Spring Street station (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox NYCS The Spring Street station is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Lafayette Street and Spring Street in SoHo and Little Italy, Manhattan, it is served by {{ #if: | 6 | 6 }}{{

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The Spring Street station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes the Spring Street station started on September 12 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The station's platforms were lengthened in the late 1950s.

The Spring Street station contains two side platforms and four tracks; express trains use the inner two tracks to bypass the station. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations, which are continued along the platform extensions. The station contains exits to Spring Street at the center of each platform. The platforms are not connected to each other within fare control.

HistoryEdit

Construction and openingEdit

Template:Stack Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature authorized the Rapid Transit Act.<ref name="Walker 1918">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. 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.<ref name="NYCL-1096">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and legal challenges were resolved near the end of 1899.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp 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,<ref name="Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners 1905">Template:Cite book</ref> in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.<ref name="NYCL-1096" />Template:Rp Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp

The Spring Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's original line, particularly the section from Chambers Street to Great Jones Street. Construction on this section of the line began on July 10, 1900, and was awarded to Degnon-McLean Contracting Company.<ref name="Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners 1905" /> Two days after construction began, the contract was modified to widen the subway at Spring Street to allow for the construction of Template:Convert of a fifth track.<ref name="Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners 1902">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp By early 1902, the adjacent tunnel had been completed, and the buildings on either side of Lafayette Street (then known as Elm Street) were being underpinned in anticipation of the construction of the subway station itself.<ref name="nyt-1902-02-02">Template:Cite news</ref> The stretch of Elm Street north of Spring Street was being repaved by that September, after the tunnel was completed.<ref name="n125316259">Template:Cite news</ref> The Rapid Transit Commission had yet to pay McDonald for his work by January 1903, in part because sewage lines on the west side of Elm Street had not been completed.<ref name="p571323398">Template:Cite news</ref>

By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Spring Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.<ref name="Walker 1918" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Service changes and station renovationsEdit

1900s to 1930sEdit

File:Spring Street vc.jpg

View of the transition between the original platform section and the platform extension

After the initial system was completed in 1908,<ref name="242nd">Template:Cite news</ref> the station was served by local trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1909, to address overcrowding, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.<ref name="HAER Impact">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.<ref name="Report 1911">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Platforms at local stations, such as the Spring Street station, were lengthened by between Template:Convert. The northbound platform was extended to the south.<ref name="Report 1911"/>Template:Rp Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910.<ref name="HAER Impact" />Template:Rp The Lexington Avenue Line opened north of Grand Central–42nd Street in 1918, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. All local trains were sent via the Lexington Avenue Line, running along the Pelham Line in the Bronx.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In December 1922, the Transit Commission approved a $3 million project to lengthen platforms at 14 local stations along the original IRT line, including Spring Street and seven other stations on the Lexington Avenue Line. Platform lengths at these stations would be increased from Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p576721174">Template:Cite news</ref> The commission postponed the platform-lengthening project in September 1923, at which point the cost had risen to $5.6 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=p1237290874>Template:Cite news</ref> The commission again considered lengthening the IRT platforms at Spring Street in December 1927.<ref name="nyt-1927-12-05">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p1132104986">Template:Cite news</ref> At the end of the month, the Transit Commission requested that the IRT create plans to lengthen the platforms at Bleecker Street and three other Lexington Avenue Line stations to Template:Convert.<ref name="nyt-1928-01-01">Template:Cite news</ref> The New York City Board of Transportation drew up plans for the project,<ref name="nyt-1929-07-07"/> but the federal government placed an injunction against the commission's platform-lengthening decree, which remained in place for over a year.<ref name=nyt-1929-07-11>Template:Cite news</ref> The commission approved the plans in mid-1929; the Spring Street station's southbound platform was to be extended Template:Convert to the south, while the northbound platform was to be extended Template:Convert south.<ref name="nyt-1929-07-07">Template:Cite news</ref> The IRT refused, claiming that the city government was responsible for the work, and obtained a federal injunction to prevent the commission from forcing the IRT to lengthen the platforms.<ref name="nyt-1929-09-21">Template:Cite news</ref> In late 1930, the commission requested that the New York Supreme Court force the IRT to lengthen platforms at the Canal Street and Spring Street stations.<ref name="nyt-1930-09-05">Template:Cite news</ref>

