15. Battery Park Control House
AKA: Bowling Green IRT Control House
Location: State Street and Battery Place
Built: 1904-1905
Architect: Heins & LaFarge
National Register Number: 80002669
Listed: May 6, 1980
Visited: August 19, 2007
Today in the annals of New York City lostness: the subway entrance. For the IRT, New York City's first subway line, the architects Heins & LaFarge designed handsome iron and glass kiosks and masonry control houses. None of the original kiosks remain. Not one. (The one at Astor Place? A replica from 1985.) Somewhat more substantial structures, three control houses still exist, two still functional. This is one of them. (The other is at West 72nd Street).
Much like our friends at 13 and 15 South William Street, its rounded gables were inspired by the local buildings of 250 years earlier. After all, what better way to dress up the most technologically-advanced municipal facilities of 1908 than with the architectural styles of the Flemish Renaissance?
Thing is tiny, uncomfortably so. Sure, it looks quaint on the outside, but with only two turnstiles, it takes any sizable crowd of people far too long to exit from it. And given that it's the subway exit closest to the Statue of Liberty ferries, there's always a crowd. Sometimes the crazy Statue of Liberty people park in front and the tourists stop and gawk, further blocking the flow of people. Luckily there's a larger entrance between Bowling Green Park and the U.S. Customhouse; otherwise, I'd worry more about people getting crushed should fires (or worse) break out on the platforms below.
Location: State Street and Battery Place
Built: 1904-1905
Architect: Heins & LaFarge
National Register Number: 80002669
Listed: May 6, 1980
Visited: August 19, 2007
Today in the annals of New York City lostness: the subway entrance. For the IRT, New York City's first subway line, the architects Heins & LaFarge designed handsome iron and glass kiosks and masonry control houses. None of the original kiosks remain. Not one. (The one at Astor Place? A replica from 1985.) Somewhat more substantial structures, three control houses still exist, two still functional. This is one of them. (The other is at West 72nd Street).
Much like our friends at 13 and 15 South William Street, its rounded gables were inspired by the local buildings of 250 years earlier. After all, what better way to dress up the most technologically-advanced municipal facilities of 1908 than with the architectural styles of the Flemish Renaissance?
Thing is tiny, uncomfortably so. Sure, it looks quaint on the outside, but with only two turnstiles, it takes any sizable crowd of people far too long to exit from it. And given that it's the subway exit closest to the Statue of Liberty ferries, there's always a crowd. Sometimes the crazy Statue of Liberty people park in front and the tourists stop and gawk, further blocking the flow of people. Luckily there's a larger entrance between Bowling Green Park and the U.S. Customhouse; otherwise, I'd worry more about people getting crushed should fires (or worse) break out on the platforms below.
Labels: Battery Park, Financial District, Heins and LaFarge, Subway
posted by Michael at
6:41 AM
1 Comments:
"And given that it's the subway exit closest to the Statue of Liberty ferries,..."
It might be closer to the S of L ticket booth in Castle Clinton but Whitehall and South Ferry stations seem closer to the ferry dock than Bowling Green's kiosk.
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