EL STATION, NINTH AVENUE LINE
Greenwich and Christopher Streets
JUNE18, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 137

The elevated trains were the city's first rapid transit system, and the Ninth Avenue line, constructed between 1867 and 1879, was the first of four lines. A Swiss draftsman employed by Chief Engineer Courtright was responsible for the "chalet" style stations. Initially much lauded for their efficiency and resplendent decoration--which originally included mahogany panelling, leather seats, and carpeting--the Els were technologically and aesthetically outmoded by the 1930s. When Abbott photographed this station closest to her home, its demolition was already under discussion. In 1940, the Ninth Avenue El was torn down.

With the El gone, this intersection offers a clear view of St. Veronica's, a Catholic church (1891) whose steeple rises above the El station in Abbott's photograph. The row houses on the south side of Christopher Street (left) were demolished in 1958 to make way for a new St. Luke's School.

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