39. Wall Street Subway Station (IRT)

Location: Under Broadway at Wall, Pine, and Rector Streets and Exchange Place
Built: 1905
Architect: Heins & LaFarge
National Register Number: 04001011
Listed: September 17, 2004
Visited: September 28, October 3, and December 1, 2007



This station is almost completely renovated; LowerManhattan.info says "interior rehabilitation project will conclude in late November 2007" but as of December 1st there were still construction guys doing something-or-other. Far as I can see, the main differences are the removal of electric blue bricks installed in a woebegotten 1979 renovation (a similar to the one in Bowling Green that smothered Heins & LaFarge's tilework with the color of tomato). Now the station is bright and white, and the original 1905 elements--the decorative iron work, mosaics the color of money, and terra cotta tiles depicting a stepped Dutch roof peeking over the original wall of Wall Street--can now sing their populist arias uninterrupted.



One thing missing though: a wooden ticket booth mentioned in the AIA Guide to New York City. I couldn't find it on any of my trips to the station, and I don't remember where it was supposed to be -- I used to work in the area for years but this wasn't my station. What I remember of it, pre-renovation, is ramshackle dimness, but that could describe the condition of most Manhattan subway stations I used until the mid-nineties, when it seemed like a whole bunch of them got cleaned up, one after the other. I don't miss the Bad Old New York anywhere near as much as you likely do, and the subways are one reason why.