Court Square–23rd Street station

New York City Subway station in Queens

The Court Square–23rd Street station is a New York City Subway station complex on the IND Crosstown Line, the IRT Flushing Line and the IND Queens Boulevard Line. The complex is located in the vicinity of One Court Square in Hunters Point and Long Island City, Queens, and is served by the 7, E, and G trains at all times; the M train on weekdays; and the <7> express train during weekdays in the peak direction. The complex comprises three originally separate stations, formerly known as the 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station (Queens Boulevard Line), Long Island City–Court Square station (Crosstown Line), and 45th Road–Court House Square station (Flushing Line). The Flushing Line station was the first to open, in 1916. The Crosstown Line station opened in 1933, followed by the Queens Boulevard Line station in 1939. Two passageways were built to connect the three stations. The first was built in 1990, following the opening of the Citigroup office tower at One Court Square. In December 2001, this passageway came into greater use when G trains started to terminate at Court Square. A second passageway was completed between the Crosstown and Flushing Line stations in 2011. The Flushing and Crosstown Line stations were renamed "Court Square"; these stations became ADA accessible in 2011 and 2023, respectively. The Queens Boulevard Line station, which is not fully ADA compliant, was renamed "Court Square–23rd Street".

In 1913, the New York City Public Service Commission formalized the Dual Contracts, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. As part of the Dual Contracts, the IRT was to complete and open the Steinway Tunnel as part of the new Flushing subway line. The tunnel, running under the East River with trolley loops on both the Manhattan and Queens sides, had sat unused since 1907, when test runs had been performed in the then nearly complete tunnel. The route was to go from Times Square through the tunnel over to Long Island City and from there continue toward Flushing. The first part of the future IRT Flushing Line, from Grand Central–42nd Street in Manhattan to Vernon–Jackson Avenues in Long Island City, opened in 1915 and was extended to Hunters Point Avenue in February 1916. The IRT's 45th Road–Court House Square station opened on November 5, 1916, as part of a two stop extension of the line from Hunters Point Avenue to Queensboro Plaza. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the 7. In 1949, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51 foot long IRT cars beforehand. The platforms at the station were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate 11 car trains. However, nine car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars. In 2005, the station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On August 19, 1933, the IND opened the Court Square station as part of the first leg of the IND Crosstown Line. The IND Queens Boulevard Line between Manhattan and Roosevelt Avenue opened that same day, with trains (predecessor to today's G service) operating between Queens Plaza and Nassau Avenue in Brooklyn. The Queens Boulevard Line station, provisionally called "21st Street/Van Alst Avenue," was constructed between 1931 and 1933 along with the original section of the line east to Roosevelt Avenue. Although the station had been completed, This was in spite of protests from local civic and industry leaders, due to the numerous factories in the surrounding area. By December 1933, the station was referred to as "Ely Avenue", likely to avoid confusion with the nearby station on the Crosstown Line. The station was finished by 1938, but its opening was delayed once again due to alleged lack of demand, with calls to open the station to serve the Long Island City Courthouse, St. John's Hospital (now the site of One Court Square), and the newly opened Queensbridge Houses. The Queens Boulevard Line station finally opened as 23rd Street–Ely Avenue on August 28, 1939, six years after the first section of the Queens Boulevard Line and the opening of Court Square station on the Crosstown line. until many named streets in the borough were given numbers by the Queens Topographical Bureau in 1915. Similarly, Van Alst Avenue is now 21st Street, while the former Nott Avenue is the present day 44th Drive. The building opened in 1989, with the passageway completed later on. On December 16, 2001, the 63rd Street Line connector was opened and service on the Queens Boulevard Line was increased, requiring G trains to terminate at Court Square on weekdays. To compensate Crosstown riders going into Queens, a free out of system transfer to the Flushing Line station was created. The moving walkway was subsequently found to have limited benefits: it saved commuters an average of 9 seconds; was often out of service; and could only operate in one direction toward the Queens Boulevard Line platforms. In October 2005, Citigroup announced they would be funding the passageway between the Flushing and Crosstown line stations, as a zoning requirement for the construction of the Court Square Two building. On March 17, 2011, the Queens Boulevard station was renamed to "Court Square–23rd Street". Most of the project was funded by Citigroup, but $13.9 million was covered by the MTA. The elevator project was originally expected to begin in 2018. However, after the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown was announced in 2016, the project was placed on hold in favor of capacity improvements to accommodate displaced riders on the 14th Street Tunnel, used by riders of the Two staircases between the IND Crosstown Line platform and the mezzanine were widened and two new staircases added, and the moving walkways were removed, providing additional capacity. In December 2021, the MTA awarded a contract for the installation of elevators at eight stations, including the Crosstown Line platform at the Court Square station, replacing one of the stairways which had been added in 2018. The project was scheduled to be completed in March 2023, but completion was pushed back to mid July of that year. In December 2019, the MTA announced that the Queens Boulevard Line platforms would become ADA accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program. With the construction of the Skyline Tower above the station in the late 2010s, its developer spent $17 million to construct a new entrance to the Queens Boulevard Line's westbound platform, which opened in March 2021. A future developer will construct an elevator from the westbound Queens Boulevard Line platform to the mezzanine. The MTA began receiving bids for the construction of a ramp to the eastbound platform in May 2023, and the contract was awarded that December.

This station has an elevated station house beneath the tracks at the extreme south end. A single staircase from each platform goes down to a combined waiting area and crossunder, where a turnstile bank provides entrance and exit from the station. Near these staircases, one elevator leads from each platform to the mezzanine. In the early 20th century, there were requests for an additional entrance from 23rd Street at the north end of the station, but this was never constructed.

The Court Square–23rd Street station, previously called 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station, while the M train serves the station on weekdays during the day. The next stop to the west is Lexington Avenue–53rd Street, while the next stop to the east is Queens Plaza. Below the trim line are small tile captions alternating between "23RD" and "ELY" in white on black, and directional signs in the same style are present below some of the name tablets. The tile band is part of a color coded tile system used throughout the IND. The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. As such, a different tile color is used at , the next express station to the east; the red tiles used at the Court Square–23rd Street station were also used at Lexington Avenue–53rd Street and to the west. Red I beam columns run along both platforms at regular intervals with alternating ones having the standard black station name plate in white lettering. There are four ceramic mosaic/relief murals on the two platforms and connecting mezzanines, made by Frank Olt in 1992. Each one has an individual title according to nearby plaques. Collectively they are known as the Temple Quad Reliefs.

This station has three entrances and exits; the full time one is at the extreme geographical east end. A single staircase from each platform leads up to a crossover. On the Manhattan bound side, there is a turnstile bank to a staircase and an elevator to the Manhattan bound platform from the northeastern corner of 23rd Street and 44th Drive. The entrance was renovated and the elevator was added as part of the construction of the Skyline Tower at the northeast corner of this intersection. There is a little wheelchair ramp and a 3 step staircase that connects the Manhattan bound platform to the new staircase and elevator entrance. All fare control areas have their original IND style directional mosaics.

The Court Square station, previously called Long Island City−Court Square station, The next stop to the south is 21st Street. Each track wall has a green trim line with a black border and small "COURT SQ" tile captions below it in white lettering on black background. The platforms have green I beam columns, is visible just south of the Flushing Line station and can be seen by passing trains. The station sits in the center of the Hunters Point Historic District, and many historic buildings can be found near the station.