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MTA highlights subway designer

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer | MNaanes@am-ny.com

July 31, 2007

The Borough Hall mosaic station sign, the Queens Boulevard viaduct and many lampposts adorning subway entryways have the vision of one man in common.

Subway head architect Squire Vickers oversaw the design of more than 300 subway stations between 1906 and 1942. While other architects also left their mark on the subway system, Vickers is considered the most influential designer for the sheer number of stations he crafted.

Commuters look to Vickers' tile work and mosaics in the subway to know where to go or where they are, but largely don't know one man is responsible for much of it. The New York Transit Museum in Grand Central Terminal is highlighting the champion of simple but sophisticated subway design in an exhibition that opened Monday.

"You don't pay attention or you just don't think about the details that they worked on," curator Carissa Amash said. "For one person to have that much of a role for so long is pretty impressive."

Vickers himself realized his work may be overlooked by the millions of people who pass it everyday.

"The public would perhaps be astonished to know that every detail of every item has been the subject of intensive study, that every nut, bolt, screw and connection of the metal-work has received the most careful consideration," he once said.

Some of his most noted works include Brooklyn's 15th Street Prospect Park station entrance and the Art Deco and Machine Age designs in the cavernous A line stations at 181st and 190th streets. Unlike the subway's first architects, known for their ornate station art, Vickers used simple and often geometric designs with vivid colors.

But Vickers' ideas were not just about looks, they were also useful. To help riders keep track of where they are, the colors of the Manhattan IND stops run in rainbow order.

Rodolfo Hernandez, 35, scoped out the exhibit Monday, walking away amazed at Vickers' influence on the system and how the art touches commuters today.

"I don't know that there is that kind of role right now in the contemporary history of the system," said the Bay Ridge resident and CUNY grad student.