City Hall station (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

New York City Subway station in Manhattan, New York

City Hall
Former New York City Subway station
Station platform in 2018
Station statistics
Address	Park Row & City Hall Park New York, NY 10007[1]: 1
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Civic Center
Division	A (IRT)[2]
Line	IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Services	None (abandoned)
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1 balloon loop
Other information
Opened	October 27, 1904; 119 years ago (1904-10-27)[3]
Closed	December 31, 1945; 78 years ago (1945-12-31)[4]
Former/other names	City Hall Loop[5]
Traffic
2023	[6]
Rank	out of 423 Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall
Next south	(Terminal)
Track layout Legend to 14th Street to Canal Street Worth Street Brooklyn Bridge City Hall storage tracks Fulton Street to Wall Street
City Hall Subway Station (IRT)
New York City Landmark  No. 1096
Location	MPS	New York City Subway System MPS
NRHP reference No.	04001010[1]
NYCL No.	1096
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 17, 2004
Designated NYCL	October 23, 1979[7]

The City Hall station, also known as City Hall Loop station, is a

Brooklyn Bridge

station.

The City Hall station, with its single track and curved

Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864.^[8]: 21 However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act.^{[8]: 139–140} The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. They called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx.^[7]: 3 A plan was formally adopted in 1897,^[8]: 148 and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.^[8]: 161 The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900,^[9] in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.^[8]: 165 In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.^[7]: 4 Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.^[8]: 182

The station had always been envisioned as a terminal with loop tracks. The initial plans in the 1890s called for a multi-track loop, extending beneath the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse, which was then at the southern corner of City Hall Park. The loop was planned to have either two tracks (on two levels)^[10]: 4 or four tracks.^{[7]: 5 [11]: 14} When the plans for the IRT line were changed in 1898 to allow the express tracks to go to Brooklyn as part of the subway's Contract 2, the planned City Hall station was changed to a single-track local station, thereby avoiding a grade crossing with the express tracks.^{[7]: 5 [11]: 14} Under the 1898 iteration of the plan, the loop was to diverge from the line at the south end of Centre Street, traveling west under City Hall Park, south under Broadway, and then northeast under Park Row. In addition, tracks from the loop would have led to the post office building.^[12]: 21 East of the loop, there were two express tracks and two storage tracks.^[10]: 4

Construction of the loop

A formal groundbreaking ceremony was performed at City Hall on March 24, 1900, pursuant to the contract's requirements.

cut and cover method, with steel beams supporting a concrete roof made of jack arches.^[10]: 4 A further change was requested in September 1900, which would provide more room for the loop on the Park Row side.^[14] Plans for the loop under City Hall Park were modified in January 1901, providing for a shortened loop.^[12]: 24 By that March, the City Hall Loop was planned to be built just north of the post office, rather than around it.^[15] At the end of the month, trees in City Hall Park were being removed in preparation for the loop's construction.^[16][17]

The portion of the loop in City Hall Park was excavated starting in April 1901.[18] The trees were removed from the park using derricks.^[19] One worker was killed that May when a derrick boom in front of the subway excavation was knocked loose.^[20][21] Sand from the 500 ft-long (152 m) excavation was sold to builders who sought the sand for its "good quality".^[22] The short section adjacent to the post office could not be constructed because the Treasury Secretary had not approved the work, leading the IRT to request approval from Congress.^[23][24] The entirety of the loop within City Hall Park had been excavated by that August.^[25] Most of the excavation was covered over shortly afterward, although a small part remained open to facilitate work on the station.^[26]

In late 1901, the contractors began excavating the tunnel under Park Row, which would carry both the northbound track of the loop and the express tracks to Brooklyn. Work on the station was placed on hold because the station's concrete vaults were difficult to pour during winter.^[27] By February 1902, three-fourths of the work for the station's side walls had been completed, and work had started on the vaults. The tunnel under Park Row had been fully excavated and was being covered with steel beams.^[28] Most of the loop was completed by late 1902, except for the section under the post office.^[29] The contractors excavated the remainder of the loop after they were given temporary permission, in December 1902, to use the vaults underneath the post office.^[30]

Completion

By late 1903, the tilework of the sidewalks and the station's staircase were completed. Construction materials were being stored in the station's only entrance and exit.^[31] The subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening.^{[8]: 186 [32]} On New Year's Day 1904, mayor George B. McClellan Jr. and a group of wealthy New Yorkers gathered at the City Hall station and traveled 6 mi (9.7 km) to 125th Street using handcars.^[33][34] The IRT conducted several more handcar trips afterward. The first train to run on its own power traveled from 125th Street to City Hall in April 1904.^[35]

The City Hall station opened on October 27, 1904, as the southern

Because of the limited number of entrances to the City Hall station, it was served exclusively by local trains, which also stopped at the much larger

Not long after the station opened, the IRT started displaying advertisements in the station, which was highly controversial but was allowed under the IRT's contract to operate the route. The New York City government initially did not find the ads to be problematic, but public outcry led the city to file a lawsuit to force the IRT to remove the ads. In 1907, the New York Supreme Court ruled that the IRT was allowed to keep the ads.^[46] To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.^[47]: 168 As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains.^[48]: 15 The City Hall station was not lengthened, but the platforms at other stations were extended,^[48]: 106 and six-car local trains began operating in October 1910.^[47]: 168

