No turnstiles, no token or MetroCard machines, no posters or maps—just a lovely vaulted-ceiling platform with an oak ticket booth at City Hall.
This City Hall station, with its chandeliers and skylights, had a short life span, from 1904 to 1945. You can catch a glimpse of it if you stay on the 6 train as it uses the City Hall station to loop back uptown again.
The ticket booth is long gone, but the station itself remains, sometimes open for tours, as seen in these recent photos.
Tags: City Hall NYC, City Hall Subway Station, ghost subway stations NYC, New York's first subway station, Vintage subway postcards
Ephemeral New York 
June 22, 2015 at 11:04 am |
We have a guided tour of this station coming up in August! We joined the MTA museum just so we could get in on these tours! The tickets are so hard to get. When they are announced – they sell out in 15 min.
June 22, 2015 at 4:08 pm |
I know, they go fast, but totally worth the price of a museum membership to see this jewel of a station. Take lots of photos!
June 22, 2015 at 7:36 pm
I booked the substation tour and made sure I took 10 min out of work time to do it. My husband put his conference call on hold for the City Hall tickets. Can’t wait to see it. I don’t think they’ll open up the Delancy Essex station for tours anymore. We missed last years 😦 I know they want to turn that into an underground version of the high line (read that somewhere).
June 22, 2015 at 1:39 pm |
I’ve always loved that station. We have an original watercolor illustration of it on RAIL U.S.A. Museum & Trips: Eastern States map (http://bellaterramaps.com/). The image is also available as a print or notecard in our “Historic New York” shop on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaTerraArt?section_id=15687182&ref=shopsection_leftnav_8
June 22, 2015 at 3:37 pm |
I did exactly that several years ago. I just had to see the station with my own eyes. It was nerve wracking because I thought i would get in trouble. It was worth it. The station is a beautiful work of art
June 25, 2015 at 7:00 pm |
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