House and Garden 
A WELL-LIGHTED PLATFORM AT 2 3 D STREET 
Showing the decorations of Rookwood Pottery and Ceramic Mosaic 
the ceiling, and it is 
likely that the one now 
to be seen at Fourteenth 
Street will be adopted. 
It is of iron displaying 
the letters on both sides 
and isilluminated with¬ 
in with incandescent 
lights. 
Eighteenth Street is 
designated by name- 
panels placed on those 
portions of the walls 
which lie at an angle 
with the track, enab¬ 
ling the name to be 
read from a long range 
of car windows. The 
color scheme of the 
faience is here chiefly 
dull pink and green. 
The former color is seen in the continuous 
cornice, to which are bound yellow cartouches 
containing the figure 18 upon a dull green 
ground. The mosaic name-panel of this 
station has, like those at Fourteenth Street and 
also Cathedral Parkway, the merit of unob¬ 
trusive parts and especially that of dignified 
color. 
There is no more elaborate station on the 
line than Twenty-third Street. Connecting 
with it, and making a considerable extension 
of its capacity, are the sub-basements of the 
large office buildings now being erected on 
the western corners of Fourth Avenue and 
Twenty-third Street, 
the Mercantile Build¬ 
ing on the south and 
the Metropolitan Life 
on the north. The 
decoration of the sta¬ 
tion has not yet been 
extended to these 
spaces, for the contrac¬ 
tors are still occupied 
with the structural ma¬ 
sonry, and endeavoring 
to follow the devious 
party linewhich divides 
public or station from 
private or office-build¬ 
ing property, as well as 
contract from contract. 
Within the temporary partitions now con¬ 
fining the station is a system of decoration as 
fanciful in color as it is elaborate in design. 
Along the base of the walls runs a wainscot¬ 
ing of pink Georgian marble, and there is a 
response to this color in the plaques above, 
which display the figure 23 close upon each 
side of the ceiling beams. The ground of 
the plaques is crimson, merging into yellow, 
and the fruit below is a dull red amid leaves 
of green. Under the beams, between each 
pair of plaques, are terra-cotta corbels of a 
light gray, matching the nearby cornice of 
the same color. This portion of the orna¬ 
ment was executed by 
the Rookwood Pottery 
Company. 
The remainder of 
the wall decoration 
consists of ceramic mo¬ 
saic whose gay color 
is somewhat ill-suited 
to the subterranean sit¬ 
uation and to such close 
connection with lusty 
beams and masonry 
having more serious 
work to do. Beside 
this, the tret motive ot 
mosaic is too large and 
goes sprawling merrily 
around the name-panel 
THE FRIEZE CARTOUCHE OF GRUEBY 
FAIENCE AT THE ARMORY STATION 
33d Street and Fourth Avenue 
289 
