Van Cortlandt Park–242 Street
Looking south from the north end of the tracks, a 1 train enters Track 1. Another 1 train sits at Track 4.
Station statistics
Address	West 242nd Street & Broadway Bronx, New York
Borough	The Bronx
Locale	Riverdale &Fieldston
Coordinates	40°53′21″N73°53′55″W / 40.889222°N 73.898583°W /40.889222; -73.898583
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus:Bx9 MTA Bus:BxM3 Bee-Line Bus:1, 2, 3
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	1island platform (in service) 2side platforms (unused) Spanish solution
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	August 1, 1908; 117 years ago (1908-08-01)
Accessible	notADA-accessible; currently undergoing renovations for ADA access
Former/other names	242 St–Van Cortlandt Park[a]
Traffic
2024	1,385,093[2]  1.8%
Rank	230 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Terminus Local 238th Street towardSouth Ferry
Non-revenue services and lines Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Terminus no service Dyckman Street express
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to238th Street toDyckman Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times
242nd Street - Van Cortlandt Park Station (IRT)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Architect	Heins & LaFarge
Architectural style	Victorian Gothic
MPS	New York City Subway System MPS
NRHP reference No.	05000226[3]
Added to NRHP	March 30, 2003

TheVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station is the northernterminal station of theNew York City Subway'sIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Located at the intersection of 242nd Street andBroadway (US Route 9) in theRiverdale neighborhood ofthe Bronx, it is served by the1 train at all times. It is adjacent toVan Cortlandt Park to the east,Manhattan University, and the240th Street Yard of the subway system, along with the affluent neighborhoods ofFieldston andRiverdale to the west.

It was built from a design by subway architectsHeins & LaFarge. Today it is the only remainingVictorian Gothicelevated terminal station on the subway, and contains the subway's only remainingscrolled station sign among itsdecorative flourishes. In 2005, it was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

The station was built as part of the Contract 1 system erected from 1904–1908, connectingLower Manhattan to the Bronx. Originally the northern terminus was intended to be Bailey Avenue and 230th Street, a block southeast of the current station at231st Street. After the completion of theHarlem River Ship Canal at the end of the 19th century, the line was rerouted to a new terminus at 242nd Street. Like many of the other terminal stations in theouter boroughs, it was located near a park.^[4]

Heins & LaFarge, who had already designed theCathedral of St. John the Divine nearColumbia University and theAstor Court at theBronx Zoo, were commissioned to design the stations. In the early 1890s, the city's transit commissioners had recommended that subway stations be painted and decorated in order to make the experience of using the system pleasant. They took further inspiration from the contemporaryCity Beautiful movement, which called for beautiful public architecture in the hope that it would inspire citizens to act virtuously.^[4]

Their use of theVictorian Gothicarchitectural style reflected its popularity at that time for train stations. The six elevated stations they built in that style on the Contract 1 are extensively decorated on their exterior surfaces, complementing the correspondingtilework andmosaics in the underground stations. 242nd Street, which opened on August 1, 1908,^[5][6] is the only elevated terminal station left in that style from Contract 1.^[4]

Within a few years of the station's opening, ridership on the line north of 157th Street increased sharply. In 1913, 3.1 million tickets were sold at the Van Cortlandt Park station. Undeveloped lots along Broadway to the city's northern limit were quickly bought by builders hoping to profit from the boom in luxury houses, which could reach the subway throughstreetcar lines as well. At that time, it was expected that the line would be extended to 262nd Street.^[7] TheHorace Mann School was built to serve this population.^[8]

To address overcrowding, in 1909, theNew York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.^[9]: 168 As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $50.6 million in 2024) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $16.9 million in 2024) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.^[10]: 15 The side platforms at the 242nd Street station were extended 62 feet (19 m) to the south.^[10]: 114 Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910,^[9]: 168 and ten-car express trains began running on the West Side Line on January 24, 1911.^{[9]: 168 [11]}

In 1947,Jack Kerouac passed through the station, then a busy trolley hub, at the end of the first leg of his escape from the city in what becameOn the Road. His goal was to reachU.S. Route 6 at theBear Mountain Bridge and use it as a route along which to goWest toDenver. The attempt failed when he found very little traffic on Route 6 tohitch rides from, and he returned to the city to take a bus instead.^[12]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[13][14] The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of"R-type" rolling stock, which containedrollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[15] The route to 242nd Street became known as the1.^[16] In 1959, all 1 trains became local.^[17]

In 2019, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority announced that this station would becomeADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program.^[18]

A request for proposals was put out on May 18, 2023 for the contract for a project bundle to make 13 stations accessible, including 242nd Street.^[19] A contract for one elevator at the station was awarded in December 2023.^[20] Construction on the elevator was begun in late September 2024, and is anticipated to be completed and opened in 2025.

