Operation of the first subway began on October 27, 1904, with the opening of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch including the 72nd Street station. The original configuration of the station was inadequate by IRT standards. It had just one entrance, and the platforms and stairways were unusually narrow. There were no crossovers or crossunders as the control house had separate turnstile banks and token booths for each side. Express trains ran on the innermost two tracks, while local trains ran on the outer pair.
Renovation
During the 1950s, the New York City Transit Authority considered converting the station to a local station by walling off the express tracks from the platforms. This would have coincided with 59th Street–Columbus Circle, which is a major transfer point to the IND Eighth Avenue Line, becoming an express stop. A substantial renovation was completed on October 29, 2002, providing a new, larger control house on the traffic island between 72nd and 73rd Streets and slightly wider platforms at the north end of the station.
Station layout
At platform level, the station is similar to its original configuration, with two narrow island platforms and four tracks.
Exits
There are two station houses, both of which provide entry and exit: the original station house south of 72nd Street, and the new one north of 72nd Street. The crossovers and elevator are only in the northernmost station house. This control house has two staircases and one elevator from each platform going up to a crossover, where on either side a turnstile bank leads to either 72nd or 73rd Streets. Only the southern turnstile bank, to the northern side of 72nd Street, has a staffed token booth. The elevators from this turnstile bank make this station ADA-accessible. This control house has an artwork, Laced Canopy by Robert Hickman, which consists of a mosaic pattern on the central skylight; if looked at in the right way, the knots within the pattern make up the notation for an excerpt of Verdi's Rigoletto. The original control house was renovated and now has a total of five staircases: two to the southbound platform and three to the northbound platform. These staircases go up to a crossover. On the north side, an unstaffed turnstile bank leads to 72nd Street; on the south side, three High Entry/Exit Turnstiles lead to 71st Street. This control house has artful wrought iron pillars, dating back to the days of the original subway system, as well as decorated ceiling beams.
