135th Street station (IRT Lenox Avenue Line)

135th Street is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 135th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, it is served by the 2 and 3 trains at all times.

For other uses, see 135th Street.
 135 Street
 ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Northbound staircase on the southeast corner. An elevator on the northeast corner can be seen in the background.
Station statistics
AddressWest 135th Street & Malcolm X Boulevard
New York, NY 10030
BoroughManhattan
LocaleHarlem
Coordinates40.814°N 73.941°W / 40.814; -73.941
DivisionA (IRT)
LineIRT Lenox Avenue Line
Services   2  (all times)
​   3  (all times)
Transit NYCT Bus: M7, M102, Bx33
Short Line Bus: 208
StructureUnderground
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks3 (2 in regular service)
Other information
OpenedNovember 23, 1904 (1904-11-23)
Station code438[1]
Accessible ADA-accessible
AccessibilitySame-platform wheelchair transfer available
Opposite-
direction
transfer		No
Traffic
20194,268,823[2]  5.3%
Rank115 out of 424[2]
Station succession
Next north149th Street–Grand Concourse (via White Plains Rd): 2 
145th Street (via Lenox): 3 
Next south125th Street: 2  ​3 

Built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the 135th Street station was constructed as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction on the tunnel segment that includes the 135th Street station started on October 2 of the same year. The station opened on November 23, 1904. The station platforms were lengthened in 1910.

The 135th Street station contains two side platforms and three tracks. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Lenox Avenue's intersection with 135th Street and are not connected to each other within fare control. The platforms contain elevators from the street, which make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

History

Construction and opening

Planning for the city's first subway line dates to the Rapid Transit Act, authorized by the New York State Legislature in 1894.[3]:139–140 The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission. It 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.[4]:3 A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and legal challenges were resolved near the end of 1899.[3]:148 The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900,[5] in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.[3]:182 In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.[4]:4 Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.[3]:182

The 135th Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's East Side Branch (now the Lenox Avenue Line). Farrell & Hopper began building the section from 110th Street to 135th Street on August 30, 1900, subcontracting the section north of 116th Street to John C. Rodgers.[5][6]:252 The excavation was relatively easy because the subway was under one side of Lenox Avenue and there were no street railway tracks to work around.[6]:252–253

On November 23, 1904, the East Side Branch opened to 145th Street.[7][8] Initially, the station was served by East Side local and express trains. Local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street). Express trains had their southern terminus at South Ferry or Atlantic Avenue and had their northern terminus at 145th Street or West Farms (180th Street).[9] Express trains to 145th Street were eliminated in 1906, and West Farms express trains operated through to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.[10]

Service changes and station renovations

In 1909, to address overcrowding, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.[11]:168 On January 18, 1910, a modification was made to Contracts 1 and 2 to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $41.2 million in 2019) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $13,719,643 in 2019) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.[12]:15 The platforms at the 135th Street station were extended 110 feet (34 m) to the north and 30 feet (9.1 m) to the south.[12]:112 On January 23, 1911, ten-car express trains began running on the East Side Branch.[11]:168[13]

In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, thereby dividing the original line into an "H" system. Local trains were sent to South Ferry, while express trains used the new Clark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.[14] The services at the station became 2 (West Farms express) and 3 (Lenox Avenue local) in 1948.[15] In 1959, all 2 and 3 trains became express.[16]

Starting on March 2, 1998, the tunnel was reconstructed along with the cracked tunnel floor. This was done to correct a major water problem that had existed for many years due to the presence of the Harlem Creek and other underground streams, which caused extensive flooding, water damage, and seepage problems that occasionally contributed to severe service disruptions.[17][18] The project cost $82 million and was finished on October 12, 1998.[17][19] During the reconstruction, many 2 trains were rerouted via the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, while the 3 trains were rerouted to the 137th Street–City College station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Each of the two Lenox Avenue Line tracks were alternately taken out of service and supplemental shuttle bus service connecting to other lines in the area were provided for much of this time.[20][21]

Station layout
G Street level Entrance/exit
Elevator for northbound service at northeast corner of 135th Street and Lenox Avenue; elevator for southbound service at southwest corner
P
Platform level		 Side platform
Northbound ← toward 241st Street (149th Street–Grand Concourse)
← toward 148th Street (145th Street)
Center track → No regular service
Southbound → toward Flatbush Avenue (125th Street) →
→ toward New Lots Avenue (Times Square late nights) (125th Street) →
Side platform

The station has three tracks and two side platforms; the center track is not used in regular service.[22] The 2 and 3 trains stop here at all times.[23][24] The platforms were originally 350 feet (110 m) long, as at other stations north of 96th Street.[4]:4[25]:8 The platform extensions are at the north ends of the original platforms.[25]:42 Fare control is at platform level. There are no crossovers or crossunders between the two side platforms to allow free transfer between directions.

