Construction and opening Planning for a
subway line in New York City dates to 1864. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by
William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line from
New York City Hall in
lower Manhattan to the
Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into
the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. and several mansions on Park Avenue fell into the excavation site that March due to
rockslides. Shaler became known by the pejorative nickname of "hoodoo contractor" as a result. After Shaler was killed by a rockslide in his own excavation site on June 17, 1902, his estate completed the construction of the tunnel between 33rd and 41st Street. The 33rd Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from
City Hall to
145th Street on the
Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. In spite of this, the northbound tunnel was never relocated, as it had already been completed. the station was served by local trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to
Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street) and East Side (now the
Lenox Avenue Line). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and
South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to
Lenox Avenue (145th Street). To address overcrowding, in 1909, the
New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. Both platforms at the 33rd Street station was extended to the south. New "electric manholes", passageways leading to the equipment closets, were built at the southern ends of the platforms. In December 1922, the Transit Commission approved a proposal to convert the 33rd Street station into an express stop. It was estimated that the extra time spent by express trains at 33rd Street would be offset by the reduced dwell times at Grand Central. Local business owners supported the proposal, but the IRT opposed the plan, which would cost the company $750,000. In October 1923, the plan was postponed for a year due to a lack of funds. The Fifth Avenue Association requested in January 1924 that the Transit Commission again consider converting the 33rd Street station into an express stop, citing the fact that a 35-story structure was to be built immediately adjacent to the station. The express-stop proposal was postponed indefinitely in 1925. The Fifth Avenue Association requested in 1929 that the express-station proposal be reconsidered. The association said the conversion would "complete a quadrilateral of express stops" that included
34th Street–Penn Station,
Times Square–42nd Street, and Grand Central–42nd Street. In 1928, to alleviate overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line, a consulting engineer for the New York State Transit Commission proposed the construction of "reservoir" stations at 33rd/34th and 42nd Streets. The proposal entailed constructing a northbound-only tunnel under Lexington Avenue from 30th to 42nd Street, with stations at 34th and 42nd Streets, then converting the IRT tunnel under Park Avenue and the existing 33rd and 42nd Street stations to southbound-only use. The northbound and southbound stations at 33rd/34th and 42nd Streets would both have had two express tracks and one local track; the express tracks in either direction would have merged with each other north of 42nd Street and south of 30th Street. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. In January 1947, the
New York City Board of Transportation awarded a $4.003 million contract for the lengthening of platforms at the , , and 33rd Street stations. The platform extensions at all three stations opened on April 13, 1948, after which they could accommodate ten-car trains. On December 27, 1948, a new entrance to the station at 32nd Street opened for use. The original interiors were listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2004. == Station layout ==