Lexington Avenue/59th Street (New York City Subway)

Infobox NYCS
name = Lexington Avenue/59th Street
bg_color = black


service = Lexington-59th
transfer_service = 63rd Lexington
transfer_station = Lexington Avenue–63rd Street
transfer_line = IND 63rd Street Line
transfer_station_acc = yes
passengers = 18.065 million
pass_year=2006
pass_percent=4
borough = Manhattan
locale = Midtown
connection = Roosevelt Island Tramway

Lexington Avenue/59th Street is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and the BMT Broadway Line. It is located at Lexington Avenue between 59th and 60th Streets, on the border of Midtown and the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

A free out-of-system transfer is available to the IND 63rd Street Line by exiting the station and walking to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station.__TOC__

IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms

Infobox NYCS
name = 59th Street
complex_element = yes


bg_color = #007527
line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
service = Lexington
platforms = 4 side platforms (2 on each of 2 levels)
tracks = 4 (2 on each of 2 levels)
open_date = July 17, 1918 (upper level)
November 15, 1962 (lower level)
north_line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
north_local_station = 68th Street–Hunter College
north_local_service = Lexington local
north_express_station = 86th Street
north_express_service = Lexington express
south_line = IRT Lexington Avenue Line
south_local_station = 51st Street
south_local_station_acc = yes
south_local_service = Lexington local
south_express_station = 42nd Street–Grand Central
south_express_station_acc = yes
south_express_service = Lexington express

59th Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line has four side platforms, two on the upper level for local trains, and two on the lower level for express trains. Two other levels exist between the IRT platforms — the BMT Broadway Line platforms under the local level, and a mezzanine between the BMT and express levels. Long escalators connect the local and express levels directly.

The station originally served local trains only. The express platforms opened in 1962 to reduce congestion at 42nd Street–Grand Central (from people switching between local and express trains and to the 42nd Street Shuttle), and to allow transfers between the express tracks and the BMT Broadway Line to Queens. Even before the express platforms were added, the station was the busiest on the line.

The station used to have all green tile which has been covered up except for one "59th Street" sign near the south end of the northbound platform. There are whimsical stylised mosaics of coffee cups and slippers in varied colors at random spacing near the stairways to the Broadway and IRT local trains. This station is currently being renovated in conjunection with recent construction of the Bloomberg Building at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. Although a new entrance was constructed within the building, it has remained closed due to fears of icicle formation on a railing that is part of the building's design, directly above the street entrance. A legal battle between the city and the building's management over who is responsible for modifying the design has caused the entrance to be temporarily closed between 2003 and 2006.

The mezzanine between Lexington Avenue express platforms and the Broadway platforms has a large-scale mosaic mural entitled "Blooming", by Elizabeth Murray. It covers all four walls of the mezzanine area. The mosaic features larger versions of the coffee cups and slippers found on the platform walls, with the text: "in dreams begin responsibilities" and "Conduct your blooming in the noise and discipline of the whirlwind". The text floats from the coffee cups and are excerpted from poetry by Delmore Schwartz and Gwendolyn Brooks.

There is a direct exit to Bloomingdale's from the uptown local fare control (this exit was used in the 2008 film "Cloverfield"). The underpass near the south end of the station was originally the northbound platform for the extension of the BMT Broadway Line to Queens. The line had been planned as two separate, one-track tunnels, one each under 59th and 60th Streets. Later on, it was decided to alter this layout in favor of a single two-track tunnel under 60th Street. The semi-completed platform under 59th Street was then converted to an underpass between the north and southbound platforms of the Lexington Avenue Line local tracks.

BMT Broadway Line platform

Infobox NYCS
name = Lexington Avenue/59th Street
complex_element = yes

---

font_color = black
font_color_2 = black
bg_color = #FFC800
line = BMT Broadway Line
service = Broadway 60th
platforms = 1 island platform
tracks = 2
open_date = September 1, 1919New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FC3E5E1A738DDDA80B94D0405B898DF1D3 Subway to Open Two New Stations] , August 31, 1919, page 25]
north_custom_station = NYCS next|type=Astoria|station=Queensboro Plaza|line=BMT Astoria Line|service=Astoria
north_custom_station_2 = NYCS next|type=Queens Boulevard|station=Queens Plaza|line=IND Queens Boulevard Line|service=60th Connection|acc=yes
south_line = BMT Broadway Line
south_station = Fifth Avenue/59th Street
south_service = Broadway 60th

Lexington Avenue/59th Street on the BMT Broadway Line has two tracks, one island platform, and two mezzanines. The Lexington Avenue mezzanine has two staircases to each of the Lexington Avenue Line local platforms, an escalator to the downtown platform, and three staircases down to the center level. The Third Avenue side, was constructed in the late 1960s, with the same red tile that was used during renovation of the Bowling Green station in 1978. It has up and down escalators and an adjoining staircase, and is open part time only, with four street staircases on Third Avenue. The new entrance is a result of the platform extension along the same side during the 1960s. The distinctive "Lex" mosaics were preserved during the renovation, by installing pre-arranged blocks along the station wall that cup the Lexington Avenue Line above it. The wall tiles have the red "Lex" evenly spaced out, similar to the IND style, with blue background, green borders, and white lettering. In 2002, the station was receiving a major overhaul. It has received state of repairs as well as upgrading the station for ADA compliance and restoring the original late 1910s tiling. MTA did repair the staircases, re-tiling for the walls, new tiling on the floors, upgrading the station's lights and the public address system, installing ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions. The station could not be made ADA-compliant to install elevators on the platform, because the platform columns on the Lexington Avenue side make the platform too narrow for a wheelchair to navigate.

The center level is the nerve center of this vital complex, and is located at the 60th Street/Lexington Avenue end. Installed in conjunction with the 1962 opening of the lower level express platforms, it makes a seamless and easy transfer between all lines from the three different areas mentioned above. There are three staircases up to the Broadway Line platform, two down to each of the lower level Lexington Avenue Line express platforms, and one staircase and escalator up to the Lexington Avenue local platforms on the upper level.

In the same area on the north wall, there is artwork. Titled "Blooming" (1996) by Elizabeth Murray, it uses glass mosaics to cover the entire wall. It relates to the former neighborhood name Bloomingdale, long before the department store of the same name opened. It is a fantasy of trees, a pair of shoes, and yellow mugs filled with coffee, complete with stream rising.

Bus connections

*M31
*M57
*M98
*M101
*M102
*M103
*Q32

Gallery

Notes

References

*"East Side Subway to Get Express Stop at 59th St.", "New York Times"; April 8, 1959; page 1
*"IRT Will Open Express Station at Lexington and 59th Thursday", "New York Times"; November 9, 1962; page 37
*"IRT Express Stop Opens at 59th St.", "New York Times"; November 16, 1962; page 22

External links

*NYCsubway ref|http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/stations?5:3106|IRT East Side Line|59th Street
*NYCS ref|http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/stations?202:1825|BMT Broadway Subway|Lexington Avenue (59th Street)
*Station Reporter — [http://www.stationreporter.net/59lex.htm 59th Street and Lexington Avenue Complex]