Colonel William A. Phillips

The Rector Street station is a local station on the BMT Broadway Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the corner of Rector Street and Trinity Place in Financial District, Lower Manhattan, 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 (BMT)'s Broadway Line opened on January 5, 1918.[2] The station's platforms originally could only fit six 67-foot-long (20 m) cars. In 1926, the New York City Board of Transportation 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.[6] The platform-lengthening project was completed in 1927, bringing the length of the platforms to 535 feet (163 m).[7][8] The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940.[9][10]

Station layout

G Street level Exit/entrance
B1
Platform level
Side platform
Northbound "R" train toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue (Cortlandt Street)
"W" train toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard weekdays (Cortlandt Street)
"N" train toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard late nights (Cortlandt Street)
Southbound "R" train toward Bay Ridge–95th Street (Whitehall Street–South Ferry)
"W" train toward Whitehall Street–South Ferry weekdays (Terminus)
"N" train toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue late nights (Whitehall Street–South Ferry)
Side platform
Uptown R train of R46 cars arriving

Since the station is on a grade, there is a noticeable slant. The station has two side platforms, and there are no overpasses, underpasses, or mezzanines to connect the platforms within fare control. 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 with fluorescent lighting.

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 and Bowling Green Offices Building to reach the Whitehall Street station.[11]

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.[12][11]

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.[12][11]

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.[12][11]

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.[3] 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).[13][14] The MTA and the developers of 77 Greenwich Street allege that FIT Investment Corp "has blocked the MTA and 42 Trinity from building the elevator with more than a year of stalling, empty promises and excuses. They have continued to occupy the sidewalk, and, when we tried to stop them, sued the MTA." However, FIT Investment Corp claims that it is "actually constructing a component of this station’s accessibility project, specifically the mechanical room for the elevator equipment."

Nearby points of interest

Image gallery

References

  1. ^ "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Open New Subway to Times Square; Brooklyn Directly Connected with Wholesale and Shopping Districts of New York". The New York Times. January 6, 1918. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "TPHS / Trinity Place Holdings Inc. FORM 10-Q (Quarterly Report) - May 10, 2018 - Fintel.io". fintel.io. United States Securities And Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  4. ^ "Annual Subway Ridership (2017–2022)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Annual Subway Ridership (2017–2022)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  6. ^ "Bids for B.M.T. Stations; Platforms South of Fourteenth Street to Be Lengthened". The New York Times. July 8, 1926. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  7. ^ "B.M.T. to Operate Eight-car Trains; Platforms in Forty Stations Are Lengthened, Increasing Capacity 33 1-3%". The New York Times. August 2, 1927. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  8. ^ "B. M, T. Station Lengthening Is Nearly Finished: 76 Platforms Are Extended 3,186 Feet to Make Room for 126.000 Additional Passengers in Rush Hours City Carried Out Work I.R.T. Changes Planned, but That Company Refuses to Pay Its Share of Costs". New-York Tribune. August 2, 1927. p. 32. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1113704092.
  9. ^ "B.M.T. Lines Pass to City Ownership; $175,000,000 Deal Completed at City Hall Ceremony-- Mayor 'Motorman No. 1'". The New York Times. June 2, 1940. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  10. ^ "City Takes Over B. M. T. System; Mayor Skippers Midnight Train". New York Herald Tribune. June 2, 1940. p. 1. ProQuest 1243059209.
  11. ^ a b c d "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Lower Manhattan" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  12. ^ a b c Cox, Jeremiah. "Rector Street (R)". The SubwayNut. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  13. ^ "FIT Investment Corp. Sues MTA over 50 Trinity Place Elevator". January 22, 2020.
  14. ^ "MTA loses suit against hotel developer over elevator construction at Rector Street station | amNewYork". April 8, 2020.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Lower Manhattan" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2018.

External links