page_title: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station
section_title: Renovation
hierarchical_section_title: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station / History / Renovation
caption_attribution_description: English: Lower level platform at 5th Av/53rd St on the IND E/M.
context_page_description: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street is a station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, it is served by the E train at all times and the M train weekdays except late nights.
  Fifth Avenue/53rd Street was opened in 1933 as part of the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line. It contains two side platforms on separate levels: southbound trains to Lower Manhattan use the upper level, while northbound trains to Queens use the lower level. The station was renovated in the 1980s as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Culture Stations program, and was rebuilt with displays showing information about the cultural institutions in the area.
context_section_description: In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. That same year, the MTA announced the creation of its Culture Stations program to install public art in the subway. The Culture Stations program was started to deter graffiti, and was inspired by legislation in the New York City Council that mandated that 1% of the cost of constructing public buildings be used for art. The program was modelled on the Louvre – Rivoli station on the Paris Métro, which featured reproductions of the artwork on display in the Louvre. Four stations, including this station, Astor Place, Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum and 66th Street–Lincoln Center, were selected for the program due to their proximity to cultural institutions, and would be among the first stations part of the MTA's new station refurbishment program, which began in 1982. The Fifth Avenue station was chosen for its proximity to five museums, the New York Public Library Main Branch, and major corporations.
  The stations part of the Culture Stations program were to be completed by making use of both private and public funding. This station was redesigned by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects. The modernization project was opened to bidders on November 9, 1982, and was expected to cost between $4 and $6 million. Design work was completed in 1983. The renovation was originally scheduled to be complete in December 1984 but was pushed back by two years. As part of the renovation, 400-foot-long (120 m) rows of light boxes containing displays showing information about objects in nearby museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, as well as points of interest in the vicinity, were installed on each platform. The light boxes were designed by the project's graphic designers, Pentagram. In addition, to prevent water seepage and to reduce noise, double layered metal linings were installed in the station.
  In 1996, Ralph Fasanella's 1950 painting "Subway Riders" was installed outside fare control in the full-time mezzanine. It was the first oil painting installed in a subway station in New York City. Fasanella had donated it to the American Folk Art Museum on the condition that it stay permanently displayed in the subway under the MTA Arts & Design program, saying, "I'd rather have people see this painting in the subway than any museum." In 2014, "Subway Riders" was temporarily removed and placed in a traveling exhibition called "Self Taught Genius: Treasures From the American Folk Art Museum".
caption: A view of the displays added during the station renovation on the downtown platform
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