January 11, 2012
Substations, Old City Hall opens for tranist tours
The NYC Transit Museum on Tuesday posted its winter list of transit tours, which offer rare access to century-old power stations as well as the ornate Old City Hall station.
The tours include a visit to Brooklyn Heights’ IRT Substation 21, which like the nearby subway ventilator building on Joralemon, are hidden in plain sight behind brownstone facades.
Two tours — to the MTA Signal Learning Center and the Old City Hall station — are open only to members of the Transit Museum. Museum membership starts at $40 for an individual and includes free or discounted access to museum exhibits, programs and special events for one year. Members also get priority registration to the tours.
Tour registration for non-members opens Jan. 15.
Transit tours for winter 2012:
The Jewel in the Crown: Old City Hall Station
Museum membership required, plus $30 for adults, $20 for children ages 5 to 17.
Jan. 29 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
March 3 at noon and 2 p.m.
John Simko leads a tour into the original City Hall subway station, now used only by downtown 6 trains at the end of their runs to loop up to the uptown Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station. The otherwise abandoned station is outfitted with chandeliers, leaded skylights, a vaulted Guastavino ceiling, and decorative tile work.
Signals 101
Museum membership required, plus $50 for adults.
Feb. 15 at 5 p.m.
April 4 at 5 p.m.
The MTA’s Signal Learning Center opens for a survey of signals dating from the turn-of-the-century to the present.
Greenwich Substation Tour
Non-members price: $45; $30 for members.
Jan. 21 at 10 a.m.
Feb. 12 at 10 a.m.
Robert W. Lobenstein, former General Superintendent of New York City Transit and New York City Transit’s Historic Preservationist Sara McIvor will lead a tour of the Greenwich Substation, built in 1932 in the Art Deco style. The rotary converters and electrical switchgear that powered the Independent Subway System’s 8th Avenue Line are gone, but the tour will still cover power operations and the architectural significance of the structure.
Electricity: A Gallery and Substation Tour
Non-members price: $45; $30 for members.
March 11 at 10 a.m.
April 21 at 10 a.m.
Lobenstein will lead a tour of the Transit Museum’s ElectriCity: Powering New York’s Rails exhibition and then visit to Substation 21, “a century-old substation well-disguised amidst the brownstones of Brooklyn Heights.”
From the Depths to the Heights: The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Non-members price: $45; $30 for members.
March 31 at 10 a.m.
Senior cathedral guide John Simko will lead a tour from underground at the 110th Street station and continue into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The cathedral’s Belmont Chapel was designed by subway architects Heins & La Farge and features Guastavino’s largest dome and the sculptures of Gutzon Borglum, (both craftsmen who worked on the Old City Hall station.)
Off the Beaten Track: The Financial District
Non-members price: $45; $30 for members.
April 15 at 10 a.m.
Suzanne Reisman, author of “Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City’s Best Unusual Attractions,” will lead a tour of the hidden history of Manhattan’s Financial District.
When Queens Hosted the World
Non-members price: $45; $30 for members.
April 28 at 11 a.m.
Transit historian Andrew Sparberg leads a World’s Fair-themed tour the Long Island Rail Road station that served the 1939 and 1964 fairs.
Picture credit: former NYC Transit General Superintendent Robert Lobenstein leading a tour of IRT Substation #13 during openhousenewyork 2008. Picture by Sam Meyer for NewYorkology.
Earlier: MTA vintage bus working M42 route this week
Vintage subways return for holidays; antique buses idled
Subway power stations, rail yards open for fall tours
MTA substation tour with openhousenewyork
January 11, 2012 12:26 PM in Architecture, Downtown, History, Kids, Midtown, Out of Manhattan, Tours, Transportology
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