103rd Street station (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
103rd Street is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 103rd Street in East Harlem, it is served by the train at all times, the <6> train during weekdays in the peak direction, and the train during late nights.
History
103rd Street opened on July 17, 1918, as part of an expansion of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line north of Grand Central–42nd Street.The Downtown/Brooklyn platform was renovated in 2015, with the placement of new white wall tiles, new floor tiles and benches. From January 26, 2016, to May 23, 2016, the Uptown/Bronx-bound platform was closed for renovation and was done in the same style as the Downtown/Brooklyn platform. This was completed about a month earlier than planned.
Station layout
This underground station has four tracks and two side platforms. The two center express tracks are used by the 4 and trains during daytime hours. All other stations between Grand Central–42nd Street and 125th Street on the line, except 110th Street, have the local tracks on an upper level and express ones on the lower level, with Emergency Exits provided at local stations for emergency egress.Both platforms have their original trim line, which has "103" tablets on it at regular intervals, and name tablets, which read "103RD STREET" in the original mosaic. Prior to the 1990 remodeling, mosaic tiles were used so as to depict the 103rd Street mosaic as a sign hanging down from a horizontal support beam above. These "signholders" were covered over in 1990. An emergency phone is present immediately to the south of the southbound local platform.
The station's only entrance/exit is a mezzanine above the platforms and tracks near the south end. It has two staircases from each platform, a waiting area that can be used as a crossover, turnstile bank, token booth, and two street stairs going up to the southeast and southwest corners of 103rd Street and Lexington Avenue. The mezzanine has mosaics indicating uptown and downtown directions.
The 1990 ceramic artwork here is called Neo-Boriken by Nitza Tufiño, based on the neighborhood's Caribbean and Latin American heritage. According to the accompanying plaque, P.R.O.M.I.S.E. helped to fund the murals. This is one of two projects Tufiño made for MTA Arts & Design; the other, Westside Views – a community project for which she was the lead artist – can be found at 86th Street.
Exits
Both exits serve both platforms. The fences surrounding each exit stairway are unusual as each section of the fence is at a different elevation, as they are located on Duffy's Hill, a sharp incline, on Lexington Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets.| Exit location | Exit type | Number of exits |
| SW corner of Lexington Avenue and 103rd Street | Staircase | 1 |
| SE corner of Lexington Avenue and 103rd Street | Staircase | 1 |