81st Street–Museum of Natural History station

Coordinates: 40°46′55″N 73°58′18″W / 40.781971°N 73.971763°W / 40.781971; -73.971763
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
81st Street – Museum of Natural History (IND Eighth Avenue Line)
)
For the demolished station serving the IRT Ninth Avenue Line, see 81st Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line).

 81 Street–
 Museum of Natural History
 
BxM2
StructureUnderground
Levels2
Platforms2 side platforms (1 on each level)
Tracks4 (2 on each level)
Other information
OpenedSeptember 10, 1932 (91 years ago) (1932-09-10)[2]
Accessiblenot ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Opposite-
direction
transfer		Yes
Traffic
20222,819,094[4] Increase 49.3%
Rank99 out of 423[4]
Services
Preceding station New York City Subway New York City Subway Following station
86th Street
A late nights ​B weekdays during the day ​C all except late nights
via 145th Street
Local 		72nd Street
A late nights ​B weekdays during the day ​C all except late nights
via 59th Street–Columbus Circle
"D" train does not stop here
Location
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station is located in New York City Subway
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station is located in New York City
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station is located in New York
81st Street–Museum of Natural History station
Track layout

Legend
Upper level
to 86th Street
Lower level
to 72nd Street
Street map

Map

Station service legend
Symbol Description
Stops all times except late nights Stops all times except late nights
Stops late nights only Stops late nights only
Stops weekdays during the day Stops weekdays during the day

The 81st Street–Museum of Natural History station is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the B on weekdays, the C train at all times except nights, and the A train during late nights only.

History

New York City mayor John Francis Hylan's original plans for the Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over 100 miles (160 km) of new lines and taking over nearly 100 miles (160 km) of existing lines. The lines were designed to compete with the existing underground, surface, and elevated lines operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and BMT.[5][6] On December 9, 1924, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) gave preliminary approval for the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line.[7] This line consisted of a corridor connecting Inwood, Manhattan, to Downtown Brooklyn, running largely under Eighth Avenue but also paralleling Greenwich Avenue and Sixth Avenue in Lower Manhattan.[7][8] The BOT announced a list of stations on the new line in February 1928, with a local station at 79th Street (corresponding to the American Museum of Natural History's main entrance).[9]

The finishes at the five stations between 81st Street and

207th Street.[15][16] Construction of the whole line cost $191.2 million (equivalent to $4,269.8 million in 2023. While the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line already provided parallel service, the new Eighth Avenue subway via Central Park West provided an alternative route.[17]

The station was renovated in 1998–2000, in coordination with building the new Hayden Planetarium, within the Rose Center for Earth and Space.[18] The floors were replaced, new lighting was installed, the token booth was upgraded, and the walls and staircases were re-tiled. Structural improvements were also made during the renovation.[18] In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that the station would become ADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program.[19] A contract for one elevator at the station was awarded in December 2023.[20]

Station layout

Ground Street level Exit/entrance
Basement 1 Northbound express ← "A" train"D" train do not stop here
Northbound local ← "B" train weekdays toward Bedford Park Boulevard or 145th Street (86th Street)
← "C" train toward 168th Street (86th Street)
← "A" train toward Inwood–207th Street late nights (86th Street)
Side platform
Mezzanine Fare control, station agent, MetroCard machines, entrance to American Museum of Natural History
Basement 2 Southbound express → "A" train"D" train do not stop here →
Southbound local → "B" train weekdays toward Brighton Beach (72nd Street) →
→ "C" train toward Euclid Avenue (72nd Street) →
→ "A" train toward Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue late nights (72nd Street) →
Side platform

This underground station has four tracks and two

Central Park West and 81st Street, rather than the major crosstown 79th Street, in order to accommodate the American Museum of Natural History,[21] which largely fills the area of what was once called the Manhattan Square. The 79th Street Transverse Road, through Central Park
, exits the park here.

South of this station are storage/lay up tracks between the local and express tracks on each level. Both ends of the tracks merge with the express tracks, with switches to the local tracks.[22][23]

Exits

There are two fare control areas, both on the upper platform. One is at the station's extreme south end, on Central Park West midblock between 77th and 81st Streets.[24] From this fare control, a passageway leads to a staircase on the west side of Central Park West, just south of the American Museum of Natural History's front entrance.[24] This fare control also has an underground entrance directly into the museum's lowest level.[25] The other is at the station's north end, at Central Park West and West 81st Street. There is one staircase each to the northwest and southwest corners of the intersection.[24]

Artwork

Dinosaur artwork on the lower level wall

In 1976, with funding from the Exxon Corporation, this station, as well as three others citywide, received new "artfully humorous graffiti" murals and artwork.[26] Local designer Mayers and Schiff received $5,000 to add murals of dinosaurs such as "Thesaurus Rex, the dinosaur that had a vocabulary of a thousand words" and "Elongatomus, an elongated critter that stretched from coast to coast whose pelvic remains support a highway interchange in Missouri."[26]

As part of the 1998–2000 station renovation, a program of tile

"For Want of a Nail",[28] named after the old proverb, it addresses the interconnections of entities that are as vast as a galaxy and as small as a single cell. Using ceramic tile, glass tile, glass mosaic, bronze relief, and granite as primary materials, the design team depicted the evolution of extinct, existing and endangered life forms, from single celled organisms to the towering T. rex dinosaur.[27][30] It shows images and symbols ranging from the Earth's core, to the sea, the sky and the cosmos beyond. No artist has been identified in this group project.[27][30]

In media

The station has been featured in the 2002 film Men in Black II. The station was also mentioned in Night at the Museum.

References

  1. ^ "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  3. ^ "Annual Subway Ridership (2017–2022)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Annual Subway Ridership (2017–2022)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  5. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  7. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  8. ISBN 978-0-82325-369-2
    .
  9. ProQuest 1113431477
    .
  10. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved March 15, 2023.
  12. ProQuest 1331181357
    .
  13. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  14. ProQuest 1125436641
    .
  15. ^ Crowell, Paul (September 10, 1932). "Gay Midnight Crowd Rides First Trains In The New Subway: Throngs at Station an Hour Before Time, Rush Turnstiles When Chains are Dropped" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  16. ProQuest 1114839882
    .
  17. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  18. ^ a b c Siegal, Nina (September 13, 1998). "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: UPPER WEST SIDE/UPPER MANHATTAN; At This Stop, B and C Spell Walk". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  19. ^ "MTA Announces 20 Additional Subway Stations to Receive Accessibility Improvements Under Proposed 2020-2024 Capital Plan". mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 19, 2019. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  20. ^ https://new.mta.info/document/112391
  21. ^ "American Museum of Natural History". AMNH. May 1, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  22. ^ "NYC Subway Track Map (Midtown Manhattan) (Zoom to section by clicking)". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  23. Dropbox
    . Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  24. ^ a b c "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Upper West Side" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  25. ^ "Directions and Transportation". AMNH. May 1, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  26. ^ a b Burks, Edward C. (November 18, 1976). "A Subway Elongatomus? Why, It's Preposterous!". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  27. ^ a b c d "81st Street-Museum of Natural History: ARTS FOR TRANSIT COLLABORATIVE: For Want of a Nail, 2000". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  28. ^ a b Review of the A and C Lines (PDF) (Report). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 11, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  29. ^ "81st Street Museum of Natural History Station Reopening". AMNH. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  30. ^ a b Kennedy, Randy (June 15, 2000). "Where Stepping Off the Subway Means Stepping Into the Wild". The New York Times. Retrieved January 1, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 81st Street – Museum of Natural History (IND Eighth Avenue Line).
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