Summary: What is your favorite subway station The one you used while living at your first home in the city The one with lots of trains lines, making it easy to transfer from line to line Or maybe its the one that the New York Times once called the quotMona Lisa of subway stations.quot Yes, you heard correctly. A subway station likened to famous artwork. What station might that be City Hall. City Hall Station was the systems flagship in 1904. It is here that the subway began its run north into Manhattan and the Bronx. How else is City Hall unique It is the only instance where the original subway architects Heins amp LaFarge had the opportunity to carry out largescale architectural planning and design an entire station.The station is a remarkable brick and tile space. It contains high vaulted ceilings, faced in broad white terracotta tiles set off by green and brown tiles at the edges, and elaborate leaded glass skylights, arched over the curving loop tracks. Electric chandeliers, oak furnishings, and decorative faience plaques inscribed quotCity Hallquot add to the effect, but the station owes its design to its curved shape and materials.The most distinctive element of this shape is the ceiling vaults produced by the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company. Spanish architect Raphael Guastavino founded the company in 1889. By the time it closed in 1962, the company held 24 patents and had completed work in some of Americas most famous buildings, including the United States Supreme Court, Ellis Island, and Grand Central Terminal.Guastavinos famous timbrel vault ceilings are based on vernacular vaulting techniques used in Europe, but not well known in America. The vaults use terra cotta tiles less than an inch thick and six to twelve inches across set in three herringbonepattern courses between thin layers of Portland cement. In addition to being beautiful, the vaults were strong and fireproof. In 1901, Guastavino estimated the cost of the City Hall Station arches to be 11,296. The work was completed by mid1902.If you look up, youll see in addition to the Guastavino vaults stunning, complex skylights. These did not weather the years as well as most architectural elements in 1904 stations. Damaged beyond repair, the remaining skylights were removed by MTA in consultation with the Landmarks Conservancy in 2003. Architectural conservators replicated three sections of the lights, which were then reinstalled in the station. Those are what you see today.Despite its beauty, City Hall Station was closed to passengers in 1945. The short curved platform was incompatible with the longer trains used on the subway by the 1940s. Service in the area was shifted to nearby Brooklyn Bridge station.
