96th Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)

Operation of the first subway began on October 27, 1904, with the opening of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch including the 96th Street station.[5]^:162–191[6] At the time, the station served as the terminus of local trains; express trains would run as locals north to 145th Street.[7]

In the 1950s, the platforms were lengthened to accommodate 10-car trains.

By 1981, the MTA had listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.[8] In July 2006, Manhattan Community Board 7 approved an $80 million renovation of the station. Construction started in 2007 on a state-of-the-art headhouse in the median of Broadway between 95th and 96th Streets, with wheelchair-accessible elevators to the platforms; Broadway was reconfigured for four blocks to accommodate this. By 2008, renovation of the 40,000 square feet (3,716 m²) station was nearly finished below budget (only $65 million was used to complete the renovation) and on schedule.[9] By 2009, the opening of the new headhouse was set to be 20 months early and $26 million cheaper due to budget cuts.[10][11] The new headhouse opened on April 5, 2010 and replaced the underpass and side platforms.[12] The side platforms became office and control space, and the entrances removed to accommodate narrowed sidewalks resulting from the roadway being displaced by the new headhouse and its island.[13]

All of the beige tiles installed in the 1950s were removed and either revealed original tiles or were replaced with new tiles. The elevators opened on November 9, 2010 making the station ADA-accessible.[14]

Local residents voiced dissatisfaction with the significant loss of sidewalks adjacent to businesses.[15] Also, the intersection of 96th Street and Broadway is dangerous, making the crossing to the new station entrance "treacherous".[16]

Original cartouche on the wall with the number "96"

Modern wall mosaics

Access to the station was originally from stairways along the sidewalks of Broadway, to the extreme north end of the side platforms, then to the center island platforms via an underpass.[21] As of April 5, 2010, a new headhouse in Broadway's center median between 96th and 95th Streets rendered those entrances obsolete. New staircases and elevators descend to the platforms from the central station building. A former public restroom now being used as a community center in the median of Broadway north of 96th Street is sometimes mistaken for a former subway station headhouse; however, this structure was built decades after the subway station and conforms to the design of other public restroom buildings in New York City[22] rather than to the design of IRT subway headhouses such as 72nd Street.

The station's configuration, with both island and side platforms, is unusual in the New York City Subway. As originally intended, the island platforms facilitated an easy transfer between local and express trains, while the shorter side platforms provided easy access from local trains to the street. This design was also utilized at Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall and 14th Street–Union Square on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line. When the subway first opened, it was possible to open both sides of the train at once. As this is not practical on more modern trains, only the doors facing the island platforms are used (to permit transfers between local and express trains), and the side platforms were abandoned.

The unused side platforms and former entrance/exits have been turned into storage space and offices. Switching system panels can be seen through new windows on the now walled off western side platform.

Completed new headhouse

As 96th Street is a major transfer point, there are two sets of entrances and exits at the station.[23] For the purposes of this article, entrance and exit are interchangeable. It is important to note that unlike more recent stations with full-length mezzanines, these entrance points are not connected; they can only be reached from the ends of the platforms. These distinctions are noted on the platforms.

• 95th–96th Street headhouse: In 2007, construction started on a domed, glass headhouse on the Broadway median between 95th and 96th Streets. The headhouse opened on April 5, 2010. Entrances are on both the 95th and 96th Street sides of the headhouse. Above each of the headhouse's entrances, and unusually for New York City Subway stations, the entrance's name plaque reads simply "96" in white letters upon glass, and light-up red circles containing the numbers "1", "2", and "3", the services of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line as of 2010. On the 96th Street side, there is a fare booth.
• Original 96th Street exits (closed): There were two staircases each at the southeastern and southwestern corners of 96th Street and Broadway.[24][lower-alpha 1] Although fare control was at platform-level (on the unused side platforms), there was a free cross-under at this end of the station upon entering the paid area. This setup occurred due to an important sewer pipe that prevented engineers from building a mezzanine level similar to other express stations. The staircases were closed when the headhouse was opened on April 5, 2010, but a part of the original cross-under inside the fare control still exists.[21][lower-alpha 1]
• 93rd–94th Street exits: There are two staircases each at the southeastern and southwestern corners of 94th Street and Broadway.[24] There is a crossover within fare control at this end of the station.