{"nrhp_refnum":"80002684","name":"Control House on 72nd Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W. 72nd St. and Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.77846266300003,"lon":-73.98211039699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story buff brick subway entrance building on a traffic island at West 72nd Street and Broadway (Sherman Square) on Manhattan's Upper West Side, completed in 1904 as part of the Interborough Rapid Transit Subway.","why_significant":"It is one of four surviving IRT control houses, the original ornamental entrances to New York's first subway system. Reviewers noted the group is important for its architecture and its link to transportation history. The 72nd Street building remains virtually intact and is still used as a station entrance.","narrative":"At West 72nd Street and Broadway, a small buff brick building sits on a traffic island in Sherman Square. Completed in 1904, it served as an ornamental entrance to the Interborough Rapid Transit Subway and still functions as a station entrance. Heins & La Parge, consulting architects for the subway system, set it at the same angle as Broadway so it would form a focal point in the square. The building measures fifty by thirty-seven feet and rests on a granite foundation. Its Roman brick walls have limestone quoins, a low gable roof of terra-cotta blocks covered in copper, and shaped gables with terra-cotta coping and finials. The number 72 appears in a terra-cotta cross, and the limestone entrance surround is a modified Gibbs design. The interior is finished in white glass tile. It is one of four surviving IRT control houses, which represent the earliest entrances to the city's subway system, and it was listed for its architecture and its place in transportation history.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Heins & La Parge, consulting architects for the subway system","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a station entrance; described as virtually intact, with a fifth door added to the entrance side.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.58298-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002684.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002684/a5f67f3e05-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002684/a5f67f3e05-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Gryffindor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:72nd_Street_IRT_Broadway_008.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Gryffindor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:72nd_Street_IRT_Broadway_008.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313849","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17993833"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/control-house-on-72nd-street-80002684/"}