. Visitors are still inspired by the arched tile ceilings, skylights, and brass chandeliers. This station still has the feeling of entering a grand cathedral and remains the NYC subway’s most spectacular space.”
Elements adorning the subway also included ceramic tiles, mosaics, terra cotta reliefs, sconces, iron railings and circular air vent covers. Examples of brass ticket booth grilles and metal exit signs in the exhibition are graceful, with their function masked by the beauty of design and materials. Design drawings of Manhattan’s control houses for 72nd, 103rd Streets and Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue show three similar structures with decorative arches, glass, metal, and terra cotta. Architects of the NYC Subway… also presents a dozen pieces of these original station ceramics. Because an immense amount of ceramics had to be designed, fabricated, and installed in less than three years, numerous companies were hired to produce these pieces. The work of the noted ceramics firms Grueby Faience Company of Boston, Atlantic Terra Cotta of Staten Island and New Jersey, and Rookwood Pottery Company of Cincinnati, are also represented in the exhibition.
Architects John L. Heins, Christopher Grant LaFarge, and Squire J. Vickers determined the aesthetics of New York’s subway system. These men created the decorative motifs that adorned the subways, allowing each station to be unique while contributing to its overall style. In 1907, Heins died of meningitis. Though he would work as an architect until his death in 1938, LaFarge worked on the subway only until 1908. Architect, Squire J. Vickers, was then hired and become the architect responsible for New York’s subway station’s design elements for the next four decades.
In addition to being business partners, John L. Heins and Christopher Grant LaFarge were friends, classmates, and brothers-in-law. The two met as architecture students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying a curriculum based on the French school of Beaux-Arts classical approach to architecture, but also stressing logical planning and design. They graduated in 1882, and in 1886, formed their own New York City firm. Heins & LaFarge specialized in ecclesiastical and residential buildings.
Today they are best remembered as the original architects for the Cathedral of Saint John theDivine. They began the cathedral project in the 1890s and would continue with it for two decades. During this time, Heins would also be appointed the State Architect of New York, responsible foroverseeing the design and construction of all state buildings.
In the first years of the new century, Heins & LaFarge continued with the Cathedral, but also designed the New York City subway stations and the Astor Court Buildings of the Bronx Zoo. Though these important civic projects might seem, at first, to be disparate, Heins & LaFarge used similar architectural elements and fabricators for each project. The Guastivino Fireproof Construction Company fabricated magnificent arches for the grand City Hall subway station, the Belmont Chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and the Elephant House of the Bronx Zoo. The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company produced ceramics for numerous subway stations and the Lion House at the Zoo. Pieces of these Zoo and subway ceramics, including examples taken from the 33rd Street, 110th Street, and 116th Street subway stations, are featured in the exhibitions. An architectural drawing for the Zoo’s Monkey House shows a frieze with classical design elements that can also be seen in subway station ceramics.
Architects of the NYC Subway, Heins & LaFarge: The Tradition of the Great Public Works, Part I, at the New York Transit Museum, 212-878-0106, March 19, 2007 - July 8, 2007, at the New York Transit Museum’s Gallery Annex at Grand Central, Monday-Friday, 8 am - 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 6 pm. Admission is Free. These exhibitions are made possible, in part, with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support: Major sponsors: ARUP, Daniel Frankfurt, P.C., and Parsons Brinkerhoff. Supporting Sponsor: STV. Sponsors: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS, PC, and Domingo Gonzalez Associates.
More
- City Hall Station - 1986 visit and 2006 visit - from forgotten NY. Many photos
- City Hall Subway Station - photos on Flickr from Triborough
- City Hall (IRT East Side Line) - from nycsubway.org. Many photos
- City Hall Station - from MIT.
- New York Transit Museum - Wikipedia
- Exploring the old City Hall station: new tours on tap - from Newyorkology
- Roger Shepherd has some good photographs and discussion of the ceramic tiles used in the subway
- The New York Subway: Its Construction And Equipment
Smart Cards coming to NYC subways and buses
gothamist reports:
One year after some talk that the MTA was considering bringing smart card technology to roost here, the MTA is actually going to pilot test smart cards.
we use the SmarTrip card when using the Metro in DC, and it is a real time saver, much faster through the fare gates ... we also like being able to recharge it with a credit card and if we (or certain unnamed children) lose it reporting it to WMATA and getting a replacement ...
"Top 50 NYC Subways"
MignonMedia has a map showing the 50 busiest subway stations ... explanation here ...
MTA "Fare Holiday"
Having solved all the other problems with New York's subway system, the MTA is looking into granting a fare holiday to riders of the subway and local buses on weekends between Thanksgiving and the New Year. The fare holiday is in lieu of improving weekend service, which is particularly abominable during the holiday season when trains are cramped with midwestern tourists in cowboy hats.
"MTA Gives Tourists Fare Holiday, Promises Locals To Get Fare Hike," new york's sixth, October 20, 2005
Classic subway photo
Express Train has a classic subway photo ... Union Square ~ 6:42pm ...
Subway safe and sound Friday
The subway is safe and sound ... and on-time ...
Friday, after a walk through at the Asia Society and the Whitney Museum, we rode the 6 train to 33rd Street for a sashimi dinner at Mishima ... at 8 pm, the subway car was very crowded and I did not notice any NYPD at the station or train ... very clean, on-time and fast ... we rode the 6 train up-town after 11 pm, very clean and fast ... I did not notice any NYPD on the train or platform, crowded with night-owls going home to the Bronx ... a very warm and humid evening ... rainy Saturday ...