Platform level	Side platform, not in service
	Track 4	towardSouth Ferry(238th Street) → (No service:Dyckman Street)
	Island platform
	Track 1	towardSouth Ferry(238th Street) → (No service:Dyckman Street)
	Side platform, not in service
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent,OMNY machines
Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance

The station is served by the1 at all times.^[21] It is the northern terminus of the 1 train; the next stop to the south is238th Street.^[22] There are three components to the station: theplatforms, a control house perpendicular to the tracks at the north end, and a crew quarters building spanning the platform at the south end. From the northeast corner anoverpass crosses the through-traffic lanes of Broadway. Two stairs descend in either direction from its end, matching the two stairs that descend to the sidewalk from the west of the control house.^[4]

Just south of the station, the line widens to three tracks, which is the configuration up to just beforeDyckman Street.

The station is located 29 feet (8.8 m) above the west side of the street, where parking is located on either side of where West 242nd Street intersects from the west. On that side of the street are commercial buildings, including a largeparking garage on the southwest corner; the east side has the track, football field, tennis courts, swimming pools and other athletic facilities ofVan Cortlandt Park. Also in the park nearby, to the northeast, is theVan Cortlandt House Museum, aNational Historic Landmark. The240th Street Yard is beyond the parking garage to the southwest, next to the campus ofManhattan University, a few blocks west of the station.

There is oneisland platform and twoside platforms. The station was formerly set up as aSpanish solution with alighting passengers using the side platforms and boarding passengers using the island platform. Now, only the center island platform is open to the public for boarding and disembarking from trains.^[23] They are floored in concrete and sheltered with a wooden roof covered in standing-seam metal supported bytrussed steel T-frames on the side platforms and timber in the center. Roundedrafter tails project from theeaves. The sides, except for the open southernmost section, have had metal windscreen added.^[4]

Under the canopies are modern fluorescent lights. On the eastern platform, the original iron railings support original lights, with dish-shaped downlights on a curved stem. At the south end is the onlyscrolled station sign remaining anywhere in the subway system. The western platform has its original railing and modern lights.^[4]

The control house is the dominant architectural feature of the station. The copper-cladtimber frame exterior is painted in a vertical,batten seam pattern. It is topped with a lowhipped roof clad in sheet metal and pierced by two ventilatingdormer windows on the east and west side. Afleur-de-lis–patterned group offinials at the peak.^[4]

On the northfacade, narrowcasement windows are echoed by recessed panels below. The groups of five in the section on either side of the projecting centralbay window are flanked by blind openings. The bay is supported bycorbeledbrackets and topped with a fangable above the overhanging eaves at the roofline. Its tripartite narrow windows are surrounded by recessed panels with inset circles on the sides and above.^[4]

At both sides aresteel frameparapets with wooden decks. These connect the western stairs and overpass to the control house. The stairs combine structural steel and decorativecast iron. Their supports are braced steelTuscan columns. Gabled standing-seam metal canopies with box fluorescent lighting over the stairs are on narrow supports with slightlyflutedcapitals. At street level are gabled entries whose support columns are decorated with a geometric pattern similar to that on the control house's projecting bay window. C-shaped brackets support the original signage, now painted over.^[4]

The steel-framed overpass is an architecturally sympathetic addition. Railings are a more restrained version of the original railings found on the platform. It is floored in wood plank and roofed with slats covered by standing seam metal. At its west end is a coveredveranda leading into the control house.^[4]

On the inside, the control house is floored in wood plank as well. The walls are finished in a mix of solid andtongue and groove wood paneling. Tall riveted steel arches support the ceiling. The main waiting area has niches where modern heaters have replaced the originalpot-bellied stoves. There is a modern steel and glass token booth andturnstile bank, along withMetroCard vending machines. Former restrooms have been converted into utility and storage rooms.^[4]

The crew quarters building is located at the south end of the platforms. It is a one-story building sided in corrugated metal with a flat roof, elevated over the tracks and platforms at that end. The siding has been given the appearance ofclapboard and painted gray. A beltcourse corresponding to the top of the windows has been painted red, the color of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue trunk line, on both side elevations; it is augmented with a series of blocks in the same color descending towards the tracks on the north end.^[4]

At the south end, a series of projecting nested bays descends to an entrance to track level. To its south is an old signal house also sided in metal. The crew quarters can also be entered from the center platform. Its interior is given over to employee-related functions and is not open to the public.

At the north end of the station, past fare control, there are four stairs that lead down to Broadway. Two go to the west side of Broadway, and two go to the east side.^[24]

• List of New York City Subway terminals
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Bronx County, New York

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVan Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT West Side Line: 242nd Street/Van Cortlandt Park
• nycsubway.org —Unknown Artwork From 2007 at Van Cortlandt Park — 242nd Street
• Station Reporter —1 Train
• The Subway Nut —242nd Street–Van Cortlandt Park PicturesArchived July 6, 2020, at theWayback Machine
• 242nd Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• Future accessible New York City Subway stations
• IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
• Broadway (Manhattan)
• Railway and subway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City
• National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx
• New York City Subway stations in the Bronx
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908
• U.S. Route 9
• Riverdale, Bronx
• New York City Subway stations at university and college campuses
• 1908 establishments in New York City
• Heins and LaFarge buildings
• New York City Subway terminals

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