In 1918, the Lexington Avenue Line opened north of

In 1965, the City Hall station was considered as a possible location for a transit museum.^[63] In 1976, the New York City Transit Authority reopened the abandoned Court Street station in Brooklyn as the New York Transit Exhibit, which eventually became the New York Transit Museum (NYTM).^[62] The station occasionally was used for tours after its closure, including in 1979 for an event celebrating the subway's 75th anniversary.^[64] In 1979, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the City Hall station as a city landmark, along with eleven other stations on the original IRT.^[7][65]

Proposals for reuse

By the 1980s, Mayor Ed Koch suggested allowing a restaurant to open in the old station as part of a larger plan to renovate City Hall Park. As part of this plan, replicas of the IRT's original cast-iron entrance kiosks would have been built.^[66] Civic leaders and city officials visited the station in July 1986. Ross Sandler, the city's transportation commissioner and a proponent of the station's reopening, lamented that the station was a "designated landmark that people can't visit".^[67] The plan had still not advanced over a year later, when parks commissioner Henry J. Stern said the station's restoration was dependent on whether funding to renovate City Hall Park was secured.^[68] Ultimately, the idea was overruled by the New York City Police Department, which expressed concerns that the station's location beneath New York City Hall was a security vulnerability.^[55]

In April 1995, the NYTM sought funding to reopen the station as a branch of the museum.^[62][69][70] The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) estimated that about $1 million would be needed just to reopen the station,^[70] though the NYTM wished to raise $3.5 million.^[69] The museum had secured a $750,000 federal grant and a $350,000 grant from the NYCTA by that November.^[71] By 1997, some $2 million in state and federal funding had been allocated.^[62] Had the NYTM branch been built, it would have contained two entrances from street level.^[72] Early the next year, MTA officials started refurbishing the station's corridors and offered up to $5 million for underground repairs to City Hall Park, which at the time was being renovated. However, in late 1998, the administration of mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected the proposal, citing security risks in the area around City Hall after terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.^[73] Plans for the museum annex were abandoned, and museum tours ceased for several years.^[73][72] The MTA did spend $2 million to repair structural issues at the City Hall station.^[72]

21st century

By 2001, the NYCTA planned to temporarily reopen the station three years later for the subway's 100th anniversary.^[74] The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.^[1] For the subway's Centennial Celebration the same year, one of the street entrances was restored, and the station was opened for the duration of the celebration. The idea of an annex to the Transit Museum was then proposed but due to security concerns (with City Hall being just above the station) the idea was dismissed. Other than that, the station was used only as an emergency exit. By the mid-2000s, the staff of the Transit Museum were again conducting tours of the station;^[75][76] only NYTM members were allowed on these tours.^[54][76] Unlike other abandoned New York City Subway stations, there was generally little graffiti or dust in the City Hall station.^[77] The station remained in good condition in 2019, though only one of the original skylights remained.^[55] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the NYTM suspended its tours of the station between 2020 and 2023.^[78]

Station layout

The station consists of a single

According to the Railroad Gazette, all of the City Hall station's public areas were designed "with a view to the beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency", since the station was "a great public work".^[79] One observer wrote that there was "not a straight line" in the entire station when it was completed.^[80]: 3 The travel magazine Travel + Leisure ranked the station 12th in its list of "the most beautiful subway stations in the world" in November 2009.^[81][82] A replica of the station was built for the feature film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. According to NYTM officials, the station inspired the main characters' lair in the 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.^[55][83]

Design

Ceiling tiles and skylight

Ceiling skylight

The station was designed by

The ceiling is made of twelve Guastavino vaults. The ceiling surfaces are composed of white tiles, with green and brown tiles along the perimeter of each ceiling vault.[7]^{: 6 [11]: 15 [1]: 4} The vaults were constructed of thin terracotta tiles bonded with a string mortar, added in successive layers to form a thin structural vault of great strength. Three vaults had leaded glass skylights,^{[11]: 14–15} which opened upward to vault lights in City Hall Park.^{[11]: 14–15 [86]} The skylights, designed with floral tracery,^[56] were blacked out during World War II and were restored in the 2000s.^[1]: 4 Additional lighting was supplied by twelve chandeliers hung from the center of the vaults, which contain floral motifs and nickel finishes. The chandeliers near the skylights have five arms, while the others have four.^{[11]: 15 [1]: 4}

The platform is made of poured concrete.

The walls of the staircase between mezzanine and platform level are covered with yellow, green, and blue tile.[31] The mezzanine contains a vaulted ceiling with a quoin pattern, consisting of brown trim with white and green tiles. The center of the mezzanine has an oculus skylight, with light bulbs around the skylight. The walls of the mezzanine contain large glass tiles interspersed with opaque ceramic tile. Wire conduits and pipes have been installed onto the mezzanine walls.^[1]: 3–4 The mezzanine once had an ornamented oak ticket booth, which has since been removed.^[87]

Track layout

North of the City Hall station, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line carries four tracks. From west to east, these are the downtown local track, the downtown express track, the uptown express track, and the uptown local track.

South of the Brooklyn Bridge station, there is a switch on the downtown local track, allowing trains to leave service and enter either of two storage tracks. Trains in service turn onto a balloon loop, continuing past the abandoned side platform on the west side of the loop, and returning to the Brooklyn Bridge station on the uptown local track. The uptown and downtown express tracks pass above the loop, continuing south.^[88]

Exits and access

There were two staircases from outside the City Hall building to the mezzanine of the station,