1940s to presentEdit

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p1248134780">Template:Cite news</ref> In late 1959, contracts were awarded to extend the platforms at Template:Stn, Template:Stn, Template:Stn, Template:Stn, Spring Street, Template:Stn, Template:Stn, Template:Stn, Template:Stn, and Template:Stn to Template:Convert.<ref name="Annual Report 1959">Template:Cite book</ref> In April 1960, work began on a $3,509,000 project (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year) to lengthen platforms at seven of these stations to accommodate ten-car trains. The northbound platforms at Canal Street, Spring Street, Bleecker Street, and Astor Place were lengthened from Template:Convert; the platform extensions at these stations opened on February 19, 1962.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The station was renovated in the late 1980s. After a mosaic panel fell off the wall during 1988, the renovation was temporarily halted.<ref name="p277960129">Template:Cite news</ref>

Station layoutEdit

File:Spring Street 6 - Downtown stairs.jpg

Stairs to downtown platform

File:NYCSub 6 spring st entrance.jpg

View of an entrance to the uptown platform.

Template:NYCS Platform Layout IRT Lexington Avenue Line/Park Avenue South stations

Like other local stations, Spring Street has four tracks and two side platforms. The 6 stops here at all times,<ref name="tt6">Template:NYCS const</ref> rush-hour and midday <6> trains stop here in the peak direction;<ref name="tt6"/> and the 4 stops here during late nights.<ref name="tt4">Template:NYCS const</ref> The two express tracks are used by the 4 and 5 trains during daytime hours.<ref name="tracks">Template:NYCS const</ref> The station is between Template:Stl to the north and Template:Stl to the south.<ref name=submap>Template:NYCS const</ref> The platforms were originally Template:Convert long, like at other local stations on the original IRT,<ref name="NYCL-1096"/>Template:Rp<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp but as a result of the 1959 platform extensions, became Template:Convert long.<ref name="Annual Report 1959"/> The platform extensions are at the front ends of the original platforms: the southbound platform was extended southward and the northbound platform was extended northward.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp This resulted in the two platforms being offset from each other. Both platforms are slightly curved.

Spring Street had a fifth center track at the time of its opening.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nycsubway">Spring Street (IRT East Side Line) Template:WebarchiveNYCSubway Retrieved August 30, 2008</ref> The track was intended as a storage siding and was Template:Convert long.<ref name="Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners 1902"/>Template:Rp This track did not last long; it was reportedly disconnected and removed in 1906, only two years after the subway opened. The trackway is now used as the location of a mechanical room.<ref name="nycsubway"/>

DesignEdit

Template:Multiple image 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 Template:Convert thick.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp Each platform consists of Template:Convert concrete slabs, beneath which are drainage basins. The original platforms contain circular, cast-iron Doric-style columns spaced every Template:Convert, while the platform extensions contain I-beam columns. Additional columns between the tracks, spaced every Template:Convert, support the jack-arched concrete station roofs.<ref name="NYCL-1096" />Template:Rp<ref name="HAER Designs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp There is a Template:Convert gap between the trough wall and the platform walls, which are made of Template:Convert-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp

The original decorative scheme consists of blue tile station-name tablets, light blue tile bands, a white terracotta cornice, and light blue terracotta plaques.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp The mosaic tiles at all original IRT stations were manufactured by the American Encaustic Tile Company, which subcontracted the installations at each station.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp The decorative work was performed by tile contractor Manhattan Glass Tile Company and terracotta contractor Atlantic Terra Cotta Company.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp The ceilings of the original platforms and fare control areas contain plaster molding.<ref name="HAER Designs"/>Template:Rp The station has small "S" cartouches with two poppies from 1904, made by Atlantic Terra Cotta, and large mosaic tablets by Heins & LaFarge, also from 1904. Other small "S" and "Spring St" mosaics are newer.<ref name="nycsubway"/>

Where the platforms have been extended, the walls have green tiles and a darker green trim line with "SPRING ST" written on it in black sans serif font at regular intervals.

ExitsEdit

Spring Street has four entrances, two to each platform. The northbound entrances are at either eastern corner of Lafayette and Spring Streets, while the southbound entrances are at either western corner of the same intersection.<ref name=maps>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The entrance to the southwestern corner is located within the building line at 225 Lafayette Street,<ref name="maps" /> a 12-story building built in 1925 for the East River Savings Bank.<ref name="nyt-1956-12-31">Template:Cite news</ref>

In popular cultureEdit

This station is featured in the 2008 film Cloverfield. The scene was not filmed there, however.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The station is featured in the season 3 episode, "Lo-Fi", in the television show Criminal Minds.