East 180th Street IRT stationhouse already in shambles

Thousands of people a day use or pass through the East 180th Street station on the IRT 2 and 5 lines in the Bronx.  Most customers are unaware of the station's historical significance, especially the landmarked stationhouse entrance which sits at the NW corner of East 180th Street and Morris Park Ave in the Bronx.  The stationhouse was built in 1911 for a now defunct railway called the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway (NYW&B Railway) which ran a no-frills commuter rail service between Port Morris terminal in the South Bronx and either White Plains or Port Chester.  You can read all the history of the NYW&B railway on two great rail history websites here and here (a month's worth of viewing).   MTA New York City Transit undertook a beautiful restoration of the East 180th Street stationhouse which was completed in 2013 with Lee Harris Pomeroy as the architectural firm hired to draw the blueprints for the restoration process.  The station is listed in both National Register of Historical Places and a NYC Landmark so it's something which NYC Transit should preserve.


Now 4 years later, the stationhouse's exterior is already in shambles from the elements of mother nature and the cold harsh winters.

Side views of stationhouse:

When you paint a house, you should be able to maintain the paint - - primer it before painting then do a new repainting job every 4 to 7 years (in NYC, it's more on the 4 year side because of those brutal winters, LOL).  You don't let paint peel off in large areas like this - - and it's only 4 years old.   It's sad that MTA New York City Transit will let this house (which is registered as TWO landmarks) decay again, unless they do some overcoat within a year or so.  While I talk about the stationhouse, there is a very interesting "exhibit" just to the right as you enter from the Morris Park Ave (main) side - - a 1970's Hagstrom wall map of the Bronx.  Take a look at this:

Bronx campus of New York University, now Bronx Community College

Hostos Community College and Lincoln Hospital not yet built.  

Third Ave el. and Wilkins Ave, now Louis Nine Blvd at Freeman St

High Bridge Station on the old PCRR Hudson line

Bronx State Hospital, now closed.  Jacobi and Albert Einsten Hospitals remain. 

Manhattan State Hospital

Newly constructed Bruckner Interchange which now all highway traffic bypasses a traffic signal at Brush Ave.  

Southern terminus of 3rd Ave el at East 149th Street.  Map appears to be somewhere between 1972/73

Co-Op City - - note old exit numbers on I95 and some unfinished loops inside the complex - - no malls.  Today, the exit numbers on I95 are 11 and 12.

138th Street station on the old Penn-Central.  

This is not some ordinary stationhouse like Franklin Ave and Fulton St in Brooklyn - - this is a landmark and of great historical significance which the MTA New York City Transit should not ignore.  It's very sad for them to let this crown jewel decay into the current state as the East 180th Street stationhouse represents part of the glory days in railroading history.