Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (IND Queens Boulevard Line)
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The Lexington Avenue/51st Street station is a
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
station complex on the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division (New York City Subway), A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhatt ...
and
IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The ...
. The station is located on
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...
and stretches from 51st Street to 53rd Street in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
. It is served by the 6 and E trains at all times; the M train on weekdays during the day; the <6> train during weekdays in the peak direction; and the 4 train during late nights. The complex comprises two stations: 51st Street on the Lexington Avenue Line and Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (originally Lexington–Third Avenues) on the Queens Boulevard Line. Originally two separate stations, these were connected in 1988 via a transfer passage, which was opened with the construction of 599 Lexington Avenue. Approximately 50,000 riders transfer between the Lexington Avenue and Queens Boulevard Lines each weekday. In 2019, the station complex had an annual ridership of 18,957,465, making it the tenth-busiest in the system. __TOC__


History


IRT Lexington Avenue Line


Planning and construction

Following the completion of the original subway line operated by the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
(IRT), there were plans to construct the Broadway–Lexington Avenue Line along Manhattan's east side. The
New York Public Service Commission The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Ser ...
adopted plans for what was known as the Broadway–Lexington Avenue route on December 31, 1907. The
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...
(BRT; after 1923, the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway sy ...
or BMT) submitted a proposal to the Commission, dated March 2, 1911, to operate this line as part of the tri-borough system. Originally, the commission had assigned the operation of the Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan to the BRT, as the IRT had withdrawn from negotiations over the proposed tri-borough system. The IRT proposed in December 1911 that it be assigned the Lexington Avenue Line, in exchange for dropping its opposition to the BRT's operation of the Broadway Line. The Lexington Avenue Line was to connect with the IRT's existing subway north of Grand Central–42nd Street. The IRT submitted an offer for what became its portion of the Dual Contracts on February 27, 1912. The
Dual Contracts The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the New York City, City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the ...
, two operating contracts between the city and the BMT and IRT, were adopted on March 4, 1913, and signed on March 19. The IRT was authorized to construct a local station on its Lexington Avenue Line at 51st Street. The Public Service Commission planned to split the original
Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
(IRT) system from looking like a "Z" system (as seen on a map) to an H-shaped system. The original system would be split into three segments: two north–south lines, carrying through trains over the Lexington Avenue and Broadway–Seventh Avenue Lines, and a west–east shuttle under 42nd Street. This would form a roughly H-shaped system. It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the
Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...
and
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
. The IRT was authorized to construct a local station on its Lexington Avenue Line at Lexington Avenue and 51st Street. Contracts for the section of the line south of 53rd Street had still not been awarded by early 1914 because of the changes to the original plans. In May 1914, the Public Service Commission began soliciting bids for the construction of section 7 of the Lexington Avenue Line, which stretched between 43rd and 53rd Streets and included a station at 51st Street. IRT subsidiary Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company received a $1,915,164 contract to build section 7 the next month. The Public Service Commission received the rights in July 1915 to build subway entrances within the Nursery and Child's Hospital at the southeastern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, which would have served the IRT station there. Although the Lexington Avenue Line north of 53rd Street was almost completed by the end of 1915, that segment could not be opened because the rest of the line was not complete. In particular, the section between 43rd and 53rd Streets was only 37 percent done. Work on section 7 of the line was delayed in mid-1916 when numerous workers went on strike. Section 7 was 42 percent complete by September 1916 and was 77 percent finished by the following March.


Opening and early years

The 51st Street station opened on July 17, 1918, with service initially running between Grand Central–42nd Street and 167th Street via the line's local tracks. On August 1, the "H system" was put into place, with through service beginning on the new east and west side trunk lines, and the institution of the
42nd Street Shuttle The 42nd Street Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train service that operates in Manhattan. The shuttle is sometimes referred to as the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle, since these are the only two stations it serves. The shuttle op ...
along the old connection between the sides. The cost of the extension from Grand Central was $58 million. As part of an experiment, the IRT installed four "feather-weight-pressure" turnstiles at the station in 1921 to speed up passenger flow. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.


