Audubon Park Historic District

AP

Broadway, circa 1911

looking south from 158th Street

This image is full of period detail, all long-since gone: horse-drawn vehicles sharing the streets with motor cars, original subway kiosks, earlier versions of streetlights, the bridge connecting the two sides of Trinity Cemetery and the awnings shading apartment house windows.

Not only are the entrances to the uptown (right side) and downtown (left side) subway above-ground kiosks, they are placed differently from today's entrances.  In October 1951, three City Councilmen jointly introduced a resolution to the Council that they remove all 1904-style subway kiosks.  Parents in Washington Heights had complained that the kiosks "jeopardize the lives of school children because they obscure traffic (NYT October 12, 1951).  A few days later, the New York Times supported removal of these "obsolete ornaments."

This was not the first time New Yorkers had raised the alarm about subway kiosks, but the cost of removal was prohibitive.  In 1951, the estimated cost to remove one kiosk was $3,500; with seventy or so remaining kiosks, the total cost would be almost $250,000.  Even so, over the next decade, the kiosks came down.  At 157th Street, the new entrances, with two stairways each, were constructed adjacent to the buildings on the southeast and northwest corners rather than sitting in a lane of traffic on Broadway.  Most likely, the old entrances remained in use until the new were completed, with a minimum of disruption in service.

Now, of course, the remaining subway kiosks are protected as landmarks; such are the changing winds of historic prevservation.  Of course, we should also be practical: given the reckless vehicular traffic on Broadway today, these kiosks would be demolished overnight.

Detail of subway entrance