Franklin Street
Northbound platform
Station statistics
Address	Franklin Street & Varick Street New York, New York
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Tribeca
Coordinates	40°43′08″N74°00′25″W / 40.719°N 74.007°W /40.719; -74.007
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times) ​  2  (late nights)
Transit	NYCT Bus:M20 NJT Bus:120
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1918; 107 years ago (1918-07-01)
Traffic
2024	1,408,018[2]  5.9%
Rank	227 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Canal Street 1  ​2  towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street Local Chambers Street 1  ​2  towardSouth Ferry does not stop here
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend toCanal Street toChambers Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekends

TheFranklin Street station is a localstation on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway, located at the intersection of Franklin Street, Varick Street, and West Broadway, in theTriBeCa neighborhood ofManhattan,^[3] it is served by the1 train at all times and by the2 train during late nights.

The station was built by theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of theDual Contracts withNew York City, and opened on July 1, 1918. The station had its platforms extended in the 1960s, and was renovated in the early 1990s.

TheDual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in theCity of New York. The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies (theInterborough Rapid Transit Company and theBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company), 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.^[4][5][6]

The construction of this line, in conjunction with the construction of theLexington 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 the42nd 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.^[7] It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the Lower West Side, and to neighborhoods such asChelsea andGreenwich Village.^[8][9]

Franklin Street opened as part of an extension of the line from34th Street–Penn Station toSouth Ferry on July 1, 1918.^[10][11] Initially, the station was served by a shuttle running fromTimes Square to South Ferry.^[10][12] 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.^[13] An immediate result of the switch was the need to transfer using the 42nd Street Shuttle in order to retrace the original layout. The completion of the "H" system doubled the capacity of the IRT system.^[8]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[14][15] On August 9, 1964, theNew York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced the letting of a $7.6 million contract to lengthen platforms at stations on the Broadway—Seventh Avenue Line fromRector Street to34th Street–Penn Station, including Franklin Street, and stations fromCentral Park North–110th Street to145th Street on the Lenox Avenue Line to allow express trains to be lengthened from nine-car trains to ten-car trains, and to lengthen locals from eight-car trains to ten-car trains. With the completion of this project, the NYCTA project to lengthen IRT stations to accommodate ten-car trains would be complete.^[16]

The station was renovated in the early 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

WhenAretha Franklin died on August 16, 2018, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority pasted sticker signs with the word "Respect" on the walls of the Franklin Street station, as well as theFranklin Avenue station in Brooklyn.^[17][18] A Brooklyn resident had suggested adding the signs after impromptu tributes to Franklin had arisen at these two stations.^[18] The signs were supposed to be temporary,^[19] but, as of March 2023, they are still on the walls.

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street(Canal Street) ← towardWakefield–241st Street late nights(Canal Street)
	Northbound express	← do not stop here
	Southbound express	→ do not stop here →
	Southbound local	→ towardSouth Ferry(Chambers Street) → → towardFlatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College late nights(Chambers Street) →
	Side platform

The station has twoside platforms and four tracks with no crossover or crossunder.^[20] The station is served by the1 at all times^[21] and by the2 during late nights;^[22] the center express tracks are used by the 2 and 3 trains during daytime hours.^[22][23] The station is betweenCanal Street to the north andChambers Street to the south.^[24]

There are "store window"-style art displays on the southbound platform and a faux-newsstand on the northbound side.^[20] 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."^[20] The floor tiles are rose and tan colored with light and dark splotches.^[20]

The full-time entrance is on the uptown side, on a traffic island where Varick Street and West Broadway meet.^[25] There is a kiosk reminiscent of the originalIRT kiosks at72nd Street andBowling Green, but it was added during the station's renovation during the mid-1990s.^[20] 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-timehigh-exit turnstiles one block north, at both northern corners of Varick andNorth Moore Streets, on both the uptown and downtown sides.^[25]

v t e Lower Manhattan transit
Legend
Franklin Street Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall​ () ​​Chambers Street Chambers Street​ ​ ()Chambers Street–WTC City Hall​ ​Park Place WTC Cortlandt Cortlandt Street​ ( HOB  NWK )World Trade Center Fulton Street​​​​​​​ Rector Street Rector Street​ ​Wall Street Wall Street​ ​Bowling Green Broad Street (​) ()South Ferry/Whitehall Street Whitehall Terminal South Ferry loops

Wikimedia Commons has media related toFranklin Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT West Side Line: Franklin Street
• nycsubway.org –Alleyways, Tribeca Artwork by Susan Leopold (2005)
• Station Reporter –1 Train
• Franklin Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Varick Street and West Broadway entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Moore Street exit only stairs from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• 1918 establishments in New York City
• IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
• New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918
• Tribeca

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