Special Preview: Inside The Fulton Street Transit Center
12 photos
<p>Looking north towards the new Fulton Street Transit Center</p>
<p>Let's start our tour at the recently opened Williams Street entrance to the FSTC. It sits above the 2/3 trains at the eastern edge of the site. Note the mosaic, which is one of several maritime-themed mosaics salvaged from a midtown hotel on display around this part of the station.</p>
<p>A gate, apparently also salvaged from a midtown hotel. It now serves both a decorative and functional purpose- the other side is for fare-paying customers.</p>
<p>We've now moved west two blocks, which you could transverse along the A/C platform under Fulton Street, or the mezzanine level above it. Along the way you'd pass the J/Z entrance, and eventually come to the FTSC itself, which sits above the 4/5 tracks at Broadway and Fulton. </p>
<p>These spiral stairs will wrap around an elevator- the entire complex is wheelchair accessible. </p>
<p>Here we're at the bottom of the FTSC looking up towards the "oculus" which is the windowed opening at the top of the center. It allows natural light to pass down several stories to reach the concourse level. When the FTSC is completed in 2014, a decorative mesh sculpture will hang from the roof, and the bottom few stories will contain stores, restaurants, or public space.<br/><br/>The oculus was originally going to be 50 feet high, but then it was scaled back to 20 feet. As former MTA board member (and the new Mrs. Paul McCartney) <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/01/29/goodbye_fulton.php">Nancy Shevell said</a>, "We are not building cathedrals here."</p>
<p>Surrounding the oculus building is a glass curtain wall- here we're looking north west towards the WTC site. </p>
<p>Moving west from the FTSC, you pass this staircase- it leads to the Dey Street entrance to the center.</p>
<p>This is the Dey Street entrance- it will be glassed in a way that recalls the FSTC catty-corner across Broadway.</p>
<p>This wide passage connects the 4/5 at Broadway with the R train a block west. It runs under Dey Street, between the Millennium Hotel and Century 21.</p>
<p>This may look like a routine construction site, but behind that blue wall in the background lies the massive (and still unbuilt) <a href="http://gothamist.com/tags/santiagocalatrava">PATH station designed by Calatrava</a>.</p>
<p>The PATH station might not be built, but the Cortlandt Street station on the R just next door is already open. It was destroyed on 9/11, and only opened in two stages over the last two years. This hallway connects the two platforms on the R- the murals are by Margie Hughto and were in the original station- they were salvaged after 9/11 and reinstalled.</p>