Gotham History: The Original 28 Subway Stations

Are you looking to lose some time on this stunning ~~spring~~ winter Saturday? Why? It's nearly 60° outside! Ok, moving right along, assuming your bedridden, or using your laptop outside (or, y'know, looking at this at a later time) might we suggest the awesome tour of the original 28 subway stations currently going on at Forgotten NY?

While we always find ourselves getting lost in F-NY, this one's certainly a keeper. Part One goes from the City Hall to 33rd Streets stations (who knew the grates at the Bleeker Street station once let light in?) and Part Two wraps up the original 28 with the stations from 42nd to 145th Streets (where you'll find yet more awesome images like Evelyn Hofer's picture of the now lost distinctive cast-iron kiosks at 50th Street, right). Instead of worrying about the possibility of a second transit strike in the future, we recommend taking a nice look at some subway history instead.

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By Garth Johnston in News on January 21, 2006 2:14 PM

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Think twice

The current state of the Bleeker St. station is so depressing in lieu of the photo above. Does the MTA have an aversion to sunlight? And their Modernist-style extensions have all the charm of a police precinct or psych ward.

The 1904 platforms face each other but the extensions go in opposite directions and face the dark tunnel walls. I remember a NY Times article where current rehabilitators have no clue why that's so, and these are the MTA's contractors with access to the MTA's design & building records.

Thank god Modernism is de rigour.