The 14th Street/Sixth Avenue station is an underground New York City Subway station complex in Greenwich Village and Chelsea, Manhattan, on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, the BMT Canarsie Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line. It is located on 14th Street between Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and Seventh Avenue. It is served by the 1, 2, F, and L trains at all times, by the 3 train at all times except late nights, the M train during weekdays, and the <F> train during rush hours in the peak direction.
A connection is available from this complex to the PATH station at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue. There is a direct passageway from this complex to the PATH station's southbound platform; transferring between this complex and the northbound PATH platform requires exiting onto street level first.
History
Dual Contracts construction
After the opening of the original subway line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the New York City government began planning new lines. As part of the proposed Tri-borough system, both the IRT and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT) wished to develop an east–west line under 14th Street in Manhattan. The IRT also sought to operate a north–south route in Manhattan along Seventh Avenue south of Times Square. The Seventh Avenue and 14th Street lines were both assigned to the BRT in 1911 after the IRT refused to agree to a compromise over the Tri-borough system.
By mid-1912, the Public Service Commission was determining the locations of stations on the Seventh Avenue Line. The commission wished to add express stops at 34th Street–Penn Station to the north and Chambers Street to the south, but The New York Times reported that the 14th Street station would likely be a local stop because businesses had begun moving away from 14th Street. In September 1912, merchants near 14th Street began advocating for the construction of an express station there, saying the Chambers Street and 34th Street stations were apart. Merchants on 23rd Street, conversely, advocated for the construction of an express stop on that street because businesses were moving to 23rd Street.
Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
The Dual Contracts between the government of New York City, the BMT, and the IRT were signed in 1913. 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. 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. 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.
As part of the Dual Contracts, the IRT was authorized to construct an express station on its Seventh Avenue Line at 14th Street. The Christopher Street and 14th Street stations were to be built as part of section 4 of the Seventh Avenue Line, running between Commerce Street and 16th Street. This contract was awarded in March 1914 to the United States Realty and Investment Company, who made a low bid of $1.837 million. By early 1917, the section of the Seventh Avenue Line from 14th to 42nd Street was nearly complete, and workers were restoring the portion of Seventh Avenue between 14th and 42nd Streets. A short section of the new line opened between 42nd Street and 34th Street–Penn Station in June 1917. A further extension from 34th to 14th Street was initially scheduled to open by the end of the year, but the extension to 14th Street was still incomplete by that December.