very simple

Reports indicate that this station was renovated in 2007-2009, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the deteriorated condition of the wall mosaics. Here the barely visible and water-stained mosaics represent King’s College, which is now known as Columbia University, and which was located downtown in its original incarnation.

Station opened: July 1, 1918
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source/More info: Wikipedia

The 14th Street/7th Avenue IRT line is another “original mosaics/no other appreciable art” platforms. The mosaics themselves are the original trackside “14” tile work, much of which (as you can see from the photos) is fairly water damaged and clearly in need of repair.

The station itself connects via a tunnel to the 6th avenue F/M/L (Ha!) lines, but that’s a later-built connection between the two separate IRT and IND systems, and not a “natural” transfer point. You’re basically walking a full avenue block (about a quarter-mile) underground in order to save the cost of a subway fare. Pics of the 6th avenue line platforms are still to come. The station also apparently had a connection to the 8th avenue A/C/E line at some point in the past, but it’s been gated off and is inaccessible today.

Station opened: July 1, 1918
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source/More info: Wikipedia, nycsubway.org

The South Ferry Station is one of the oldest in the system, and was not built to accommodate the current configuration of subway cars. Because of this, an entirely new station was built and opened in 2009. Unfortunately, the new South Ferry station suffered massive flood damage during Hurricane Sandy and was effectively destroyed, so the “old” South Ferry Station was brought back into use.

This station is one of the few without a straight platform – it consists of two “loops” – only the outer one is in use for passengers. It is also too short for the current 8-10 car train configurations, so you must be riding in the first 5 cars of the train to exit at this station. In addition, the curved nature of the platform requires moving platform “fillers” to fill the gap between the train and the platform at each train door. Needless to say, despite the incredibly beautiful mosaics and artwork in this station, there were a significant number of practical reasons why this station was taken out of service, and it was only the short-sighted failure to flood-proof the new station (which sits at the tip of lower manhattan below sea level in a massive flood plain) that brought this station back into view. Definitely a boon to someone like me who wants to photograph such classic features. Not so much for the hordes of people who have to commute in and out of here during the week.

Station opened: July 19, 1905; closed March 16, 2009; reopened April 4, 2013
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia (click here for some photos of the extensive damage to the new station as well)

Here is yet more of the original IRT tile work, this time in pinkish hues. I particularly like that while the entire line was thematically consistent with the tiling, each station had its own color scheme. As with the other stations on the way downtown, the mosaics here are principally identificational and directional. We’re also now in the part of Manhattan without numbers. That being said, i can’t emphasize how nice it is when your train pulls into a station and there is clearly visible signage letting you know where you are. You’d be surprised at the number of stations on other lines where you have to pretty much guess.

This station was closed and renovated for approximately a year following the attacks of September 11, 2001, because the nearby tunnels collapsed and the line was shut during that period.

Station opened: July 1, 1918 (Renovated 2002)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

I’m afraid I’m going to spoil you with the fact that I’ve photographed the original IRT stations first. They really have the most beautiful tilework in the entire system, given their age. 28th street is another of the classic 1 train stations, with traditional (refurbished) mosaics indicating the station number and directions. As with some of the other stations in this area, there isn’t any “location specific” artwork in the station (which, given its proximity to the Fashion Institute of Technology, seems like a particular oversight), but the tilework is still quite gorgeous.

That is, until you get to the end of the platform that underwent renovations during what must have been the 1970s. Here you can see the pure, non-asthetic functionality that crept in to the MTAs upkeep of many stations during the city’s budgetary lean years.

Station opened: July 1, 1918
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

The 23rd street 1 train station is another one of the original IRT lines, with classic mosaic subway tiling. Like 18th street, it doesn’t have any “special” mosaics identifying unique characteristics of the neighborhood (or other random artwork that doesn’t have any relationship to the neighborhood that we can discern), but the mosaics have been refurbished and/or redone to their original condition. Even without any distinctive neighborhood art, these original IRT stations are, as a group, significantly more beautiful than some of the lines that we’ll see further into the project that were built in later years when the MTA had no creative drive (or money).

