Astor Place (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

Infobox NYCS
name = Astor Place
bg_color = #007527


line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
service = Lexington local
platforms = 2 side platforms
tracks = 4
passengers = 5.674 million
pass_year=2006
pass_percent=1
borough = Manhattan
open_date=October 27, 1904New York Times, [http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/nytimes-1904-dayoneopen.html Our Subway Open: 150,000 Try It] , October 28, 1904]
north_station = 14th Street–Union Square
north_line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
north_service = Lexington local
south_station = Bleecker Street
south_line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
south_service = Lexington local
coords = coord|40|43|47|N|73|59|30|W|display=title

Astor Place, also called Astor Place–Cooper Union on signs, is a station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Completed in 1904, it is one of the original twenty-eight stations in the system. The station is on the List of Registered Historic Places in New York.

ervice

Located at the intersection of Lafayette Street and "Astor Place" in the East Village, Manhattan, it is served by the NYCS|6 train at all times and by the NYCS|4 during late nights. A handful of southbound trains do a "battery run" often skipping Astor Place to help reduce congestion after a delay. The original plans for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH) included a spur along Ninth Street to this station.

tation layout

"Astor Place" is a local station with two side platforms. The fare control is at platform level, and the underpass connecting northbound and southbound sides was removed in the 1980s. The northbound platform contains a news and candy stand, which replaced the original public women's lavatory. On the southbound side, the station has a department store entrance into a K-Mart. This store was originally constructed in 1868 as an A. T. Stewart. It had changed ownership and was a Wanamaker's when the station was constructed. The heavy brick-faced square columns on the downtown platform supported the old Wanamaker's store. The northern building of Wanamaker's store, but not the southern building above, burned in the 1950s. Octagonal windows on the brick wall of the platform were the store's showcases.

Plaques of beavers are located on the walls, in honor of John Jacob Astor's fortune derived from the beaver-pelt trade. The plaques, as well as name tablets, were made by the Grueby Faience Company in 1904. The station also has untitled porcelain on steel murals, made by Cooper Union alumnus Milton Glaser in 1986. During the renovation, the magnificent maroon and gold tile Cooper Union signs underneath the tile Astor Place signs were destroyed. Black and white pillar signs read Astor Place on one pillar, then Cooper Union on the next.

The station underwent renovation in 1986. In addition to the famous glazed ceramic beaver plaques, new porcelain street artwork was installed. There is a reproduction of an IRT entry kiosk on the street level over the northbound entrance. There was an underpass between the uptown and downtown sides, but it was closed and covered up in the 1980s renovation. The access hatch to the underpass is visible behind the northbound token booth inside the fare-control area.

Points of interest

The station itself is a point of local interest as it is on the List of Registered Historic Places in New York. Several other sites of historical and cultural importance located near the station. New York University and Cooper Union are located nearby. Visitors to the Astor Place area often rotate the Alamo (sculpture) which is at street level above the tail end of the northbound platform. A tiled-up doorway, on southwest wall behind the southbound token booth, sports a lintel proclaiming "CLINTON HALL". Once upon a time, this doorway lead to the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, formerly the Astor Place Opera House. [ [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Clinton%20Hall%20page/Clinton.html forgotten ny] ]

The Eighth Street–NYU station on the BMT Broadway Line is one block west of the station.

Bus connections

*M1
*M2
*M3
*M8
*M101
*M102
*M103

References

External links

*NYCS ref|http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/stations?5:542|IRT East Side Line|Astor Place
*Station Reporter — [http://www.stationreporter.net/6train.htm 6 Train]
* [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/originalstations/original28.html forgotten-NY.com - Original 28 IRT subway stations]