VOA文化艺术2023--Art, Culture of an Old New York Train Station

Art, Culture of an Old New York Train Station

The first subway station in New York City was designed to be a masterpiece and was considered a "jewel in the crown" when it opened.

The trains in New York City's public transportation system, its subway, mostly run underground. Today, the main concern of subway designers is that their systems work correctly.

New York's subway opened in 1904. City Hall Station was one of New York City's first underground subway stations. Now called Old City Hall Station, it was built during a time when many public buildings and spaces were designed to appear majestic¹. The goal was to demonstrate that New York could compete culturally with great European cities, sometimes called metropolises².

"It was a statement that New York City had arrived at the level of the great European metropolises like London and Paris, Rome, Madrid...that New York City was taking its place as a world city," said Clifton Hood³. Hood is a history professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

Inside Old City Hall Station, the top is not flat in shape but curved instead. The walls rise up to create a high, round shape known as a vault⁴. Square pieces of glass, called tiles⁵, shine. Some of the lights in the station are called chandeliers. These are beautiful hanging lights that hold many individual light bulbs and look like huge pieces of jewelry⁶.

Polly Desjarlais is with the New York Transit⁷ Museum. She said she was "blown away" when she first saw the old station. She used words like "lovely, elegant⁸ and really unique space" to describe the station.

"I've heard [the station] be described as a celebration of curves, because there are a lot of curves. Everything is sort-of rounded," Desjarlais said.

But those beautiful curves are why the station is no longer part of the normal subway system. Its rounded platform cannot fit long trains.

"The platform at City Hall is really curved. It's a very, very tight curve, and the platform itself is just over 200 feet long. So, it's short," Desjarlais said. "As the subway got busier...trains got longer, and we added cars...We were growing those platforms and making them longer..."

Although it is no longer part of the subway system, Old City Hall Station is still being used. One train line, the No. 6, uses the Old City Hall Station to turn around. And while the public cannot enter the station from the street, the members of the New York Transit Museum can see the station a few times a year at a cost of about $50.

Over the years, there have been ideas to make the old station a restaurant or a place for travelers to the city to visit. However, security concerns put those ideas to rest. Today, the unofficial way for the public to see the old station is by taking the No. 6 train and staying on after the last stop. Then, the train turns around at the Old City Hall Station, and riders will be able to see the majestic space.

Words in This Story

masterpiece–n. a work of outstanding art

jewel in the crown –expression something that is the best among similar, often costly⁹ or beautiful things

majestic–adj. having or showing extreme beauty

curved –adj. a smooth, rounded line or shape

bulb –n. an electric device that produces light

 

platform–n. an area where people stand to wait for or enter and exit a train

1 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

2 metropolises   

n.一国的主要城市（不一定是首都）( metropolis的名词复数 )；中心；大都会；大城市

参考例句：

• That season, you ride it, all metropolises achieve what one wishes! 那时节，您骑上它，一切都会如愿以偿！ 来自互联网
• Carl has carried the banner in infernal metropolises. 卡尔曾经在那些地狱般的大都市流浪街头。 来自互联网

3 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

4 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

5 tiles   

n.瓦片，瓷砖( tile的名词复数 )；扁平的小棋子

参考例句：

• The wind dislodged one or two tiles from the roof. 大风从屋顶上刮下了一两片瓦来。
• On both slopes of the roof there are broken tiles. 屋顶的两面斜面都有破瓦片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

7 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

8 elegant   

adj.优美的，文雅的，简练的，简结的

参考例句：

• She was an elegant and accomplished woman.她是位优雅的才女。
• She has a life of elegant ease.她过着风雅悠闲的生活。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。