168th Street Subway Station Renovation Reveals Historic Details

When you Google the 168th Street Station, one of the top results is “168th street station creepy” and there’s a good reason for that. The Washington Heights station, where the 1 train stops, has been pretty decrepit for years. It was built as a grand station of the IRT subway, the first line in the city, with a tiled tunnel arch and vintage lanterns, it was badly in need of renovation. The exciting news is that the renovation is well underway and you can finally see some of the grandeur peeking through now that the ceiling is done. The contrast between old and rehabilitated is pretty striking and riders can finally get a glimpse of how impressive this station might have looked brand new.

When the renovation first started, the ceiling was covered in scaffolding. Recent removal shows beautiful blue and orange tiling surrounding the former light fixtures.

Here is the part of the ceiling today. The archway and side walls still needs to be cleaned:

The tiling on the side is up next for rehabilitation:

Hopefully the original lanterns will return to the side walls and the elevated walkway:

Next, discover the deepest and highest subway stations in NYC (not 168th Street!). Read about the secrets of the NYC subway.