Mishima, 164 Lexington Avenue, between 30th and 31st Streets, 212-532-9596 [sushi NYC | MenuPages | Citysearch]
And the MTA MetroCard is still a good value ...
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Subway MTA map | Straphangers interactive map | schedules | HopStop
State of the Subways Report Card
John-Boy at NYC Metroblog, who rides the G train, is looking for a fight over who has the "suckiest train" with anyone who rides the N train ... in "Straphangers? Where are these Straps? Is this S&M?"
gothamist has links to articles in the Post and Newsday ... and says "If [we] were a conspiracy buff, we'd say the 6 is the best line because Mayor Bloomberg usually takes it from his townhouse, but we're not anything like that." ...
Articles are also available from NYT, NY1, and WABC .
The findings of straphangers.org:
1. The best subway line in the city is the 6, with a "MetroCard Rating" of $1.35.
2. The worst subway line is the N, with a MetroCard Rating of 60 cents.
4. There are great disparities in how subway lines perform.
Links to the Straphangers Ratings
- How Does Your Subway Line Rate? (pdf)
- Best to Worst Subway Lines by Performance Indicator (pdf)
- Profiles of 22 Subway Lines (select your line on this page)
"Subway Reefs"
Daily Refills has a post about how old NYC subway cars are dumped into the ocean to make reefs ...
Subway maps on your iPod Photo
If you have an iPod Photo and want to download the NYC subway map to it, see William Bright's site, iPodSubwayMaps ...
site also has maps for Washington, Boston, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and more ...
hat tip, lifehacker
Forced to Sing Show Tunes - Freedom of Speech on the Subway
The next time you're riding the subway and you become part of someone's captive audience, think about this story ... "Freedom to Preach" from Englishman in New York.
Perhaps hearts sank when the doors closed at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and the evangelist, a slight, black woman dressed in a black frock, which sprouted white frills, began exalting the Lord. Or perhaps spirits were raised ("thank God, for it is still too early to appreciate another guitar-playing Latino"). Either way, the preacher failed in her duty of reaching out to the one in the carriage she may have thought needed saving the most when she addressed the subject of "gay evils."
An Asian woman, slightly rectangular in build, rose a full 5ft 1ins from her seat and beseeched the bible reader to cease her proclamations: "Why do people like you always have to do this? Can’t you just let these people travel in peace?"
But the people did not want to travel in peace and the riders rose in unison and turned on the short-haired devil: "Let her speak! Let her speak! Freedom of speech," came the cry from a sizeable and wholly black section of the carriage, all of above average age and of a mainly female persuasion. "Let her testify."
But the Lord worketh in mysterious ways. And the woman refuseth to back down, warning: "If you do not be quiet, I shall be forced to sing show tunes."
To find out which show tunes are useful in these situations ... you will have to read the whole thing ... and then read the showtune singer's account here ... it's good she didn't have her ukulele with her ...
HopStop
HopStop - enter your beginning and destination addresses, and it will calculate how to make the trip by bus, subway or a bus/subway combination.
AGINY Recommended
forgotten NY - web site - highly recommended
If you love New York, then you must visit, and bookmark, forgotten NY. Run by Kevin Walsh, forgotten NY includes text and photographs of all parts of the City, new and old ... he also conducts walking tours ... upcoming tours are announced on the home page ...
Some of our favorite pages include
- Journey Through the Past (a subway tour on IRT Low Voltage cars)
- Jamican Red (original red brick pavement in Jamica)
- A Walk on 53rd Street (from the Hudson to the East River)
- Who Are those Guys and Gals and Dogs (The Statues of Central Park)
- Where Brooklyn Began - Fulton Street at the waterfront
An incredibly rich site, forgotten NY will keep you occupied for hours ... I bet most of you don't make it to this sentence ...
For more about Kevin Walsh, see the gothamist interview. Thank you, Kevin Walsh, for a wonderful web site.
AGINY Highly Recommended and Top 10
MTA MetroCard - AGINY Good Value
The MetroCard has many great features ... such as: a free transfer between a bus and subway or vice versa within a 2 hour period ... ride costs 20% less when you buy a Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard worth $10, $20 or more ... $7 for the one day fun pass, $24 for seven days and $76 for 30 days ... if you're reading this as an archived article, check the MTA site for current pricing
AGINY Good Value
NYPD nnounces random searches on subway and buses
In New York City, officials announced Thursday afternoon that the NYPD is instituting random searches of subway passengers carrying bags or backpacks, and similar searches may be conducted aboard city buses.
nycsubway.org - web site - Highly Recommended
nycsubway.org is a website devoted to the subway sytem in New York City. It is run by David Pirmann, who started the site in 1995. The site does not contain operating information about the subway, but it is filled with information about the development and history of the NYC subway.
My favorite sections are Subway Art, Abandoned Stations (the old City Hall station is beautiful!), Subway Signals, A Day in the Life..., and Upcoming Events.
If you are interested in the history of the NYC subway system or how it works, or you want to see photographs of stations, trains, or subway yards, you must see this site, which is truly a labor of love. Thank you Mr. Pirmann.
If you like nycsubway.org, leave a tip for the webmaster.
nycsubway.org is Highly Recommended
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