Gallery Place–Chinatown (Washington Metro)

Infobox Station
name = Gallery Place–Chinatown

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image_size = 250
image_caption =
address = 630 H Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20001
line =
other =
platform = 2 side platforms (upper level)
1 island platform (lower level)
tracks = 2 upper level, 2 lower level
parking =
bicycle =
passengers = 7.545 million
pass_year = 2006
pass_percent = 6
opened = December 15, 1976
rebuilt =
ADA = Yes
code = B01 (upper level)
F01 (lower level)
owned = Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
former = Gallery Place (1976-1986)
zone =
services =
mpassengers =

Gallery Place–Chinatown is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Green, Red and Yellow Lines. It is a transfer station between the Red Line on the upper level and the other two lines on the lower level.

Gallery Place–Chinatown is located in Northwest Washington, with entrances at 7th and F, 7th and H, and 9th and G Streets. The station's only street elevator is north of F Street on the west side of 7th Street.

The station, which is beneath the Verizon Center, serves that arena and the surrounding Chinatown and Penn Quarter neighborhoods in downtown Washington. The station is located very close to Metro Center, such that the lights of one are visible down the tunnel from the other.

The station was originally named "Gallery Place" after the nearby National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 1986, "Chinatown" was added to the station name, and in 2000, a large Chinese-style fan, entitled "The Glory of the Chinese Descendants", was installed over the 7th and H Street entrance. [ [http://www.wmata.com/about/artwork/red/ch_glory_1.html WMATA Art In Transit ] ]

Service

Service began on December 15, 1976, as part of the original Red line that ran from Farragut North to Rhode Island Avenue–Brentwood. The opening of the station was delayed by a court order over lack of handicapped access (it was originally supposed to open with the rest of the first stations on March 27, 1976). WMATA provided assurance that such access would be available by June 1, 1977.

Yellow Line service began on April 30, 1983, adding service to the Pentagon and National Airport. Green Line began in 1991, adding service (at the time) to U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo and Anacostia.

Improvements

Plans to add a pedestrian tunnel connecting Gallery Place–Chinatown with Metro Center have long been in the works. The "Gallery Place/Chinatown - Metro Center Pedestrian Passageway Tunnel Study" was completed in July 2005. [cite web |publisher=WMATA Office of Planning and Project Development |author=Parsons; KPG Design Studio; Basile Baumann Prost & Associates |date=2005-07 |title=Gallery Place/Chinatown - Metro Center Pedestrian Passageway Tunnel Study |url=http://www.wmata.com/about/expansion/Station%20Access/Gallery_Metro_Center_Final%20R_6.pdf |accessdate=2008-02-14]

This station is a testing ground for new features in Metro stations. Since 2004, the station has been the site of testing for new signage. As a result, there is far more signage in this station than most others, including lighted signs, as well as signage that isn't found anywhere else in the system. In 2007, red LEDs were tested for the platform edge lights on the upper level. Orange LEDs were tested at the platform edge on the lower level.

Gallery

Notable places nearby

* Calvary Baptist Church
* Ford's Theater
* International Spy Museum
* J. Edgar Hoover Building (headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
* Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (main branch of the DC Public Library)
* National Building Museum
* National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
* National Portrait Gallery
* Smithsonian American Art Museum
* Verizon Center (home of the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, Washington Mystics, and Georgetown Hoyas)
* Washington Convention Center

Bus routes

Metrobus

* 42
* 70, 71
* 79
* 80
* P6
* X2

References

External links

* WMATA: [http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/Stations/station.cfm?station=21 Gallery Pl-Chinatown Station]
* StationMasters Online: [http://www.stationmasters.com/System_Map/GALLRYPL/gallrypl.html Gallery Pl-Chinatown Station]
* The Schumin Web Transit Center: [http://transit.schuminweb.com/rail/washington/red-line.asp?station=B01 Gallery Pl-Chinatown Station (Upper Level)]
* The Schumin Web Transit Center: [http://transit.schuminweb.com/rail/washington/red-line.asp?station=F01 Gallery Pl-Chinatown Station (Lower Level)]