Enjoy a breathtaking one hour tour of the history, architecture and art work of the New York City Subways. We start with a palatial City Hall station (opened on October 27, 1904)–a masterpiece with its Guastavino tile arched ceiling, stained-glass skylights and brass chandeliers. The tour continues with terra-cotta bas reliefs of American bald eagles at the 33rd Street station. There is a view of the grand steel arched viaduct above the 125th Street valley in Harlem which rises over sixty feet. There are gorgeous stained-glass windows on elevated lines, sculptures of “little creatures” on the 14th Street (A, C, E and L) lines, including a brass alligator coming out of a manhole. There is a discussion of the Rockaway line, part of which may become the Queens edition of the High Line. We will talk about the original elevated lines which crossed over the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Malbone Street train wreck during the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918. Some the original glass mosaic tiles in a Bay Ridge subway station resemble the works of artist Diego Rivera and Ben Shahn.

Your presenter for this talk is Oscar Israelowitz, an architect, author, and artist. Born in Brussels, Belgium, Oscar has degrees in geology and architecture, is a licensed architect in Israel, a licensed New York City Tour Guide, and has exhibited photographic shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Historical Society, the New York Transit Museum, and the Main Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.