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, 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. 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. Franklin 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. 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. 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.
Station layout
The station has two side platforms and four tracks with no crossover or crossunder. There are "store window"-style art displays on the southbound platform and a faux-newsstand on the northbound side. Although the station's original wall tiling was replaced during renovations, its mosaic bands were kept; there are "Franklin Street" large mosaics, small "F" mosaics and directional mosaics "To Franklin St." and "To North Moore St." The floor tiles are rose-colored.
Exits
The full-time entrance is on the uptown side, on a traffic island where Varick Street and West Broadway meet. There is a kiosk reminiscent of the original IRT kiosks at 72nd Street and Bowling Green, but it was added during the station's renovation during the mid-1990s. There are two downtown street stair entrances on either western corner of Varick and Franklin Streets, but the booth is not staffed at all times. There are part-time high-exit turnstiles one block north, at both northern corners of Varick and North Moore Streets, on both the uptown and downtown sides.
