Lexington Avenue / 59th Street (New York City Subway) - BMT Broadway Line Platform

BMT Broadway Line Platform

Lexington Avenue / 59th Street on the BMT Broadway Line has two tracks, one island platform, and two mezzanines. The Lexington Avenue mezzanine has two staircases to each of the Lexington Avenue Line local platforms, an escalator to the downtown platform, and three staircases down to the center level. The Third Avenue side was constructed in the late 1960s, with the same red tile that was used during renovation of the Bowling Green station in 1978. It has up and down escalators and an adjoining staircase, and is open part time only, with four street staircases on Third Avenue. The new entrance is a result of the platform extension along the same side during the 1960s.

The distinctive "Lex" mosaics were preserved during the renovation, by installing pre-arranged blocks along the station wall that cup the Lexington Avenue Line above it. The wall tiles have the red "Lex" evenly spaced out, similar to the IND style, with blue background, green borders, and white lettering. In 2002, the station was receiving a major overhaul. It has received state of repairs as well as upgrading the station for ADA compliance and restoring the original late 1910s tiling. MTA did repair the staircases, re-tiling for the walls, new tiling on the floors, upgrading the station's lights and the public address system, installing ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions. The station could not be made ADA-compliant to install elevators on the platform, because the platform columns on the Lexington Avenue side make the platform too narrow for a wheelchair to navigate.

The center level is the nerve center of this vital complex, and is located at the 60th Street/Lexington Avenue end. Installed in conjunction with the 1962 opening of the lower level express platforms, it makes a seamless and easy transfer between all lines from the three different areas mentioned above. There are three staircases up to the Broadway Line platform, two down to each of the lower level Lexington Avenue Line express platforms, and one staircase and escalator up to the Lexington Avenue local platforms on the upper level.

Despite its name, the station is not located on Lexington Avenue and 59th Street. It is actually located on Lexington and 60th Street. Originally, the Broadway subway was to run to Queens over the Queensboro Bridge. Because the side streets are so narrow, the Queens-bound track was to run under 59th Street and the return track under 60 St. There are exits however to Lexington Avenue and 59th Streets, but via either 6 train platform.

The Broadway subway plan was changed in 1915 to route both tracks into 60th Street and to cross the East River by a tunnel just north of the Queensborough Bridge. The 59th Street crossing was obviously now useless, and at 60th Street, the subway would have to be at a lower grade, on its way to the 60th Street Tunnel. The 59th Street crossing was worked into a pedestrian underpass for the IRT 59th Street station, which turned into a way to get between the downtown side and the direct subway entrance to Bloomingdale's on the uptown platform. That section is still in use, and the floor level is that of the never-completed BMT station. The 60th Street crossing was mostly destroyed when the existing station was built at a lower grade. A door in the southern wall across from the platform opens into a remaining unused space, and suggests the platform level of the original grade, which is the same as the 59th Street underpass.

In the same area on the north wall, there is artwork. Titled Blooming (1996) by Elizabeth Murray, it uses glass mosaics to cover the entire wall. It takes its name from the nearby Bloomingdale's department store. It is a fantasy of trees, a pair of shoes, and yellow mugs filled with coffee, complete with stream rising.