IND Queens Boulevard Line

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first built by the city-owned
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
(IND), and was planned to stretch between the
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND); as such, New Yorkers originally applied the ''Eighth Avenue Subwa ...
in Manhattan and 178th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, with a stop at Lexington Avenue.See: * * Board of Transportation of the City of New York Engineering Department, Proposed Additional Rapid Transit Lines And Proposed Vehicular Tunnel, dated August 23, 1929 The line was first proposed in 1925. Bids for the 53rd Street subway tunnel were received in October 1926, and work started in April 1927. The 53rd Street Tunnel was fully excavated between Queens and Manhattan in January 1929. The First Avenue Association suggested that an entrance to the Lexington Avenue/53rd Street station on the Queens Boulevard Line be built on Second Avenue, but the
New York City Board of Transportation The New York City Board of Transportation or the Board of Transportation of the City of New York (NYCBOT or BOT) was a city transit commission and operator in New York City, consisting of three members appointed by the Mayor of New York City, m ...
declined to do so, citing high costs and underground obstructions. The Lexington Avenue/53rd Street station opened on August 19, 1933, with the opening of the
IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The ...
to
Roosevelt Avenue Roosevelt Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue are main thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. West of Queens Boulevard, the ...
in Queens. Service was initially provided by E trains running via the
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND); as such, New Yorkers originally applied the ''Eighth Avenue Subwa ...
.* * * The opening of the 53rd Street Line caused a steep increase in business activity along the corridor. By January 1934, the Lexington Avenue station was the busiest on the Queens Boulevard Line, surpassing the Roosevelt Avenue station. On December 15, 1940, the
IND Sixth Avenue Line The IND Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south to Brooklyn. The B, D, F, and M trains, which use ...
opened between West Fourth Street–Washington Square and 59th Street–Columbus Circle. On this date, trains began using this station, diverging west of the station onto the Sixth Avenue Line.* *


Modifications and station renovations


1960s and 1970s

In 1966, an agreement was reached with the developers of 345 Park Avenue to remove the entrance at the corner of 51st Street and Lexington Avenue and replace it with a new entrance at the same corner adjacent to the building. A group of private citizens, the Fund for Better Subway Stations, announced in September 1968 that it would donate $450,000 to beautify the station. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
(MTA) intended to provide
matching funds Matching funds are funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources. Matching fund payments usually arise in situations of charity or public good. The terms cost sharing, in-kind, and matching can be used inter ...
for the project, but it had not approved a contract for the renovation by early 1970. In July 1968, MTA subsidiary
New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...
(NYCTA) completed plans to construct a -long free transfer passageway between the north end of the 51st Street station and the Lexington Avenue mezzanine of the Lexington Avenue station. Construction on the project was supposed to start in early 1969. On December 12, 1969, the NYCTA put the estimated $2.5 million contract up for bid. The passageway was not built at the time; passengers still had to exit to the street and pay an extra fare to transfer between the stations. This caused overcrowding on the Flushing Line, which did have direct interchanges with the Lexington Avenue and Queens Boulevard lines. By 1970, the IND's Lexington Avenue station was among the subway system's 12 worst bottlenecks for passenger flow. The escalators at the western end of the IND station were replaced in 1977, and a new subway entrance was built as part of the construction of Citicorp Center in the late 1970s.


1980s

Renovations of the IRT's 51st Street station and the IND's Lexington Avenue station were funded as part of the MTA's 1980–1984 capital plan. Madison Equities, the developer of an office building at 875 Third Avenue, agreed in 1981 to expand the IND station and add a retail arcade in exchange for of additional space. The developer was unable to complete the subway expansion because of the presence of holdout tenants in four brownstones, which occupied the site of the proposed subway entrance. The
New York City Planning Commission The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, ...
mandated that two floors of 875 Third Avenue could not be occupied unless the subway improvements were completed, or unless Madison Equities had attempted to buy out the holdout tenants. Following various legal disputes, Madison Equities finally bought out the holdout tenants in the late 1980s and completed the subway expansion.
Boston Properties BXP, Inc. (formerly Boston Properties, Inc.) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust which invests in premier workplaces in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. As of December 31, 2023, the c ...
, which was developing a skyscraper at 599 Lexington Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets, proposed in 1984 to construct a passageway between 52nd Street and the IND mezzanine at 53rd Street. The MTA would concurrently build the section of the passageway between 51st and 52nd Streets. The 36-foot-wide passageway would be bisected by a glass wall, which would allow passengers to transfer between the stations within fare control while also allowing the public to use it without paying a fare. In exchange, Boston Properties would be permitted to add to its building, expanding the structure's floor area by 20 percent. Manhattan Community Board 6 endorsed the plans in January 1984, and
New York City Board of Estimate The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments eff ...
approved the proposal that April. Vollmer Associates was hired to design the free transfer passageway. Gerald D. Hines, the developer of the
Lipstick Building The Lipstick Building, also known as 885 Third Avenue and 53rd at Third, is a office building at Third Avenue between 53rd Street and 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was completed in 1986 and has 34 fl ...
at 885 Third Avenue, was similarly allowed to expand his building's floor area by 20 percent in late 1984 after he agreed to add an entrance to the IND station from just outside his building. Construction of the transfer passageway had begun by early 1986 and lasted three and a half years. During the passage's construction, in June 1986, an old water main broke and flooded the station. To speed up passenger flow, dozens of platform conductors were assigned to direct crowds on the IND platform during the late 1980s. Additionally, the MTA began installing elevators at the 51st Street IRT station in 1986, making it one of the first wheelchair-accessible stations in the subway system. By December 1988, Boston Properties had completed its half of the transfer passageway and opened a new subway entrance. However, the MTA's portion of the passageway was delayed by the presence of utilities, as well as the fact that workers had encountered solid rock rather than soft ground. The passageway between the IRT and IND platforms opened on June 26, 1989, two years behind schedule. Boston Properties had contributed $13 million on the project, while the MTA spent $10 million. The passageway was expected to be used by 20,000 daily passengers at the time of its completion. A reporter for ''Newsday'' wrote: "Were it not for the concept of developer shakedown, those two lines would still not meet."


