I last reviewed 57th Street in Forgotten NY way back in 2010, paying attention to its architectural treasures from 1880-1910; I was only walking West 57th on that occasion. Since then, 57th Street has become the Land of the Giants, with long, thin towers falling just short of the stratosphere. I worked in the area in 2019, watching many of them go up. 57th is still a construction zone two blocks south of Central Park.
I am in the process of rescanning photos from FNY’s early days when I used a film camera, 1998-2006. While thumbing through, I ran across my photo of a plaque marking the building where Interborough Rapid Transit Substation 42 still stands, on the south side of East 57th between Lexington and 3rd. The substation was put into operation in 1918 and served the Lexington Avenue line, today’s “IRT” 4, 5 and 6 trains between East 57th and 99th Streets. It converted alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) using rotary converters to supply 600 volts to the subway's third rail, as well as nearby elevated lines and trolleys.
This was one of the last manually operated substation in Manhattan when it was decommissioned in 1999. The MTA is in ownership, and so far hasn’t sold it to any developers, who no doubt would like to build on this desirable plot.
Kevin Walsh is the webmaster of the award-winning website Forgotten NY, and the author of the books Forgotten New York (HarperCollins, 2006) and also, with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013).