Astor Place station

Astor Place, also called Astor Place – Cooper Union on signs, is a local 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. Located at the intersection of Lafayette Street, Eighth Street, Fourth Avenue, Cooper Square, and Astor Place between the East Village and NoHo, it is served by the 6 train at all times, the <6> train during weekdays in the peak direction, and by the 4 train during late nights. The station is on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Astor Place
 ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Downtown platform
Station statistics
AddressAstor Place & Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003
BoroughManhattan
LocaleNoHo / East Village
Coordinates40°43′47″N 73°59′30″W
DivisionA (IRT)
Line      IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Services      4  (late nights)
​      6  (all times) <6>  (weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: M1, M2, M3, M8
StructureUnderground
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks4
Other information
OpenedOctober 27, 1904 (1904-10-27)[1]
Station code407[2]
Accessible ADA-accessible to mezzanine only; platforms are not ADA-accessible (Elevator is present only in the southbound direction during Kmart operating hours)
Wireless service[3]
Opposite-direction transfer availableNo
Former/other namesAstor Place – Cooper Union
Cooper Union
Traffic
Passengers (2019)5,502,925[4]  7.7%
Rank81 out of 424[4]
Station succession
Next north14th Street – Union Square: 4  ​6  <6>
Next southBleecker Street: 4  ​6  <6>
Astor Place Subway Station (IRT)
New York City Landmark No. 1096
MPSNew York City Subway System MPS
NRHP reference No.04001013[5]
NYCL No.1096
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 17, 2004
Designated NYCLNovember 24, 1981[6]

History
Track layout
to 14 St
to Bleecker St

Construction started on the first IRT line in 1900.[7] The part of the line from City Hall to just south of 42nd Street was part of the original IRT line including the Astor Place station, opened on October 27, 1904.[1]

In 1981, the MTA listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.[8] The station underwent renovation from June 1984 to May 1986. The station was renovated for $2.5 million, and was part of the Adopt-a-Station program. The money included $600,000 from the Federal Urban Mass Transit Administration, $125,000 from private sources, including some from the Vincent Astor Foundation. The scope of the project included the restoration of the famous glazed ceramic beaver plaques, new improved lighting, the installation of noise-abatement material, as well as the installation of new brown floor tiles. A new piece of porcelain steel artwork by Cooper Union alumnus Milton Glaser was installed, and a cast-iron copy of one of the station's original kiosks was built. There was an underpass between the uptown and downtown sides, but it was closed and covered up in the 1980s renovation.[9]

The original plans for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH) included a spur along Ninth Street to this station.[10]

Station layout
G Street level Entrances/exits
P
Platform level		 Side platform
Northbound local ← toward Pelham Bay Park or Parkchester (14th Street–Union Square)
← toward Woodlawn late nights (14th Street–Union Square)
Northbound express ← do not stop here
Southbound express → do not stop here →
Southbound local → toward Brooklyn Bridge (Bleecker Street) →
→ toward New Lots Avenue late nights (Bleecker Street) →
Side platform

Astor Place is a local station with four tracks and two side platforms. The fare control is at platform level, and the underpass connecting northbound and southbound sides was removed in the 1980s. The access hatch to the underpass is visible behind the northbound token booth inside the fare control area. 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 support the store above. 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. During the renovation, the magnificent maroon and gold tile Cooper Union signs underneath the tile Astor Place signs were destroyed.[11] Black and white pillar signs read Astor Place on one pillar, then Cooper Union on the next.

Exits

The station has two entrances, one in each direction. The southbound platform's entrance is at the southwest corner of Astor Place and Lafayette Street, while the northbound platform's entrance is in the traffic island bounded by Fourth Avenue, Lafayette Street, and Eighth Street.[12] There is a reproduction of an IRT entry kiosk on the street level over the northbound entrance.

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 are located near the station. The New York University and Cooper Union are both located nearby. Visitors to the Astor Place area often rotate the Alamo Cube, at street level above the tail end of the northbound platform.[13] A tiled-up doorway, on southwest wall behind the southbound token booth, sports a lintel proclaiming "Clinton Hall". This doorway once led to the New York Mercantile Library in the former Astor Opera House.[14] Other points of interest include:

The Eighth Street – New York University station on the BMT Broadway Line is one block west of the station.[13]

The cover image of Billy Joel's 1976 album Turnstiles was shot on the uptown side of the station.[15]

  • Downtown entrance
  • Uptown entrance, a reproduction of an old IRT kiosk
  • Faience plaque with beaver, by Heins & LaFarge / Grueby Faience Company, 1904. The Astor fortune was based on trading beaver pelts
  • Faience name tablet by Heins & LaFarge / Grueby Faience Company, 1904
  • Tile with initial "A"
  • Former women's restroom converted into newsstand
  • Columns with alternating Astor Place and Cooper Union sign plates
  • Entrance to Kmart on the southbound platform
gollark: Anyway, I think the main issue with droneswarms is that they would run out of battery quite fast.
gollark: Can dogs climb walls? No. Therefore, geckos superior.
gollark: Well, they wouldn't be a good replacement for drones if they just sat around doing cat things.
gollark: I don't think military cats is a very good idea. They would be too rebellious.
gollark: You're still constrained by the missiles' actual volume.

References
  1. "Our Subway Open: 150,000 Try It; Mayor McClellan Runs the First Official Train". The New York Times. October 28, 1904. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  2. "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  3. "NYC Subway Wireless – Active Stations". Transit Wireless Wifi. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  4. "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2014–2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  5. "NPS Focus". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  6. "Interborough Rapid Transit System, Underground Interior" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 24, 1981. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  7. "Rapid Transit Tunnel Begun - Ground Officially Broken (1900)". www.nycsubway.org.
  8. Gargan, Edward A. (June 11, 1981). "Agency Lists Its 69 Most Deteriorated Subway Stations". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  9. Blau, Eleanor (May 17, 1986). "Refurbishing of IRT Station Applauded by Well-Wishers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  10. "Map of Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Hudson Tunnel System" (PDF). columbia.edu. Hudson & Manhattan Railroad. December 31, 1912. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  11. "1982 Photo of Astor Place Signage". Cable (Cooper Union Yearbook). 1982. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  12. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: East Village" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  13. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: East Village" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  14. "Clinton Hall at Astor Place". Forgotten New York.
  15. Katz, Mike, 1962-. Rock and roll explorer guide to New York City. Kott, Crispin,, McNeil, Legs,. Guilford, Connecticut. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-63076-316-9. OCLC 1007036799.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading
  • Stookey, Lee (1994). Subway ceramics : a history and iconography of mosaic and bas relief signs and plaques in the New York City subway system. Brattleboro, Vt: L. Stookey. ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0. OCLC 31901471.
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