1990s to present

In April 1993, the
New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...
agreed to give the MTA $9.6 billion for capital improvements. Some of the funds would be used to renovate nearly one hundred New York City Subway stations, including the IND station at Lexington Avenue. Amid a funding shortfall, the MTA announced in October 1994 that it had indefinitely postponed plans for renovating the Lexington Avenue/51st Street station. The transfer between the IRT and IND platforms was temporarily closed on May 16, 1996, while the escalators were being replaced; riders were forced to exit the station, walk along street level, and pay another fare to reenter the station. In addition, reverse-peak E and F trains did not stop at the station (northbound during the morning, southbound during the afternoon) to reduce overcrowding, as only the escalators to Third Avenue remained open. During that time, the Gottlieb Group replaced four escalators in the complex for $10.5 million. The work was supposed to be completed in September 1996, but it was pushed back by four months due to the need for
asbestos abatement In construction, asbestos abatement is a set of procedures designed to control the release of Asbestos, asbestos fibers from asbestos-containing materials. Asbestos abatement is utilized during general construction in areas containing asbestos m ...
and the large crowds at the station. Local civic groups reported in the mid-1990s that the station suffered from severe overcrowding. The complex was ranked as the system's sixth-busiest station in 1999, with 16.6 million annual passengers, beating out express stations on the Lexington Avenue Line such as 14th Street–Union Square and 86th Street. According to surveys conducted in the early 2000s by advocacy group
Straphangers Campaign The Straphangers Campaign is a New York City-based transit interest group that advocates on behalf of riders of public transport. The organization is part of the NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group). The Straphangers Campaign's main ...
, the Lexington Avenue/51st Street station had the worst "cleanliness, security, ease of movement and station information" of any major subway station citywide. The station's escalators were among the system's most heavily used. In early 2001, to reduce overcrowding, the MTA placed orange decals on the Lexington Avenue Line platforms with the words "Step Aside", and it employed platform attendants during rush hours. The V train replaced the F train at the station in December 2001, when the 63rd Street Connection opened. To compensate for the loss of a free transfer between the F and 6 trains, the MTA added a free out-of-system transfer between the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station and the
Lexington Avenue/59th Street station The Lexington Avenue/59th Street station (signed as 59th Street–Lexington Avenue) is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and the BMT Broadway Line. It is located at Lexington Avenue between 59th and ...
. By the early 2000s, the MTA was planning to spend $74.7 million on further renovations, including a new passageway. Work commenced in November 2002. During that time, northbound E and V trains skipped the station during morning rush hours, and passengers were not allowed to transfer from the 6 train to the E and V trains. As part of efforts to ease crowding in the station, a mezzanine was added to connect the Lexington Avenue passageway to the Third Avenue end of the IND station. The escalators to the IND platform were also replaced, and a new elevator was added to the IND platform. During this renovation, the transfer passageway was temporarily narrowed to as little as at certain points; this created hazardous conditions during rush hours. The escalators reopened in October 2003, ahead of schedule. By early 2020, the escalators at the Third Avenue end of the station were operating less than five percent of the time and had not worked at all for over a year. This made the escalators the least reliable privately-operated escalators in the system. As a result, the Third Avenue escalators were closed for several months of repairs in October 2022 and had reopened by December 2023. In 2024,
Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. It was established in 1887 as a concrete product manufacturer. History Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established i ...
was hired to replace 21 escalators across the New York City Subway system for $146 million, including one escalator at the 51st Street station.


