Daily News from New York, New York • 26

2G DAILY NEWS, TUESDAY, SEPTEMEER 12, 1961 Lies." 1. 'r r- 1. I -1 ttv i M. fto by I avid Robert Fulton' steamboat, the Clermont (foo left), (till sails at the Fulton St. IRT station.

Foto right shows a sloop, but it's also an old-time ferry, gliding over the waves at South Ferry Station. i fiflsaScs in Subivays mit Peep Stuff By DON MOLINELLI paih leading dovn to a voicrvoy. I trovdtr Time: A thousand or so years from now. A in Sew York City or what's It ft of the ever-digging metropolis. Cast Twei ut cheologists.

They' excitedly are examining a iuosaic just uncoverid on a wall section of one of the dark, dreary caverns beneath grmtnd which are called subway stations. First Arelti oloffist Fascinating! It shoos an early tune house, trees, and a irhnt it nxansf Second Archcolorjist: It appears to be made from ceramic tiles. It's quite different from the bas-rtlief sculjiture showing a heaver we dug up a few months ago. First What cultured subway ridtrs must hare been enjoying art like this while they traveled about. Second Indeed, yer.

And the subway sifstem must hare been remarkably Another ferryboat but easier to recognize at Cortlandt St. Tri- "VTOW the time machine whizzes us back to the present. Your reporter is in- Tiles form locomotive at IRT's Grand Central Station. j.1 terviewmg some of the cultured people in the remarkably beautiful sub- which is Columbia University St va system The first man approached is searching through the discarded in a trash barrel at the Canal St. BAIT station.

"Excuse me, sir." your reporter asks, ''what do you think of the mwsaics here in the subway?" "The what?" "The mosaics, sir. Here on the wall see this idyllic scene of an u'd homestead, with the path leading down to the canal? What do you think of it?" located there. Some of the landmarks portrayed in the station art work are no longer in existence. At the IRT South Ferry statfon is a reproduction of a ferry alright but it's a sloop and it's been a miirhty long time since they appeared there. The old state prison now called Sing Sing at Ossining used to be near 'the Christopher St.

station. One still can see what it looked like in a mosaic on the station wall. And St. John's Chapel spire continues to pierce the clouds at the Canal St. IRT "I never noticed that thing be- where Canal St.

anil Broadway i meet now." Horn says he now is researching the mosaic on the 14lh St. station of the BMT Broadway fine. "It shows what seems to be an old roadhouse or inn." he says. "Old-timers think it is the place where (I Washington i stopped when he came to New York for" his inaugural. But so far I haven't been able to pin it down." In tracing the background of subway art.

Horn spent long hours checking musty records of the Transit Authority but with little success. THE ARTISTS ARE A MYSTERY, TOO "It was said that August Belmont, financier anil one-time chairman of the board of the IRT, originated the idea of pictures to identify the location," Horn says, "but you can't prove it by the records. "Most of the papers of the early 1900s were thrown out long ago. No mention of the art is made in any of the records which do exist. But buried in a pile of reports I did find an original drawing of the Astor Place beaver.

Unfortunately it was unsigned. It's a shame, but the names of the artists who 'de-I signed and executed the deeora-j ttorm will probably never be i known." and lias-relief sculptures and rs glad to talk about anything that has to do with New York's subway system, for he's the world's No. 1 subway VVH4" HAPPEN WITH THE IND? Formerly a trolley motorman, Horn has put- 10 -years in the subways and as much time after working hours just exploring tunnels and tracks beneath the city. The unofficial Transit Au-thoritv historian, he has two fore. Did they just put it up? Instead of fooling around with stiiu like that why don't they jrive better iightingr fo it's easier to read He waiks away muttering.

The reporter now travels to the 1'iace HIT station where he comes across a woman carrying a shopping Hair and leaning wearily against a pillar. IT'S A PUZZLER TO THIS RIDER "Pardon me. madam. May I ask your opinion of the picture on the The woman looks up and grimaces. "Hiuit is it, a rat?" "No, it's a heaver.

