- The New York City Subway,
it's crowded, it's dirty, it's hot,
and it's one of the most dynamic and exciting places
in the world.
Hi, I'm Michael Wyetzner, and I've been an architect
in New York City for over 35 years.
And I've been riding the subway for over 40 years.
And today, we're going to look at the architectural details
in the oldest and newest subway stations in New York.
- [Loudspeaker] Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
- First up, let's talk
about one of the oldest subway stations, City Hall.
When the subway opened in 1904,
the City Hall station was one of the first
of the 28 stations.
It was the showpiece of the entire system.
They created these grand vaults, almost like a cathedral,
with these beautiful Romanesque arches
that follow along the curve of the station.
So each one of these vaults is made out of Guastavino tile,
which is actually a terracotta tile that is structural.
And it's a system of layers,
and they're usually put in, in a herringbone pattern,
and they alternated the colors.
And Guastavino tile is actually used in many places
throughout New York City.
One example is the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station.
Another example is the underside
of the Queensboro Bridge at 59th Street.
And the City Hall stop was so unique as the showpiece
that not only did it have skylights,
but it also had these beautiful brass chandeliers
to give light underneath in a very decorated manner.
So the City Hall station was closed down
in 1945 because of this tight curve.
The new longer trains couldn't make the turn.
All the IRT subway stations were designed
by Heins & LaFarge.
And obviously, here at City Hall,
they created quite a masterpiece.
But the typical station is much less ornate
and is really stripped down and is much more about function
and operation than it is about beauty and ornament.
Okay, let's talk about a typical IRT subway station.
So this image shows the 14th Street express station
when it first opened, and that's why it's so clean.
What made New York City's subway system unique
from other cities was that, when they first built it,
they included express tracks as well.
No other city had that.
And you could see the express track running beyond
on the other side of these columns right here
where the local pulls into the station.
Typically, you'd go down less than 18 feet
to get to the platform,
and then the tracks would be about three feet below that.
Because they're so close to the surface
and the way that they get fresh air from the sidewalk above,
is you could actually hear the subway coming
when you're walking along the sidewalk above.
And the thing about these IRT stations
is that they're extremely simple,
and they're all about just getting it done
and getting it done quickly.
So the way they built these stations was by a method
called cut and cover.
They cut a trench in the middle of the street
less than 20 feet deep.
So this is basically a cross-section
through the subway tunnel.
The train would ride in here on its wheels.
This would be the express track,
the express track going in the opposite direction.
And this, again, would be the local track
here with another train.
And then above, they would put in these columns.
They would build the walls.
They would lay down the track.
And then above this tunnel,
they would put in all the utilities,
so the sewer lines and the water lines,
the electrical lines that the city needs to run.
And then on top of that, they would put the road.
So here's where the building is. That's where a building is.
Here's the sidewalk, and then here's the road.
So let's take a look at the 96th Street station
along the Second Avenue line.
And what distinguishes this station
from one of the typical IRT stations
that we just looked at is that there's no columns in it.
Because it's tunneled, it's sorta self-supporting,
and it forms this one continuous vault.
This was the city's first major subway expansion
in over 50 years.
It extended the Q line along Second Avenue
to four different stations,
63rd Street, 72nd Street, 86th Street, and 96th Street.
So this is how they dug out the Second Avenue tunnel.
So if the street is here and these are the buildings,
what they did is they went really deep,
and they tunneled all the way down here
with giant drills and giant drill bits,
which they actually leave at the end of the tunnel.
They don't take it out, so it's still down there.
And when they extend the Second Avenue subway
up to 125th Street, they'll keep that same drill bit.
And it will stay then at the northern end of 125th Street.
What distinguishes the Second Avenue Subway
from the other stations is that the platform
is in the middle, and the tracks are at the edge.
And then there's a mezzanine
where people walk up here and up here,
and it's open to the curve ceiling of what was the tunnel.
So a person standing here can look down
to the platform there, and then the stairs come down here,
and here's the subway.
And you get this double-height space, which is very nice.
So one thing that distinguishes the New York City Subway
is it's super loud 'cause it doesn't run on rubber wheels
like a lot of other cities' subway lines do.
And Second Avenue, they made a determined effort
to make it a lot quieter.
And they included these acoustic panels,
which would absorb a lot of those sound.
So the Second Avenue Subway is much more humanistic.
It's much brighter. It's much more open.
It's not as dark.
It's not as dingy
as a lot of the other original subway stations are.
[winter winds whooshing]
So let's step back for a second
and talk about the history of these subways.