Station layout

The IRT Lexington Avenue Line station is a local stop with two tracks and two
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...
s. It runs north–south under Lexington Avenue from 50th to 52nd Street. The IND Queens Boulevard Line station is an express stop with two tracks and one
island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...
. It runs west–east under 53rd Street with a mezzanine from Lexington Avenue to Third Avenue. The mezzanine is divided into two sections by three separate
fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A s ...
areas. A passageway links the northbound IRT platform and the mezzanine of the IND platform. From the extreme north end of both IRT platforms, a staircase, an elevator, and an escalator lead to an underpass connecting the southbound and northbound IRT platforms, linking to a corridor extending north from the northbound platform. The corridor extends north to the staircases and escalators going down to the IND platform, with a turnstile bank in the center. The corridor is divided into two sections: a shopping arcade outside fare control and a transfer hallway inside fare control. At the north end of the corridor are two escalators (one up-only, the other reversible-direction) and a staircase down to the west end of the IND platform. A down-only escalator, a reversible-direction escalator, and an elevator are located to the east, leading to the center of the IND platform.


Artwork

In 1976, with funding from the
Exxon Corporation Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...
, this station, as well as three others citywide, received new "artfully humorous graffiti" murals and artwork. Local designer Sperling Elman Inc. received $5,000 to place a new coat of paint on the entrances. The paint was placed "in a variety of colors and in broad stripes". As part of the
MTA Arts & Design MTA Arts & Design, formerly known as Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit and Arts for Transit and Urban Design, is a commissioned art program directed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems ...
program, an artwork by Nina Yankowitz, ''Tunnel Vision'', was installed in the underpass connecting the IRT platforms in 1988 or 1989. The artwork consisted of blue tiles within a crack arranged in the shape of a lightning bolt, which was placed against a white-tile wall. According to Yankowitz, the crack was meant to "symbolically open the tunnel to expose the sky". The artwork also included a
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
atop the wall, which was patterned after the skyline of New York City, as well as decorative
pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
s. This artwork covered and was removed in 2016. Abstract painter
Al Held Al Held (October 12, 1928 – July 27, 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist painter. He was particularly well known for his large scale Hard-edge paintings. As an artist, multiple stylistic changes occurred throughout his career, ho ...
designed an artwork in 2004, ''Passing Through'', just prior to his death. It consists of multicolored mosaic tiles along the curving mezzanine walls. The tiles, manufactured by Miotto Mosaic Art Studio, depict various geometric shapes that appear to "float" along the wall, such as rings, checkerboard patterns, clouds, and pipes. The artwork measures about long.


Exits

The section of the transfer corridor outside fare control leads to a staircase and elevator inside the south side of 132 East 53rd Street, which go up to the northeast corner of East 52nd Street and Lexington Avenue. A glass-enclosed staircase outside the same building leads to the southeast corner of 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Outside fare control under the
Citigroup Center The Citigroup Center (formerly Citicorp Center and also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue) is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1977 for Citibank, it is tall and has ...
, at the northeast corner of the same intersection, there are two stairs and an elevator. The southbound Lexington Avenue Line platform has a part-time fare control area near the south end. A seven-step staircase goes up to a turnstile bank. Outside fare control, there is a customer assistance booth and one staircase going up to a plaza at 560 Lexington Avenue on the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and East 50th Street. This entrance is placed within a curved glass enclosure measuring high; during weekends, the entrance is sealed off by a circular hinged wall. The entrance's current design was part of a renovation of the plaza designed by
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...
and completed in 2015. The
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
's Terence Cardinal Cooke-Cathedral Branch is within this exit, just outside of fare control. The branch, the second smallest in the NYPL system, became part of the New York Public Library in 1992. Before that, it was a library for the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the count ...
. At Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, eight stairs go up to all four corners of that intersection (two to each corner). The eastern stairs serve the northbound platform, and the western stairs serve the southbound platform. At one point, there was also an entrance from the southbound platform to the basement of the
General Electric Building The General Electric Building, also known as 570 Lexington Avenue, is a skyscraper at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building, designed by Cross & ...
at 51st Street, which opened in 1931 and was sealed, being replaced by a new street entrance in 1965. The connecting passageway was made of marble with aluminum storefronts. The entrance in the General Electric Building's basement replaced the original sidewalk staircases at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street. The Queens Boulevard Line platform has an unstaffed entrance/exit at the east ( railroad north) end. Two staircases go up to either western corner of Third Avenue and 53rd Street. A larger staircase goes up to the entrance plaza of 205 East 53rd Street at the northeast corner, and there is also an entrance/exit from under the southeast-corner building. The original name, Lexington–3rd Avenues, came from this exit. The fare control area contains access to both the primary mezzanine, which contains the IRT transfer, as well as a set of staircases and escalators leading directly to the east end of the IND platform.


IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms

The 51st Street station on the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division (New York City Subway), A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhatt ...
is a local
station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...
with two local tracks and two
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...
s. The station is served by the train at all times, the <6> train on weekdays in the peak direction during the day, and the train at night. The two express tracks, used by the and trains during daytime hours, pass through on a lower level and are not visible from the platforms. The station is between to the north and to the south. Both platforms have emergency exits from the lower level express tracks. The station features modern beige bricks over the original tiles, but the standard
IRT IRT may refer to: Organisations * Indiana Repertory Theatre, an American company of actors * Institut für Rundfunktechnik, a German research institute for broadcasters * Interborough Rapid Transit Company, a defunct New York subway operator Sci ...
-style mosaics remain intact. There is a crossunder at the extreme north end of the platforms with an elevator, a staircase, and an up-only escalator on each side. The platforms are approximately below street level and the station's full-time fare control areas are at the center of each. A staircase of seven steps goes up to a
turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...
bank, with a token booth and two exits to each corner on each side outside fare control. This station is the southernmost station on the Lexington Avenue Line to be directly under Lexington Avenue itself. South of here, the line shifts slightly westward to
Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...
.


Image gallery

File:51 Street IRT 001.JPG, Mosaic name tablet File:51st Street - Stair.JPG, 51st Street entrance to the southbound platform File:E51 St IRT sta jeh.jpg, 50th Street entrance to the southbound platform


IND Queens Boulevard Line platform

The Lexington Avenue–53rd Street station on the
IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The ...
opened on August 19, 1933 and has two tracks and one
island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...
. The E train serves the station at all times, while the M train serves the station on weekdays during the day. The station is between to the east (railroad north) and to the west (railroad south). East of this station, the line goes under the East River to
Long Island City, Queens Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...
. It was built below street level. As a result, long escalators and staircases are required to reach the
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
from the platform. At the extreme west end of the Queens Boulevard Line platform, a single staircase and a bank of two escalators (which once had the highest vertical rise of any escalator in the U.S.), a single escalator, and one
ADA-accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
elevator go up to the full-time mezzanine. The escalators have a vertical rise of . There are no tiles, trim line, or
mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...
s on the track walls.


Image gallery

File:Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street - CitiGroup Entrance.JPG, Stair at the foot of 599 Lexington Avenue File:ZDRF0039A.jpg, Older signage, since removed from the station File:RFW Lex-53rd.jpg, As seen from the front of an arriving train File:Lex Av-53 St.JPG, An M train of R160As on the downtown track


Proposed Second Avenue Subway station

After the MTA indicated in the 1990s that it would construct the Second Avenue Subway, the agency considered including a transfer between the Lexington Avenue/51st Street station complex and the proposed 55th Street station on the
Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue o ...
, which would be located under Second Avenue between 52nd Street and 56th Street. This would provide a transfer to the proposed T train, which would serve the Second Avenue Line upon completion of Phase 3, although that phase was not funded or scheduled . The transfer was evaluated as part of a 2004 environmental impact statement for the Second Avenue Subway. If built, the proposed transfer passage would run under 53rd Street between the eastern end of the Queens Boulevard Line platform and Second Avenue, connecting to the southern end of 55th Street station. The MTA projects that providing a transfer between the Queens Boulevard and Second Avenue lines would reduce crowding in the existing transfer passage between the Queens Boulevard and Lexington Avenue lines at the western end of the Queens Boulevard Line platform.


References


External links

* * nycsubway.org â€
Tunnel Vision Artwork by Nina Yankowitz (1989)
* nycsubway.org â€
Passing Through Artwork by Al Held (2004)
* * Station Reporter â€

MTA: Arts for Transit:

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110606083548/http://mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=6&station=11&xdev=1036 Lexington Avenue-53rd Street Page 2
Lexington Avenue–53rd Street


Google Maps Street View:
Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street entrance

Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street entrance

Lexington Avenue and 51st Street entrance

Lexington Avenue and 50th Street entrance

Third Avenue and 53rd Street entrance

IND platform

IRT platforms

Lobby at Turnsitles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lexington Avenue 51st - 53rd Streets (New York City Subway) IRT Lexington Avenue Line stations IND Queens Boulevard Line stations New York City Subway transfer stations New York City Subway stations in Manhattan Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918 1918 establishments in New York City Midtown Manhattan Proposed IND Second Avenue Line stations Turtle Bay, Manhattan