I want you to take a second to think about the physical materials of the New York City subway system
You might think about tile, concrete, or steel, but my guess is that wood is low on your list.
But for nearly 50 years, these iconic wooden benches have stood in subway stations across the city.
These benches have received a fair amount of praise for their modernist form. They are simple, unadorned and utilitarian.
But they’ve received equal amounts of scorn. Many people feel they’re unhygienic, especially when compared with stainless steel. A fear that was only worsened by a bench related bed bug incident in 2008.
Even though wood feels out of place in the modern subway, this wasn’t always the case. in 1904 when the subway first opened, there were a lot of wooden elements from turnstiles to ticket boxes, and of course, benches.
There were many different types of benches in the subway system throughout the years, mostly made of wood, except for one brief period when the system did try plastic benches in the 60s. Our current benches date back to the 1970s when the Port Authority rolled out a similar style of bench on some of its lines, the MTA followed in the 80s.
Since then, the benches sat largely unchanged. but they come under increased scrutiny in the last 20 years in the early 2010s there was a push to remove the benches with the MTA even selling some to the public. Some benches have been replaced by stainless steel, some by modern wood and steel combinations, and others by things that aren’t really benches at all.
What do you think? Do you like the old style wooden benches? Or do you prefer the stainless steel alternatives? what do you think about the so-called leaning benches? Worthwhile or not?