Bleecker Street Station Restoration, New York Metro Building Upgrade, Architecture, Photos

Bleecker Street Station : MTA Subway Architecture

New York Subway Restoration design by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects

Feb 18, 2013

Bleecker Street Station Complex

Design: Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects with Weidlinger Associates

Bleecker Street Station Station Restoration & Upgrade

BLEECKER ST. SUBWAY STATION GIVEN A NEW LINK AND RESTORED BY LEE HARRIS POMEROY ARCHITECTS

New York, NY – The MTA’s $94.5 million rehabilitation of the Bleecker Street Station complex, designed by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects (LHPA) in a joint venture with Weidlinger Associates, structural engineers, introduces an uptown link between two major subway lines while returning one of the city’s oldest stations to its original glory.

It includes a 300-foot extension of the Bleecker Street IRT uptown platform and a new transfer connection between it and the Broadway-Lafayette station on the IND line. It also restores the landmarked IRT station’s 1904 Beaux-Arts finishes, which were designed by the noted architecture firm Heins & LaFarge; widens the downtown platform by 240 feet; introduces ADA access and efficient movement; and consolidates NYCT facilities.

photo © Wade Zimmermann Photography

Creating the dramatic uptown link between the stations – there was already a link on the downtown side – required widening the tunnel and then introducing structural supports to extend the uptown IRT platform so that it could connect it with the formerly unused but now reopened IND East Mezzanine. The IRT station runs north-south one level – 20 feet – below the street and the IND line runs east-west two more levels below that.

“There are many structural differences between the two stations,” says Bernard Kho of LHPA, “with several structural grids of steel to penetrate. We aimed carefully and made a three-level cut through the floor slabs to introduce an escalator and stairs which connect the two stations as well as two elevators which provide ADA access from the street.”

Adding drama and light to the contemporary connection is a digital art installation that hangs from the ceiling. Designed by artist Leo Villareal as part of NYC’s Percent for Art program, it is an expansive, honeycomb structure of LED lights with pulsating color that changes throughout the day.

The enlarged, contemporary IND East Mezzanine control area will serve as the new full-time control area for the Bleecker Street uptown platform. It will allow transfers and ADA access to the IND platforms as well as the Bleecker Street downtown platform. The reconfigured control areas will improve passenger convenience, create secure passageways and waiting areas, and allow for efficient control of station operations.

photo © Wade Zimmermann Photography

“The restoration of Bleecker Street Station, which is part of NYC’s first subway line, will remind New Yorkers of an era that celebrated transportation and the growth of the city,” says Lee Harris Pomeroy, FAIA, the firm’s founder. The decorative scheme, which consists of eight, bold, blue and white polychrome faience name plaques and pale blue tile borders set against white glass tile walls, typified the elegance of turn of the 20th century transportation.

But over the years it was dulled by stains from rust colored water that had leaked from the sidewalk above. Now completely renewed, “the station has a remarkable, vibrant presence that demonstrates the role design played in making New York a modern city,” asserts Pomeroy

Bleecker Street Station Complex images / information received 180313

Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects

Location: Bleecker Street Station, New York City, USA