Subway Station to Get Lift, and Face-Lift

 by Barry Owens

The cavernous Chambers Street subway station below West Broadway, Chambers and Hudson Streets, is set for a complete restoration that will begin next year.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plans for the station include widening a set of stairs, moving the token booth from the center of the mezzanine to one side, and installing an elevator that will surface on the northwest corner of Hudson and Chambers Streets.

An elevator will be installed at the Chambers Street subway station as part of a renovation to begin next year. Rendering: Gruzen Samton Architects

The plan, designed by Gruzen Samton Architects, also calls for restoring original details of the station such as black stair rails and the neglected T-shaped plaques on the walls depicting the Brooklyn Bridge.

The designers, whose plan was approved last month by Community Board 1, said they hope to accentuate the spread of open space created by the station's high ceilings with a light installation.


To make room for the elevator and broader stairway, the plans call for a widening of the sidewalk on the northwest corner of Hudson near Chambers Street from five to nine feet. Some residents of 1 Hudson Street complained that would not be enough to relieve the congestion of an already crowded corner.

But for community board members, the addition of an elevator and restoration of the station was good news.


"As far as I'm concerned, once this is done, I'm ready to move in and live there," said Pearl Scher.

Construction, expected to take one and a half years, is slated to begin in May 2005. Train service to the station, which handles the 1,2,3 and 9 lines, will not be disrupted, according to the MTA.

The stairs on the northwest corner of Hudson and Chambers Streets, the busiest exit in the station, will be widened. Rendering: Gruzen Samton Architects
MTA offices on the mezzanine level will include large windows to create a sense of open space. Rendering: Gruzen Samton Architects