Daily News from New York, New York • 10

10 Monday, April 15,2019 DAILY NEWS NYDailyNews.com I 'i -J 1 I realized that this was going to be this curved loop track, they knew this was going to be a station they could really design," said Polly Desjarlais, the transit museum's education manager. "Every other station were these rectangular boxes, but here was the opportunity to use architecture to elevate the station above all stations." But that elevated status was relatively short-lived. By the 1940s, the subway's capacity expanded, and the system's five-car trains expanded to 10. The longer trains were unable to fit into the sharp loop of the track at the City Hall station, and the 1 BY CLAYTON GUSE DAILY NEWS TRANSIT REPORTER Arched ceilings, chandeliers and world-renowned architecture are not features riders typically associate with the New York City subway but that's because the system's most beautiful station has been closed to the public for more than 70 years. The original City Hall station debuted in 1904, and was taken out of service at the end of 1945.

The Daily News last week was given a rare tour of the space by staff from the New York Transit Museum. The public can view the historic spot with a simple trick riders who stay on a southbound No. 6 train when it departs its terminal station at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall will be given a brief, free tour around the station's looped track. The MTA's official policy requires riders to exit trains before they make the loop, but the rule is seldom enforced. Still, the station's majesty is best appreciated on the platform level.

Skylights illuminate the space during the day. Its elaborate mosaics and Catalan-inspired arches are enough to make modern riders envious of their turn-of-the-last-century prede- CITY HALL curve caused a major gap between the cars and the edge of the platform. Now the space sits empty just beneath the surface of City Hall Park. During the day, natural light pours down below from open vents that leave the station slightly open to the elements. "The skylights speaks to the fact that most of the original system is very shallow," said the museum's director ConcettaBencivenga "We are literally just below the surface." Tours of the station aren't restricted to nerdy journalists and rule-bending subway riders the museum offers regular tours for its members.

Transit aficionados can get an annual membership for $60. Tickets for a tour of the station are $50 for nonmem-bers when they go on sale. The next batch of tickets will be up for grabs Wednesday museum staffers said they typically sell out within hours. cessors. The architects behind the station, George Heins and Christopher LaFarge, pulled out all of the stops to encourage riders to head into a subterranean space with an electrified rail something that sounded insane in 1904.

"When Heins and LaFarge.