The northbound outer track merges with the center track just north of the station and the center track merges with the southbound outer one just south of the station. North of the station, a diamond crossover allows trains to switch between the two tracks. At the 142nd Street Junction, the 2 train provides service to the Bronx via the IRT White Plains Road Line while the 3 continues on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line to 145th Street and Harlem–148th Street.[22]

Design

As with other stations built as part of the original IRT, the tunnel is covered by a "U"-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The bottom of this trough contains a foundation of concrete no less than 4 inches (100 mm) thick.[25]:9 The platforms consist of 3-inch-thick (7.6 cm) concrete slabs, beneath which are drainage basins. The original platforms contain circular, cast-iron Doric-style columns spaced every 15 feet (4.6 m), while the platform extensions contain I-beam columns. Additional columns between the tracks, spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m), support the jack-arched concrete station roofs.[4]:4[25]:9 There is a 1-inch (25 mm) gap between the trough wall and the platform walls, which are made of 4-inch (100 mm)-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish.[25]:9

The original decorative scheme consisted of blue/green tile station-name tablets, violet tile bands, a white terracotta cornice, and green terracotta plaques. The decorative work was performed by tile contractor Manhattan Glass Tile Company and terracotta contractor Atlantic Terra Cotta Company.[25]:42

The 1995 artwork here is called Harlem Timeline by Willie Birch. It features mosaics of notable Harlem residents on the station platforms.[26] The one on the southbound side includes Adam Clayton Powell, Joe Louis, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Charlie Parker, Clara Ward, and Louis Armstrong while one on the northbound side includes the Harlem Globetrotters, the NAACP, Abyssian Baptist Church, Cotton Club, and Randall's Island football team.[27]

Exits

Each platform has one same-level fare control area at the center, containing a turnstile bank, token booth, two stairs to street-level, and an elevator. The northbound platform has exits to the eastern corners of Lenox Avenue and West 135th Street and the southbound side has exits to the western corners of that intersection. The elevators make this station fully ADA-accessible. The elevator for the southbound platform leads to the southwestern corner of West 135th Street and Lenox Avenue, while the elevator for the northbound platform leads to the northeastern corner.[28]

References
  1. "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  2. "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2014–2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  3. Walker, James Blaine (1918). Fifty Years of Rapid Transit — 1864 to 1917. New York, N.Y.: Law Printing. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  4. "Interborough Rapid Transit System, Underground Interior" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. October 23, 1979. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  5. Report of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners for the City of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1904 Accompanied By Reports of the Chief Engineer and of the Auditor. Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners. 1905. pp. 229–236.
  6. Scott, Charles (1978). "Design and Construction of the IRT: Civil Engineering" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. pp. 208–282 (PDF pp. 209–283). Retrieved December 20, 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. Report of the Public Service Commission For The First District of the State of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1909. Albany: Public Service Commission. 1910. p. 191.
  8. "East Side Subway Open — Train from 145th Street to Broadway in 9 Minutes and 40 Seconds" (PDF). The New York Times. November 23, 1904. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  9. The Merchants' Association of New York Pocket Guide to New York. Merchants' Association of New York. March 1906. pp. 19–26.
  10. Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1916. p. 119.
  11. Hood, Clifton (1978). "The Impact of the IRT in New York City" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. pp. 146–207 (PDF pp. 147–208). Retrieved December 20, 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. Report of the Public Service Commission for the First District of the State of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1910. Public Service Commission. 1911.
  13. "Ten-car Trains in Subway to-day; New Service Begins on Lenox Av. Line and Will Be Extended to Broadway To-morrow". The New York Times. January 23, 1911. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  14. "Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph — Great H System Put in Operation Marks an Era in Railroad Construction — No Hitch in the Plans — But Public Gropes Blindly to Find the Way in Maze of New Stations — Thousands Go Astray — Leaders in City's Life Hail Accomplishment of Great Task at Meeting at the Astor". The New York Times. August 2, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  15. "Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph" (PDF). The New York Times. August 2, 1918. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  16. "Wagner Praises Modernized IRT — Mayor and Transit Authority Are Hailed as West Side Changes Take Effect". The New York Times. February 7, 1959. p. 21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  17. "New York City Transit - History and Chronology". mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  18. Lii, Jane H. (February 28, 1998). "Tunnel Work To Cut Service On 2 Subways". The New York Times. p. B-4. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  19. Lueck, Thomas J. (October 13, 1998). "Beating Deadline, Normal Service Returns for the Nos. 2 and 3 Subway Lines". The New York Times. p. B-3. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  20. Newman, Andy (December 12, 1997). "Repairs to Lenox Ave. Tunnel To Affect Many Subway Lines". The New York Times. p. B-8. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  21. "Lenox Rehab '98 2 3 Lenox Line Service Guide March 2-October 1998". thejoekorner.com. New York City Transit. 1998. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  22. Dougherty, Peter (2006) [2002]. Tracks of the New York City Subway 2006 (3rd ed.). Dougherty. OCLC 49777633 – via Google Books.
  23. "2 Subway Timetable, Effective September 13, 2020". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  24. "3 Subway Timetable, Effective September 13, 2020". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  25. Framberger, David J. (1978). "Architectural Designs for New York's First Subway" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. pp. 1-46 (PDF pp. 367-412). Retrieved 2020-12-20. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  26. "135th Street - Willie Birch - Harlem Timeline, 1995". web.mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on April 20, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  27. "Artwork: Harlem Timeline (Willie Birch)". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  28. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Harlem / Hamilton Heights" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
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