Upon entering the Chambers Street subway station in TriBeCa you might not notice the above mosaic before you. Decades of travel cover the tracks, the floors, and the formerly vivid tiles. Under the layers of grime is a reproduction of King’s College, which later became Columbia University. A Columbia Magazine article by Untapped Cities editor Benjamin Waldman highlights this subway art find and the backstory to Columbia’s history.
With the same tiles also at the 116th Street station, Columbia University is the only institution portrayed in more than one subway station. The mosaic of King’s College was designed by the architect Squire J. Vickers, successor to the team of Heins & LaFarge. It was installed in the Chambers Street station between 1918 and 1919. The once colorful tiles depict College Hall, home of King’s College, with two robed students in the foreground. King’s College closed during the Revolutionary War to become a hospital, after which it was reestablished as Columbia College. In 1857 Columbia College moved its campus to Midtown and in 1897 made a final move to its current location in Morningside Heights.
