14th Street/Sixth Avenue station

The Dual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies (the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company), all working together to make the construction of the Dual Contracts possible. The Dual Contracts promised the construction of several lines in Brooklyn. As part of Contract 4, the IRT agreed to build a branch of the original subway line south down Seventh Avenue, Varick Street, and West Broadway to serve the West Side of Manhattan.[3][4][5]

The construction of this line, in conjunction with the construction of the Lexington Avenue Line, would change the operations of the IRT system. Instead of having trains go via Broadway, turning onto 42nd Street, before finally turning onto Park Avenue, there would be two trunk lines connected by the 42nd Street Shuttle. The system would be changed from looking like a "Z" system on a map to an "H" system. One trunk would run via the new Lexington Avenue Line down Park Avenue, and the other trunk would run via the new Seventh Avenue Line up Broadway. In order for the line to continue down Varick Street and West Broadway, these streets needed to be widened, and two new streets were built, the Seventh Avenue Extension and the Varick Street Extension.[6] It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the Lower West Side, and to neighborhoods such as Chelsea and Greenwich Village.[7][8]

14th Street opened as the line was extended south to South Ferry from 34th Street–Penn Station on July 1, 1918, and was served by a shuttle.[9] The new "H" system was implemented on August 1, 1918, joining the two halves of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and sending all West Side trains south from Times Square.[10] An immediate result of the switch was the need to transfer using the 42nd Street Shuttle. The completion of the "H" system doubled the capacity of the IRT system.[7]

Sixth Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line opened on June 30, 1924, as the terminal of the 14th Street–Eastern Line, which ran from Sixth Avenue under the East River and through Williamsburg to Montrose and Bushwick Avenues.[11][12]

14th Street is a local station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line that opened on December 15, 1940, along with the rest of the IND Sixth Avenue Line from West Fourth Street–Washington Square to 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center.[13]

Free passageway tunnel

On January 16, 1978, a free transfer passageway connecting the 14th Street station on the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line and the stations on the BMT Canarsie Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line opened.[14]

The entire station complex except for the PATH station will receive elevators in 2020–2022.[15] Originally, the improvements were scheduled for the Sixth Avenue and Canarsie Lines only.[16][17]

This station has three fare control areas. The full-time entrance is at the north end. A single staircase from each platform leads to a crossover that has a newsstand in the center, two now defunct restrooms above the southbound platforms and tracks (mosaic signs reading "MEN" and "WOMEN" remain intact), and two full height turnstiles above the northbound platform and tracks (one entry/exit and one exit-only) leading to a staircase that goes up to the southeast corner of 14th Street and Seventh Avenue.[20] There is also a passageway leading to the BMT Canarsie platforms on Sixth Avenue, which in turn allows a free transfer to the IND Sixth Avenue Line platforms. The full-time turnstile bank at the center of the crossover opposite the newsstand leads to a mezzanine containing a token booth, three staircases going up to the either northern corners as well as the southwest corner of 14th Street and Seventh Avenue.[20] There is also a now-closed passageway with directional mosaics that leads to 14th Street/Eighth Avenue.

The station has an exit-only area at the center. Two staircases from each platform go up to a crossover where on either side, a single exit-only turnstile and emergency gate leads to a staircase that goes up to either northern corners of 13th Street and Seventh Avenue.[20]

The station has an unstaffed fare control area at the south end. A single staircase from each platform leads to a crossover and a bank of turnstiles as well as one exit-only and one full-height turnstile. The mezzanine has a now-unused customer assistance booth and two staircases going up to both northern corners of 12th Street and Seventh Avenue.[20]

There are entrance/exits at both 14th Street and 16th Street, with fare controls at both ends. The 14th Street entrance is shared with the PATH station of the same name, which has a separate fare control.[20] At both intersections, exits lead to all four corners.[20] At the extreme south end of each platform, there is a single-wide stairway descending to the Canarsie Line platform.

The station has seven staircases going up from the platform. The two westernmost ones go up to a passageway that leads to the full-time fare control area at the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line station. The next two go up to the extreme south ends of either platform of the IND Sixth Avenue Line station. The western staircase goes to the southbound platform, and the one directly east of it goes to the northbound platform

The next two staircases go up to a mezzanine leading to fare control that has a powder blue and state blue trim line. A bank of three regular turnstiles and two high entry/exit turnstiles provide entrance/exit from the station and there is no token booth. Two staircases go up to either eastern corners of 14th Street and Sixth Avenue.[20] Another unstaffed bank of turnstiles by the northeast staircase leads to the mezzanine above the Queens-bound platform of 14th Street on the IND.[20]

The last staircase on the extreme east end of the platform leads to a storage area and ventilation room. Another staircase in this section has been removed.

Starting roughly at the 27-minute mark in the 1977 film Joy, the title character, portrayed by Sharon Mitchell, enters the Sixth Avenue station, then boards a train car on which she seduces the only other passenger on the train.