What prompted the subway to begin with
was the Great Blizzard of 1888, believe it or not.
At that time, New York had trolleys.
And it even had elevated trains
that were started in the 1870s.
But this blizzard paralyzed all of that travel.
And not only that, but New York City, also,
electricity was relatively new,
and all the wires were above ground
and were put up in a very haphazard way.
And they formed this almost solid web,
so that when all the snow came down,
it took down all the wires with them.
So what people don't always realize
is that putting all the electrical power below ground
happened at the same time
as putting the subways underground.
Okay, so let's take a look at the iconic
New York City Subway map.
So what jumps out at me about this early IRT map is that,
in red, it shows the actual subway lines,
of which there are not many, but they do go to Brooklyn,
and they do go to Queens.
And these blue lines are actually the elevated subways
that still remained.
And so earlier, we were talking about City Hall.
And you could see that station right here,
very close to the Brooklyn Bridge station, which is why,
in 1945, when they closed the City Hall station,
it did not inconvenience many riders
because Brooklyn Bridge station was so close.
So let's take a look at the full map.
So the MTA is a combination of three subway companies,
the IRT, the BMT, and the IND.
And that's why there's so many different letter designations
and number designations.
And in fact, some of the subway cars are different sizes
'cause they were all built at different times.
So the system now has 26 lines and 472 stations.
I mean, look at it. It's huge.
Now let's take a look at some of the entrances
into the New York City Subway system.
So when the IRT was first built,
this is what the typical entrances looked like,
and they're fantastic.
They're these sort of the Art Nouveau,
very European-influenced,
compared to the new Second Avenue line,
which also has its own great style of subway entrance
with these beautiful glass canopies,
with these spider connections, what they're called.
This glass is made out of safety glass,
which is the same glass that your windshield is made out of.
Okay, so let's take a look at the design drawing
for the IRT entrance kiosks.
So the entrance kiosk
has this sorta soft, Art Nouveau, dome-like roof.
And the exit kiosk has a different kind of roof,
which is this hip roof with the ribs exposed.
Both are surrounded by ribbed wired glass.
So if the glass shattered,
it was held together by the wires.
You can't talk about the New York City Subway
without talking about subway tile.
This photograph shows the ubiquitous
and eponymous subway tile
that the New York City subway is famous for.
So a subway tile is essentially a rectangular tile
as opposed to a square tile.
So this tile, the subway tile
in a running bond has been there since the very beginning,
and it will probably be there until the very end.
So the original 1904 stations
have these beautiful mosaic tile names.
And others have these more elaborate bas-relief plaques.
The original IRT contract had a clause in it that stated,
"All parts of the structure where exposed
to public sight shall be designed, constructed,
and maintained with a view through the beauty
of their appearances as well as their efficiency."
And some of those stations
have really beautiful mosaic tiles.
And some of them include terracotta tiles
that have symbols on them that represent the local area.
For instance, at Astor Place, named after Jacob Astor,
he made his fortune in the fur business,
and so they show beavers as part of all the ornament.
So in the 1970s, the MTA decided
to use a universal vocabulary for all of their signage.
They reached out to Massimo Vignelli,
the famous graphic designer.
And he designed these crisp and clear modern signage
using the Helvetica typeface, which is still in use today.
So as the New York City Subway evolves, so does its signage.
And now there are signs
that let you know when the trains are coming.
And there are TV screens on the wall
that show different advertisements
as well as the subway maps.
So if you look around, you could see all the layers
of history at every single subway station.
Okay, so now let's talk about some of the art
in the Second Avenue subway.
And this is a shot showing the mezzanine level,
which is one level above the platform level.
And you could see all these beautiful mosaic tiles
that form these figures along the way
that are extremely realistic.
So this is a modern take on the subway art,
where it's more like a gallery
and less about the ornamented tile work in the signage.
And since 1985, the MTA has made a concerted effort
to include artwork along the stations.
And there's over 300 works of art in the subway.
And some of those artists include Jean Shin,
Vik Muniz, Chuck Close, and Sarah Sze.
Other world-famous artists include Yoko Ono
at 72nd Street by the Dakota
and Roy Lichtenstein at the Times Square station.
So those are the differences
between the oldest subway stations and the newest ones.
There's so much to talk about with the New York City subways
that we don't have time for,
the abandoned stations, the ticket booths,
the lack of accessibility for people in wheelchairs,
the track fires, the flooding, the rats,
the loud speakers that are always in disrepair,
all the wonders of the MTA.
If you want more videos about the New York City Subway,
please let us know in the comments below.
[stately orchestral music]