See the hroad. fiat tail?" "Yeh. Well he's gi.it something to- sit on iut I don't. Whv don't Motorman George Horn No. 1 mubwajt fan What about the beaver? "Well, the beaver is at tin Astor Place IRT station.

Astor Place was named after John Jacob AstufT And Astor made his i station, but the church was de- in The mosaic which took most of Horn's investigatory time is the one at the Canal St. BMT station and shows a house and what appears to le a small bridged AND SO IT BECOMES A MYSTERY HOUSE "It was one of the first mosaics I tried to trace, beginning in Horn says. "It wasn't difficult to figure out that the water was supposed to be the old canal once located near the spot, but the house intrigued me. Why had it been included I felt sure it must have some significance, but" books about subways and elevated lines to his credit and is at work fortune out of furs mostly nn thiri TTo nvi nn pTmrnmlK T' heaver collection oi poetry, music ana literature all dealing with the underground railway. "I've been studying the mosaics and sculptures for more than 16 years," Horn says.

"They are found in more than 30 Mit of the mosaics are in the IRT system. The bas-reliefs which were pre molded are mostly in the BMT. newest system the IND has no ait work." Was their purpose merely decorative? NOW HERE'S ART Your reporter blinked here but Horn went on. "I admit the beaver is tougb to figure out, but most of the others are easier. SANTA MARIA? TRY COLUMBUS CIRCLE "At Columbus Circle, for in-, stance, i a picture of the Santa Maria, Columbus' flagship.

The IRT Borough Hail station in Brooklyn shows the tower of the Hall of Records, which is right up the stairs. And at 110th St. is a reproduction ot the insignia of Pits- for eight years I couldn't find out what it was." Then in li'55, Horn spied an old painting showing the same scene in the Neu York Historical Society. "It identified the homestead as belonging to Aaron Burr who fought that duel with Alexander Hamilton. His house was located i 1L WITH A MISSION "No," Horn says.

"Each picture attempted to show, the subway rider where he was. They were intended especially for people who couldn't read English. In his search Horn turned up the names of three companies which were responsible for "finishing" the subway stations. They were the Manhattan Glass Tile the Alfred Boote and the Gridley Faience Co. None of theni now is in business HORN CALLS IT A TRAGIC LOSS "Another Horn, "is that with the remodeling of the stations going on, no attempt is being made to preserve the art.

"It's being ripped down or covered up. Look at the Wall St. station on the IRT. It shows a reproduction of the old stockade hich once stood in the area. But the station has been repaired and only one picture is left.

If nothing is done to save them, thev will all be gone some day soon." The reporter had one last query for the busy subway expert: "What scene is represented at the Chambers St. BMT station?" "That's old Kings College," he sai l. "It later became Columbia University, after moving up to St. in 18fi0. Don't ask me how the picture was supposed to help a traveler find his way when the school was gone 40 years before the stibwav was built." Beaver on Astor Place IRT wall represents fur Astor sold.

they put more hencheson these stations? I'm Next stop is the Transportation Building at 370 Jay Brooklyn. Here, in offices -he New-York Transit Authority, the writer making progress on tracking down information alout art work in the subway-system. to Cturge H.irn," he is told. "If anyone knows, George will." Horn. for the IXD line', dties know af.nut the' mosaics The TRT was in 1900.

"At that time the-re was still a stiong tide of immigration wash- -i ing the city. So, at the Fulton St. i IRT station a bas-Telkf of the steamboat Clermont appears. Robert Fulton was an" interna- tional figure. When a traveler i saw his invention he was sup-! posed- to know he was at the thoroughfare named after Ful- "And when he saw the mosaic showing the old tiell-stack lico- motive, he knew- he was at the lailroad terminal: Grand Central Sratto-! the IRT line." jr JJ nil VnM -'i Aaroa.Borr borne borders old canal in BMT at Canal St.

ij: We -didn't.