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| Re: Chambers Street J/Z Station to Get Makeover (1650179) | |||
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Re: Chambers Street J/Z Station to Get Makeover |
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Posted by BusMgr on Sun Aug 9 14:24:34 2026, in response to Chambers Street J/Z Station to Get Makeover, posted by Kevin from Midwood on Fri Aug 7 21:54:16 2026. I remember distinctly as a child in the mid-1960s passing through Chambers Street station and always being greatly impressed with its size and scale, viewing it as much more than a simple subway station and much more in the same arena as the great railroad terminals. More mature now, and aware of its intended role by the BRT (and even for a few years when the station was actually used by LIRR trains as a terminal station), I realize my childhood impressions to have correct. Thus I have much emotional attachment to the station and its makeover, and hopefully eventual restoration.In general I prefer restoration over mere makeovers, particularly when the makeover results in closing off or obscuring larger structures and leaving behind only a smaller footprint of what has once been. Pennsylvania Station was a failure for having replaced a grand space with an arguably more space-efficient basement with relatively low ceilings, while Grand Central Terminal has been a success for restoring spaces through removal of clutter and opening up public views. The makeovers of Canal Street and Bowery were, in my view, deficient for having closed off half of each station from public view. I hope the same will not be the strategy used at Chambers Street, for doing so would destroy the grandeur of the station, which had impressed me as a child sixty years ago. Particularly offensive at Chambers street station is that institutional brown tile wall that blocks off the remnants of the former western-most platform. Not only does that wall diminish the size of the station but it is as ugly as can be, not respecting the architecture of the station in any manner. A good part of that former platform was destroyed in the early 1960s to make room for the uptown local track of the Lexington Avenue subway, needed for the expansion of its Brooklyn Bridge station, so complete restoration of the Chambers Street station by re-opening to public view that former platform is no longer possible. But it would be nice to re-open to public view as much of that former platform as remaining, and to the extent that a modern wall barricading the IRT tracks is necessary that such wall match the white tile and mosaics of the original Chambers Street station. Similarly, it would be nice if the mezzanine were restored as well. A substantial portion had been closed off in 1938 to provide additional Municipal Building storage space, but is that truly necessary? There should be a full review of what is restorable to the grandest of all BRT-BMT stations, and not settle for just a cosmetic makeover. Let's see what the plans encompass. |
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