The Rector Street station 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 ...

on the

BMT Broadway Line The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division (New York City Subway), B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan. , it is served by four services, all colored : the on the express tracks and the on the local tracks ...

of the

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 ...

. Located at the corner of Rector Street and

Trinity Place Church Street and Trinity Place form a single northbound roadway in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its northern end is at Canal Street and its southern end is at Morris Street, where Trinity Place merges with Greenwich Street. The dividing p ...

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

, the station is served by the R train at all times except late nights, when the N train takes over service. The W train also serves this station on weekdays.

History

The Rector Street station on 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 ...

(BMT)'s Broadway Line opened on January 5, 1918. The station's platforms originally could only fit six cars. In 1926, 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 ...

received bids for the lengthening of platforms at nine stations on the Broadway Line, including the Rector Street station, to accommodate eight-car trains. Edwards & Flood submitted a low bid of $101,775 for the project. The platform-lengthening project was completed in 1927, bringing the length of the platforms to . The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940. The station was temporarily closed for six weeks after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, reopening on October 27, 2001.

Station layout

Since the station is on a

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

, there is a noticeable slant. The station has 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, and there are no overpasses, underpasses, or mezzanines to connect the platforms within

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 ...

. The station was overhauled in the late 1970s. The original trim lines were replaced with white cinderblock tiles, except for small recesses in the walls, which contain blue-painted cinderblock tiles. The staircases were repaired and new platform edges were installed. The blue cinderblock field contains the station-name signs and white text pointing to the exits. The renovation also replaced

incandescent lighting An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is either ...

with

fluorescent lighting A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, to produce ultraviolet and make a phosphor ...

. The uptown platform maintains one old style sign while at the north end of the downtown/Brooklyn platform is an entire closed off portion of the platform. There are several (painted over) old style Rector Street mosaic signs on this platform. Directly to the south, the BMT Broadway Line curves southeast under the

Cunard Building The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's ''Three Graces'', which line the ...

and Bowling Green Offices Building to reach the Whitehall Street station.

Exits

Each platform has its own platform-level fare controls. The full-time exit is at the north end of the station, at Rector Street and Trinity Place. The uptown platform contains a token booth and three street stairs: two to the northeast corner of the aforementioned intersection, and one to the southeast corner. The downtown platform is unstaffed and has four street stairs: two to the southwest corner and two to the northwest corner. Just south of the fare control for the downtown platform, there are two exit-only turnstiles leading to an exit-only stair to the western side of Trinity Place. At the extreme south end of the station, there is another street stair from the uptown platform to the northwest corner of Greenwich and Morris Streets, directly across from Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza and the entrance to the separate Rector Street station on the

IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatt ...

. The downtown platform is proposed to become ADA-accessible with the construction of an elevator leading from an easement in 50 Trinity Place to the downtown platform. The elevator's installation was required per zoning regulations, which mandated that the developers of 77 Greenwich Street (also known as 42 Trinity Place) fund transit improvements at the station. However, whether the elevator will be installed has been unknown since April 2020 due to various lawsuits involving the MTA and FIT Investment Corp (the developer for 50 Trinity Place).

Nearby points of interest

65 Broadway 65 Broadway, formerly the American Express Building, is a building on Broadway between Morris and Rector Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The 21-story concrete and steel-frame structure, an office building, was ...

American Stock Exchange Building The American Stock Exchange Building, formerly known as the New York Curb Exchange Building and also known as 86 Trinity Place or 123 Greenwich Street, is the former headquarters of the American Stock Exchange. Designed in two sections by Starre ...

* Empire Building * Robert and Anne Dickey House * Trinity Church

Image gallery

File:Rector Street BMT 006.JPG, Remaining part of the original tiles and mosaics on the uptown platform File:Rector Street BMT 004.JPG, Mosaic File:Rector street.jpeg, Slant of the platform, this station being on a grade File:Rector Street BMT 008.JPG, Part of the platform on the southbound side that is walled off File:Rector Street station showing grade.JPG, Station slope

References

External links

* * Station Reporter �
N Train
* Station Reporter �

Rector Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

entrance near Brooklyn Battery Tunnel from Google Maps Street View

Platforms from Google Maps Street View
{{Financial District, Manhattan, state=collapsed BMT Broadway Line stations New York City Subway stations in Manhattan Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918 1918 establishments in New York City Financial District, Manhattan