{"nrhp_refnum":"06000020","name":"Substation 409","other_names":["Stanton Street Substation"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"163 Essex St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.72139350600003,"lon":-73.98712422399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Art","Engineering","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Substation 409, also called the Stanton Street Substation, is a two-story Art Deco masonry electrical substation at 163 Essex Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, built in 1936 as part of the IND subway system.","why_significant":"It is significant for its role in powering the subway, converting high-voltage AC from Con Edison to low-voltage DC for trains, under transportation, community planning and engineering. It also has a highly articulated Art Deco facade of brick and limestone that masks its function. Its exterior and interior retain overall integrity despite later changes.","narrative":"Substation 409, known as the Stanton Street Substation, is a rectangular two-story masonry building at 163 Essex Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Built in 1936 for the city-owned IND subway system, it converts alternating current purchased from Con Edison into the low-voltage direct current that runs the trains. It remains in service. Its Art Deco facade uses patterned brick, limestone coping, a chevron and diamond frieze, and a carved limestone doorway surround with stylized lettering, which together hide the building's industrial purpose. Inside is a windowless ground-floor hall with a crane, an original telephone booth and alarm bells, plus a well-lit second floor used for offices and equipment storage. Later additions, including a metal louver and roll-down doors, are judged detrimental but minor. The building was listed for its part in subway power supply and engineering, and for its architectural design as a representative IND substation. It was earlier counted in the Lower East Side Historic District.","period_of_significance":"1936-1940 (IND Period)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Modern Movement/Art Deco","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in service providing power to subway lines; original mercury arc rectifiers have been replaced with solid state rectifiers.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.979068-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06000020.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000020/2aacbea9e7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000020/2aacbea9e7-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Substation_409_NYC_a.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Substation_409_NYC_a.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00001015","name":"Lower East Side Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/lower-east-side-historic-district-00001015/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313875","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6134973"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/substation-409-06000020/"}