One of downtown's eye-catching subway entrances

When the first subway line opened in 1904, passengers celebrated the convenience of speedy, everyday transportation.  They also marveled at the brilliant architecture and design that turned dank, dark tunnels beneath Manhattan into graceful corridors and welcoming platforms.  They may have been impressed further if they knew that the same construction and décor would endure nearly a century of use (and sometimes abuse) and billions of riders.

Lower Manhattan's stations are the oldest of the original Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line, which ran from City Hall to Grand Central along the 4/5/6 line, turned west along what is now the Shuttle, and then north at Times Square where it continued on the present-day 1/2/3/9 line to the Bronx. 

The classic entry kiosk at Bowling Green

Today, John Tarantino, Heins' and LaFarge's successor, maintains the style and utility of the subway system's 468 stations.  Tarantino, the Chief Architect of New York City Transit (NYCT) in the Department of Capital Program Management for the past 16 years, has led the charge to preserve original subway design and architecture as his department rehabilitates and expands stations around the City.

"Each station in the system has its own personality and character," Tarantino says.  "They would lose their individuality and their history if we tried to replace or cover up their distinct styles."

The legend of the IRT lives on

Many other downtown stations have reaped the benefits of Tarantino's attention.   In recent years, his team has improved lighting and utilities in the Canal and Chambers stops on the A/C/E line, refurbished the N/R's Whitehall station, and gradually repaired and renovated well over 100 stations around town. 

Tarantino carries out each rehabilitation project with careful attention to the initial design, trying to retain the original building materials wherever possible.  He points to the restoration of the 1/9 Rector Street and N/R Cortlandt Street stations, which were closed after the attack on the World Trade Center, as examples of how classic design and solid construction withstand the test of time on both engineering and aesthetic levels.

As Tarantino plans future rehabilitations, returning subway stations to their original appearance will remain a priority.  It is, he says, a terrifically gratifying part of his work--and the most inspiring.

"We're working with an irreplaceable part of history," he says.  "It's the wrong approach to try to discard or hide the character that gives each station its own charm.  The subway system caused this city to grow rapidly through the 20^th century.  In a way, New York's subway is so essential it has created history."