← Back

Historical Landmarks Under Our Feet: Designated Subway Stations in Our Neighborhoods

The oldest parts of the New York City subway system are well over a century old, having opened on October 27th, 1904. The subway’s age creates a myriad of challenges for operation, but also provides us with a valuable historic resource. Subway stations have details that offer a glimpse into our past, and a number of them are designated New York City Landmarks and/or listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Much as our neighborhoods contain some of the city’s oldest and most historically significant sites above ground, so too do they below ground.

Bleecker Street Subway Station, 1985. Image from Meredith Jacobson Marciano Collection: New York in the 1970s through 9/11 Historic Image Archive Collection.

Bleecker Street

The Bleecker Street subway station was constructed by Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City subway system that opened in 1904. The IRT was a privately-owned company founded to construct an underground subway system. It is one of three separate entities that constructed the New York City subways, the others being the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and the Independent Subway System (IND). 

1906 IRT Transit Map. Underground Subway lines are distinguished by a wider line a white station dot.

Today, original IRT lines are identifiable by their narrower train cars, and are designated with a number. This includes the 6 train, which serves the Bleecker Street station today.

Modern image of Bleecker Street Subway Station.

The Bleecker Street station was designated a New York City Interior Landmark on October 23rd, 1979 and listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places on July 20th, 2004. The station’s decorative scheme follows the city’s early mass transit philosophy, which emphasized decoration within the subways. As noted in the landmark designation report, the 1891 the Report of the Rapid Transit Commission stated that every effort should be made “in the way of painting and decoration to give brightness and cheerfulness to the general effect” of the subway stations. The architects George L. Heins (1860-1907) and Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862-1938) were hired to design the original IRT subway stations. They created a scheme in which each station followed the same basic design with decorative elements and colors specific to each station. At Bleecker Street, the main decorations are name tablets, with white letters set on a bright blue background. 

Image of Bleecker Street name tablet, taken during photo survey for State and National Register listing. View more photos from survey here.

Astor Place Station

The Astor Place Station is similar to the Bleecker Street station. Located one stop north on the same train line, like the Bleecker Street station it opened in 1904, and was also designated a New York City Interior Landmark on October 23rd, 1979 and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places on July 20th, 2004. 

Decoration at Astor Place Station, taken during photo survey for State and National Register listing. View more photos from survey here.

Astor Place’s main decoration is a series of plaques that adorn the walls, featuring Beavers. These pay tribute to John Jacob Astor, for whom Astor Place is named. Astor initially made his fortune in the trade of Beaver skins, before becoming one of 19th century New York’s largest landowners. 

Beaver emblem at Astor Place Station.

West 4th Street Washington Square Station

The West 4th Street Station presents a different design philosophy. Opening nearly thirty years after Bleecker Street and Astor Place, this station was constructed by a city-run transit authority, known as the IND. The station’s upper level, served by the 8th Avenue line (present day A/C/E lines) opened on September 10th, 1932, and the lower level, served by the 6th Avenue line (present day B/D/F/M trains), opened in 1940. 

Photo of West 4th Street from survey for State and National Register listing. View more photos from survey here.

The design of West 4th Street is typical of an IND Station. It was listed on the State and National Register on December 12th, 2004, the report notes that the platforms are “simple utilitarian spaced without much embellishment. In all stations, a simple tile band indicating an express or local stop on various lines runs along IND station platform walls. It is, apart from advertising signs, the only spot of color found in most stations.”

Tiles at West 4th Street

The platform walls are decorated with simple square glazed tiles, while the mezzanine level is sparer and even less decorated. Fittingly, the State and National register report describes: “The mezzanine is an open area that is completely devoid of any extraneous ornament.”

Photo of mezzanine level of West 4th Street from survey for State and National Register listing. View more photos from survey here.

To explore more historically designated places within our neighborhoods, check out the landmark designation report section of our website.

Related Posts

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *