The First Avenue station is a station on the

BMT Canarsie Line The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is served by the ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

. Located at the intersection of First Avenue and East 14th Street at the border of Stuyvesant Park,

Stuyvesant Town Stuyvesant may refer to: People * Peter Stuyvesant (1592–1672), the last governor of New Netherland * Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778–1847), lawyer, landowner and philanthropist. * Rutherfurd Stuyvesant (1843–1909), socialite and land developer ...

, and the East Village in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, it is served by the L train at all times.

History

This station opened on June 30, 1924, as part of the 14th Street–Eastern Line station, which ran from

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

under the East River and through Williamsburg to Montrose and Bushwick Avenues. In September 1983 this station was the site of the arrest of Michael Stewart, a notable case in the history of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

. The station originally had entrances only at its western end, on First Avenue. Its eastern entrances at Avenue A were built as part of the wide scope in the 2019–2020 rebuilding of the Canarsie Tubes that were damaged during

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

, and to improve service for people living in

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, sometimes shortened to StuyTown, is a large post–World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The complex consists of 110 red brick apartment b ...

, the East Village, and

Alphabet City Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter names. It is bounded by Houston St ...

. Work on the entrances began in July 2017, necessitating the relocation of bus stops at that intersection. The entrances to the Brooklyn-bound platform were opened on November 4, 2019. The entrance to the Eighth Avenue-bound platform was expected to be opened by the end of 2019, but the opening date was postponed to February 10, 2020. This was followed by the temporary closure of the entrances at First Avenue. New

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s were built at the new eastern entrances and were opened on August 6, 2020. Substantial completion of the entrances was projected for November 2020.

Station layout

This underground station has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s and two tracks. It is the easternmost Canarsie Line station in Manhattan. East of here, the line travels under the East River to

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

. The platforms are columnless and have the standard BMT style trim-line and name tablets. The former contains "1" tablets in standard intervals while the latter consists of "FIRST AVE" in white seriffed lettering.

Exits

The station's western entrances are at the ( railroad north) end of the station; from each platform, a single staircase goes up to a small

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

that contains a

turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...

bank, token booth. Two street stairs to the Eighth Avenue-bound platform lead to the northeastern corner of First Avenue and 14th Street, while the ones to the Brooklyn-bound platform lead to the southeastern corner. The mezzanine on the Brooklyn-bound side had a florist shop outside

fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

; the shop closed in 2019. There is no free transfer between directions at this station.MTA neighborhood map
/ref> The station's eastern entrances are at the railroad south end of the station; there are platform-level turnstile banks from each platform. Two street stairs to the Eighth Avenue-bound platform lead to the northwestern corner of Avenue A and 14th Street, while two more to the Brooklyn-bound platform lead to the southwestern corner. Each eastern entrance has an elevator between the platform and the street.

Art

The station contains two sets of mosaic artwork by

Katherine Bradford Katherine Bradford (born 1942), née Houston, is an American artist based in New York City, known for figurative paintings, particularly of swimmers, that critics describe as simultaneously Representation (arts), representational, Abstract art, ab ...

. The eastern entrances include three large works collectively titled ''Queens of the Night'', which depict figures in dancelike poses against a sapphire blue background. In addition, the First Avenue mezzanines contain two smaller works of flying superheroes, titled ''Superhero Responds''. The mosaics cover in total. When the artworks were commissioned, Bradford used the L train on her daily commute, passing through the First Avenue station.

Image gallery

1st Avenue BMT IMG 9161.JPG, Name Tablet 1st Avenue BMT IMG 9162.JPG, Trim-line Tablet FirstAveSubway.jpg, Station wall

Nearby points of interest

Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It is part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, and ...

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

Old Campus (

High School for Health Professions and Human Services The High School for Health Professions and Human Services is a public high school in Manhattan, New York City. It is specialized for students preparing for careers in the healthcare and human resources fields. The curriculum emphasizes the academ ...

, Institute for Collaborative Education, and PS 226) *

Stuyvesant Square Stuyvesant Square is the name of both a park and its surrounding neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park is located between 15th Street, 17th Street, Rutherford Place, and Nathan D. Perlman Place (formerly Livingston ...

References

External links

* * Station Reporter �
L Train
* The Subway Nut �
1st Avenue Pictures

First Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platforms from Google Maps Street View

East end of platforms under construction for "Avenue A" entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:1st Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line) BMT Canarsie Line stations New York City Subway stations in Manhattan New York City Subway stations located underground Railway stations in the United States opened in 1924 East Village, Manhattan 14th Street (Manhattan)