I’m also going to start adding some more factual links to each post (prior posts will be edited to add this info), including dates that stations were built and other info that I can find without too much trouble).

Station opened: July 1, 1918 (renovated 1990s)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

The 18th street 1 train station is a bit of an oddity. It’s somewhat unnecessary, being so close to the 23rd street station and the 14th street station, but it’s there, and it continues to be used. The mosaics are all the same, so while they are quite pretty, there’s no need to be repetitive here.

Station opened: July 1, 1918 (renovated 1991-1992)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

Continuing on the 1/2/3 line for now, 34th Street advertises itself as connecting to Penn Station, but I’ve always found the A/C/E train over on 8th Avenue to be the more convenient station. Despite the signage here, you’ll be trekking underground for some ways to get into the station itself. Of course, convenience is a matter of degree, and if your coming from somewhere that is along this train line, this station does provide that connection.

There’s a lot of nice tiled sign work in this station, mostly emphasizing the Penn station connection, as well as some raven-related pure artwork. The art itself is part of a collection called “A Bird’s Life” by Elizabeth Grajales, and the description I could find only indicates that it depicts birds nurturing their young. Yet again, I feel like there is something distinctly lacking in the explanation for why these particular panels were chosen for this particular station.

Station opened: June 3, 1917
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source: Wikipedia

Times Square is a major transfer station. Rather than trying to capture everything at once, I thought I would capture the particular areas on several trips through, which would inevitably happen as I was traveling along various lines anyway. So this set of pics is largely the area around the 1/2/3 platform, although there are a few shots that veer toward the shuttle and the n/r lines, given their proximity. Above ground, Times Square is sometimes referred to as the “Crossroads of the World”, and the subway station beneath is no different. In addition to the lines that are part of this station “proper”, the MTA has built connecting tunnels to additional trains that are actually under the Port Authority, so that you can transfer for free (buy hiking through some very long tunnels) between what were actually different, competing subway systems before the integration of the IRT (Interboro Rapid Transit), BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) and IND (the city-owned Independent) by the MTA. For a good explanation of the history of the IRT, BMT and IND, see nycsubway.org. (That site also catalogs a significant amount of subway art, including the artists where known, but I will not be deterred from my own project!).

The artwork here brings in several themes that are fairly obvious – there is the theater district, new years eve revelers, and the general tourist-centrism of the area. I particularly like the little light boxes which each have a different aspect of times square (theater, burlesque, restaurants, etc.) in tiny caricature. Probably the most well-known artist to contribute here is Roy Lichtenstein, who created the pop art work near the shuttle platform. One of the many things that 99% of the people streaming through the station don’t stop to notice on their way through the station on a daily basis (including me!).

Station opened: June 3, 1917
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source: Wikipedia

The West 50th Street 1 train station appears to be half renovated. Half of the station has what looks like the original tiling, along with the companion water damage and staining, and the other half of the station has shiny new tiling, which is somewhat decorative but nowhere near as intrinsically beautiful as the original. Although as we’ll see in some stations down the line, this is still miles better than any renovations performed in the 1970s, in that they at least attempted to inject some decorative elements into the design work. According to Wikipedia, this was actually the first west side station constructed under the original contract with the city.

The other feature of this station are some large mosaics depicting scenes from Alice in Wonderland. I tried to do some research to find out why there was an Alice in Wonderland theme to this station in particular, and the only thing I could find were some references on Forgotten NY and Wikipedia to the fact that it somehow ties to the fact that this station is near the theater district. Which still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, as I don’t recall any major Alice in Wonderland Broadway productions. Maybe more research is in order – feel free to add knowledge in the comments!

Station opened: October 27, 1904 (Alice in Wonderland mosaics installed in 1994)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia