Lexington Avenue/51st Street (New York City Subway)
Lexington Avenue/51 Street | |||||||||||||
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50th Street entrance to IRT southbound platform | |||||||||||||
Station statistics | |||||||||||||
Address |
East 53rd Street & Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10022 | ||||||||||||
Borough | Manhattan | ||||||||||||
Locale | Midtown Manhattan | ||||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°45′25″N 73°58′19″W / 40.757075°N 73.971977°WCoordinates: 40°45′25″N 73°58′19″W / 40.757075°N 73.971977°W | ||||||||||||
Division | A (IRT), B (IND) | ||||||||||||
Line |
IRT Lexington Avenue Line IND Queens Boulevard Line | ||||||||||||
Services |
4 6 E M | ||||||||||||
Transit connections |
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Structure | Underground | ||||||||||||
Levels | 2 | ||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||
Opened | December 11, 1988[1] | ||||||||||||
Station code | 612[2] | ||||||||||||
Accessible |
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Wireless service |
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Traffic | |||||||||||||
Passengers (2017) |
18,940,774 (station complex)[4] | ||||||||||||
Rank | 9 out of 425 | ||||||||||||
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Lexington Avenue/51st Street is a New York City Subway station complex on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IND Queens Boulevard Line. Located on Lexington Avenue and stretching from 51st Street to 53rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, it is served by the:
- 6 and E trains at all times
- M trains during weekdays
- <6> trains during weekdays in the peak direction
- 4 trains during late nights
The complex comprises two separate stations: 51st Street (Lexington Avenue Line) and Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (Queens Boulevard Line).
In 2016, the station complex was ranked eleventh in ridership, with 19,929,405 passengers entering the station.[4] It is planned for the 55th Street station from Phase 3 of the Second Avenue Subway to connect to this complex.
Originally two separate stations, the Lexington Avenue–53rd Street IND station and 51st Street IRT station are now connected via a transfer passage, which was opened in 1988 upon the completion of 599 Lexington Avenue.
Station layout
G | Street Level | Exit/ Entrance |
B1 Lexington Avenue Line platforms |
Side platform, doors will open on the right | |
Northbound local | ← ← | |
Southbound local | → | |
Side platform, doors will open on the right | ||
B2 | Northbound express | ← |
Southbound express | → | |
B3 Queens Boulevard Line platforms |
Southbound | ← ← |
Island platform, doors will open on the left | ||
Northbound | → → |
A shopping arcade outside fare control leads to a staircase and elevator inside the south side of 132 East 53rd Street that go up to the northeast corner of East 52nd Street and Lexington Avenue. There is a token booth and turnstile bank leading to the passageway between the two lines, which was added in 1989. Outside fare control under the Citigroup Center, there are two stairs and an elevator. The passageway extends to the staircases and escalators going down to the IND platform and contains a turnstile bank in the center.[5] In 2003, as part of efforts to ease crowding in the station, a mezzanine was added to connect the passageway to the Third Avenue end of the IND station.[6] About 50,000 riders transfer between the Lexington Avenue and Queens Boulevard Lines each weekday.[7]
IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms
51 Street | |||||||||||
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Downtown local platform | |||||||||||
Station statistics | |||||||||||
Address |
East 51st Street & Lexington Avenue | ||||||||||
Division | A (IRT) | ||||||||||
Line | IRT Lexington Avenue Line | ||||||||||
Services |
4 6 | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Opened | July 17, 1918 | ||||||||||
Station code | 401[2] | ||||||||||
Accessible |
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Wireless service |
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Station succession | |||||||||||
Next north |
59th Street: 4 | ||||||||||
Next south |
Grand Central–42nd Street: 4 | ||||||||||
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Next |
125th Street: 4 | ||||||||||
Next |
Grand Central–42nd Street: 4 | ||||||||||
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51st Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, opened on July 17, 1918, is a local station with two local tracks and two side platforms. The two express tracks, used by the 4 and 5 trains during daytime hours, pass through a lower level and are not visible from the platforms. Both platforms have emergency exits from the lower level express tracks.
The station features modern beige bricks over the original tiles, but the standard IRT-style mosaics remain intact. There is a crossunder at the extreme north end of the platforms with an elevator on each side and an up-only escalator on the Brooklyn Bridge-bound side. A ceramic artwork called Tunnel Vision by Nina Yankowitz was installed here in 1989.
The passageway to the IND Queens Boulevard Line is on the extreme north end of the northbound platform, with a crossunder to the southbound side. This crossunder features stairs and an up-only escalators.
The platforms are approximately 25 feet below street level and the station's full-time fare control areas are at the center of each. A staircase of seven steps goes up to a turnstile bank, with a token booth and two exits to each corner on each side outside fare control.
This station is the southernmost station on the Lexington Avenue Line to be directly under Lexington Avenue itself. South of here, the line shifts slightly westward to Park Avenue.
Exits
The southbound platform has a part-time fare control area near the south end. A seven-step staircase goes up to a turnstile bank. Outside fare control, there is a customer assistance booth and one staircase going up to the front entrance of the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and East 50th Street.[8][5] The New York Public Library's Terence Cardinal Cooke-Cathedral Branch is located within this exit, just outside of fare control. The 2,100-square-foot (200 m2) branch, the second smallest in the NYPL system, became part of the New York Public Library in 1992. Before that, it was a library for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.[9]
At Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, eight stairs go up to all four corners of that intersection (two to each corner). The eastern stairs serve the northbound platform, and the western stairs serve the southbound platform.[5]
Image gallery
- 51st Street tiles
- Southbound street stair
IND Queens Boulevard Line platform
Lexington Avenue–53 Street | |||||||||
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Looking south on the platform leading to the transfer | |||||||||
Station statistics | |||||||||
Address |
Lexington Avenue & East 53rd Street | ||||||||
Division | B (IND) | ||||||||
Line | IND Queens Boulevard Line | ||||||||
Services |
E M | ||||||||
Platforms | 1 island platform | ||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||
Other information | |||||||||
Opened | August 19, 1933[10][11] | ||||||||
Station code | 275[2] | ||||||||
Accessible |
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Wireless service |
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Former/other names | Lexington–3rd Avenues | ||||||||
Station succession | |||||||||
Next east |
Court Square–23rd Street: E | ||||||||
Next west |
Fifth Avenue/53rd Street: E | ||||||||
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Next |
Queens Plaza: E | ||||||||
Next |
50th Street (via Queens Blvd): E 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center (via 6th): M | ||||||||
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Lexington Avenue–53rd Street on the IND Queens Boulevard Line opened on August 19, 1933[10][11] and has two tracks and one island platform. It was built 70 feet (21 m) below street level, as the line had to pass beneath all of the north–south subway lines that were built before it. As a result, long escalators and staircases are required to reach the mezzanine from the platform.[10][11]
There are no tiles, trim line, or mosaics on the track walls. East of this station (railroad north), the line goes under the East River to Long Island City, Queens.
Exits
This station has an unstaffed entrance/exit at the east (railroad north) end. One escalator and one elevator from the platform goes up to a turnstile bank, where two staircases go up to either western corners of Third Avenue and 53rd Street. A larger staircase goes up to the entrance plaza of 205 East 53rd Street at the northeast corner, and there is also an entrance/exit from under the southeast-corner building. The original name, Lexington–3rd Avenues, came from this exit.[5]
At the extreme west (railroad south) end of the platform, a bank of two escalators and one staircase (which were once the longest in the world), a single escalator, and one ADA-accessible elevator go up to the full-time mezzanine with a token booth, where a turnstile bank provide entrance/exit from the station. One glass-enclosed staircase goes up to the entrance plaza of 132 East 53rd Street at the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue. A larger staircase goes up to a sunken shopping plaza of the Citigroup Center at the northeast corner of the aforementioned intersection.[5]
Artwork
In 1976, with funding from the Exxon Corporation, this station, as well as three others citywide, received new "artfully humorous graffiti" murals and artwork.[12] Local designer Sperling Elman Inc. received $5,000 to place a new coat of paint on the entrances. The paint was placed "in a variety of colors and in broad stripes."[12]
The 2004 artwork here is called Passing Through by Al Held. It features glass mosaic on the mezzanine walls.
Image gallery
- Stair at the foot of 599 Lexington Avenue
- Older signage, since removed from the station
- Railfan window picture of E train entering Lexington Avenue–53rd Street station
References
- ↑ Guide to December 11, 1988, version of the New York City Subway map
- 1 2 3 "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- 1 2 3 "NYC Subway Wireless – Active Stations". Transit Wireless Wifi. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- 1 2 "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2012–2017". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Midtown East/Grand Central" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
- ↑ Feldman, Jason. "Contractors Construct 200-ft.-long Mezzanine Under 53rd St". New York Construction. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
- ↑ "Potential East Midtown Transit Improvements" (PDF). www.cb5.org. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. October 2012. p. 28. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
- ↑ Station Reporter — 51st Street/Lexington Avenue Complex Archived July 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Kilgannon, Corey (2010-10-24). "A New York Public Library Branch That's a Commuter's Secret". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
- 1 2 3 "New Queens Subway Service Will Be Launched Tonight; Tunnel From Manhattan Open to Jackson Heights; Service Will Eventually Be Extended Through To Jamaica". Long Island Daily Press. Fultonhistory.com. August 18, 1933. p. 20. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
- 1 2 3 "New Queens Tube To Open Saturday: Brooklyn-Long Island City Link of City Line Also to Be Put in Operation". New York Evening Post. Fultonhistory.com. August 17, 1933. p. 18. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
- 1 2 Burks, Edward C. (November 18, 1976). "A Subway Elongatomus? Why, It's Preposterous!". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lexington Avenue / 51st – 53rd Streets (New York City Subway). |
- nycsubway.org – IRT East Side Line: 51st Street
- nycsubway.org — Tunnel Vision Artwork by Nina Yankowitz (1989)
- nycsubway.org — Passing Through Artwork by Al Held (2004)
- Station Reporter — 51st Street/Lexington Avenue Complex
- MTA's Arts For Transit — 51st Street/Lexington Avenue-53rd Street Page 1
- MTA's Arts For Transit — Lexington Avenue-53rd Street Page 2
- nycsubway.org – IND Queens Boulevard Line: Lexington Avenue/53rd Street
- MTA's Arts For Transit — Lexington Avenue–53rd Street
- MTA's Arts For Transit — 51st Street/Lexington Avenue - 53rd Street
- Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- Lexington Avenue and 51st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- Lexington Avenue and 50th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- Third Avenue and 53rd Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- IND platform from Google Maps Street View
- IRT platforms from Google Maps Street View
- Lobby from Google Maps Street View