Astor Place (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astor Place   |
|
|---|---|
|
New York City Subway station |
|
_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/300px-Astor_Place_(IRT_Lexington_Avenue_Line)_by_David_Shankbone.jpg) |
|
| Station information | |
| Line | IRT Lexington Avenue Line |
| Services | 4  (late nights)6  (all times) <6> (weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction) |
| Platforms | 2 side platforms |
| Tracks | 4 |
| Passengers (2006) | 5.674 million ▲ 1% |
| Other | |
| Borough | Manhattan |
| Opened | October 27, 1904[1] |
| Next north | 14th Street–Union Square: 4 6 <6> |
| Next south | Bleecker Street: 4 6 <6> |
Astor Place, also called Astor Place–Cooper Union on signs, is a station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Completed in 1904, it is one of the original twenty-eight stations in the system. The station is on the List of Registered Historic Places in New York.
Contents |
[edit] Service
Located at the intersection of Lafayette Street and Astor Place in the East Village, Manhattan, it is served by the 6 train at all times and by the 4 during late nights. A handful of southbound trains do a "battery run" often skipping Astor Place to help reduce congestion after a delay. The original plans for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH) included a spur along Ninth Street to this station.
[edit] Station layout
Astor Place is a local station with two side platforms. The fare control is at platform level, and the underpass connecting northbound and southbound sides was removed in the 1980s. The northbound platform contains a news and candy stand, which replaced the original public women's lavatory. On the southbound side, the station has a department store entrance into a K-Mart. This store was originally constructed in 1868 as an A.T. Stewart. It had changed ownership and was a Wanamaker's when the station was constructed. The heavy brick-faced square columns on the downtown platform supported the old Wanamaker's store. The northern building of Wanamaker's store, but not the southern building above, burned in the 1950s. Octagonal windows on the brick wall of the platform were the store's showcases.
Plaques of beavers are located on the walls, in honor of John Jacob Astor's fortune derived from the beaver-pelt trade. The plaques, as well as name tablets, were made by the Grueby Faience Company in 1904. The station also has untitled porcelain on steel murals, made by Cooper Union alumnus Milton Glaser in 1986. During the renovation, the magnificent maroon and gold tile Cooper Union signs underneath the tile Astor Place signs were destroyed. Black and white pillar signs read Astor Place on one pillar, then Cooper Union on the next.
The station underwent renovation in 1986. In addition to the famous glazed ceramic beaver plaques, new porcelain street artwork was installed. There is a reproduction of an IRT entry kiosk on the street level over the northbound entrance. There was an underpass between the uptown and downtown sides, but it was closed and covered up in the 1980s renovation. The access hatch to the underpass is visible behind the northbound token booth inside the fare-control area.
[edit] Points of interest
The station itself is a point of local interest as it is on the List of Registered Historic Places in New York. Several other sites of historical and cultural importance located near the station. New York University and Cooper Union are located nearby. Visitors to the Astor Place area often rotate the Alamo (sculpture) which is at street level above the tail end of the northbound platform. A tiled-up doorway, on southwest wall behind the southbound token booth, sports a lintel proclaiming "CLINTON HALL". Once upon a time, this doorway lead to the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, formerly the Astor Place Opera House.[2]
The Eighth Street–NYU station on the BMT Broadway Line is one block west of the station.
[edit] Bus connections
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- nycsubway.org — IRT East Side Line: Astor Place
- Station Reporter — 6 Train
- forgotten-NY.com - Original 28 IRT subway stations
