Station: 34th Street-Herald Square
From nycsubway.org
| BMT Broadway Line |
| IND 6th Avenue Line |
Contents |
Overview
Opened: 4/14/1918
34th Street/Herald Square is a massive complex serving the IND 6th Avenue, the BMT Broadway, and the PATH line from New Jersey. As one might expect, this is the third busiest station complex in the system.
A textual description of the layout of this station is not easy. The Broadway and 6th Avenue subways cross in an "X" pattern following their respective streets, with the midpoint of the "X" at about 32nd Street. The 6th Avenue line, built later, passes underneath the Broadway line and the elevation of the tracks shows it; the 6th Avenue line tracks dip way down in the middle of its station, with the ends higher. From the top down, at the south end, the layout is roughly as follows: BMT mezzanine; BMT tracks; PATH station and tracks; 6th Avenue mezzanine; 6th Avenue tracks. Underneath all of this at a much lower level are the Long Island Rail Road tunnels from Queens to Pennsylvania Station. As the PATH predates the subway by about 32 years, its tracks are closer to the surface of 6th Avenue, with the subway tracks underneath. (Actually, the layout is more complex than that, see the descriptions of 23rd St./6th Ave. and 14th St./6th Ave. for more details.)
Discontiguous mezzanines exist at both the north and south end of this complex, providing a transfer at both ends. At the north end there is a single mezzanine with stairs and elevators to the Broadway platforms on the west and the 6th Avenue platforms on the east. At the south end, the 6th Avenue and Broadway mezzanines are connected inside the fare-paid area by stairs. The mezzanines are also connected outside the fare-paid area as well, and it is this area that provides access to the PATH station. A long passageway from one end of the complex to another connects the PATH mezzanine at the south with the "shared" mezzanine at the north. (Phew!)
There are numerous exits and passageways including a direct entrance to the shopping center that has variously been known as Gimbels, A&S Plaza, and Manhattan Mall. The station has exits from 30th St. at the south end, to 35th St. at the north end, and various others in between. Until the mid-1980s a passageway was available to connect, outside the fare control, to the IRT 7th Ave./West Side line and to Penn Station and the commuter railroads there, but this was closed citing security concerns and the lack of desire of the private property owner to maintain it.
Prior to a 1990s renovation effort, this was a dungeon of a station complex. The lighting was miserably faint, signs all mixed up, stairs dark and tricky. The renovations have improved all aspects of the station, although little of the original IND or BMT decor was kept. The combined stations are blended into a unified scheme of decor. The 6th Avenue station received new "34" monogram tablets installed along the trackside walls (these are not mosaics). The tile is white with two rows of bright red accents. The BMT station retained its "Dual Contracts"-style "34" mosaic monograms.
Some relative depths of stations in the 34th St./6th Ave. complex are as follows, +/- 10 feet.
- IND Platforms, 40 feet below street
- BMT Platforms, 20 feet below street
- Path Platforms, 30 feet below street
Artwork
REACH New York, An Urban Musical Instrument, Christopher Janney (1996). Located about mid-way on each BMT Broadway Line platform.
Radiant Site, Michele Oka Doner (1991). In the transfer mezzanine at the north end of the station.
Yab-Yum, David Provan (1992). Hanging over the northbound platform/trackway of the IND 6th Avenue station.
Halo, Nicholas Pearson (1991). In the mezzanine at the south end of the IND 6th Avenue station (near PATH).
Photo Gallery - BMT Broadway Station
 Image 1198 (131k, 1044x811) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 3008 (169k, 1024x645) Photo by: Steve Zabel Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 5522 (169k, 1024x671) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 5537 (196k, 1024x688) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 24553 (170k, 1024x678) Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 34808 (352k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 43578 (160k, 1024x699) Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 67885 (53k, 660x500) Photo by: Jin-Young Yoon Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 106000 (220k, 930x618) Photo by: Peter Ehrlich Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 106001 (219k, 930x601) Photo by: Peter Ehrlich Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 107325 (205k, 1044x700) Photo by: Zach Summer Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 109174 (259k, 1044x707) Photo by: Richard Chase Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 113337 (196k, 1044x700) Photo by: Zach Summer Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 126429 (336k, 1044x699) Photo by: Richard Chase Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 126576 (67k, 768x1024) Photo by: Robbie Rosenfeld Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
More Images: 1-41
Photo Gallery IND 6th Avenue Station
 Image 2551 (144k, 1024x698) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 5202 (171k, 1024x697) Photo by: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 5658 (167k, 1024x655) Photo by: Steve Zabel Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 31915 (43k, 800x553) Photo by: Thomas Lacker Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 54353 (139k, 1044x788) Photo by: Brian Weinberg Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 54355 (72k, 702x531) Photo by: Brian Weinberg Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 61791 (139k, 1044x788) Photo by: Jorge Catayi Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 64421 (72k, 820x620) Photo by: Gary Chatterton Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 70710 (169k, 788x1044) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 80738 (230k, 1044x788) Photo by: David-Paul Gerber Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 80739 (251k, 1044x788) Photo by: David-Paul Gerber Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 86353 (207k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 98264 (246k, 1044x788) Photo by: John Barnes Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 113336 (265k, 1044x700) Photo by: Zach Summer Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |
 Image 138689 (313k, 1024x685) Photo by: Erik Calonius, US National Archives Collection of: Flickr Commons Location: 34th Street/Herald Square |