4. One Exit in City Hall Subway Station Led to the Woolworth Building
When you get to the mezzanine level inside the station, there is one arched exit that’s now closed off. This once opened into a tunnel that would take transit goers tunnels that led to the basement of the Woolworth Building, one of the amenities offered to prospective office renters. The bike room of the Woolworth Building today is where the subway access tunnels began.
According to Woolworth Building tour guides, the former doors once led to a passageway under Broadway that connected to all three subway lines, the BMT, IND, and IRT. The BMT stop that the tunnel led to is now the City Hall R stop. The doorway in the Woolworth basement that led to this tunnel is now covered. The only remaining door still visible once led to the IRT line station that is still across the street, Park Place. At Park Place subway station, you could once see the now locked gate where the original tunnel was. That passageway was completely filled in under Broadway and no longer exists.
