There's a building that looks like a victorian firehouse at 143rd Street, just west of Broadway, that might be oddly familiar to some. It turns out that the subway substation is actually the standard model used at the turn of the century and several of them exist throughout the city. The building in Hamilton Heights is one of the better kept ones and some others in the area have not been so fortunate. There's an identical building just east of Lenox and West 132nd Street that apparently was deconstructed last year (second from last photo). Another abandoned substation on West 96th Street and Broadway now sits mysteriously neglected (lower photo). The nearest subway to the 143rd Street location is the 1 train at 145th Street. Photos by Ulysses
Do we know what these substations are used for? I have also seen Con Ed substations about in Manhattan at various locations. I think the substation at West 132nd Street is now gone, I walked past there the other day and noticed a huge empty lot just behind the MacDonald's restaurant.
ReplyDeleteIt was empty for years and just sat there, a huge, empty edifice. When the gentrification came I just knew somebody was going to buy that building and turn it into a single family residence with a great photo layout in Elle Decor once the renovations were completed. But alas, not so.
it would have made an extraordinary restaurant-nightclub, but was demolished for the now questionable expansion of Lenox Terrace
ReplyDeletesubstations were used to convert ac to dc for the subway systems.over the past few years the TA have been upgrading the power system,so the need for these substation has decrease.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight Anon 5:14 I was always wondering what a sub-station was.
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