Three New York City subway stops, three different design styles

How many ways are there to style a subway entrance sign? In New York City, dozens of designs and typefaces are used across the subway system—often with no rhyme or reason.

Take this gold and white sign on William Street. It’s for a side entrance/exit for the Fulton Street station, affixed to a 20th century office building called the Royal Building.

Its long tapered shape, the white block (a light?) at the top—I’ve never seen anything like it.

More than a few stops in Midtown style their subway signage with Art Deco lettering, like this subway sign on East 42nd Street. The design is sleek and modern, just like so many of the office towers on this crosstown thoroughfare.

The M above it is an unfortunate remnant from the late 1960s, when the MTA had the idea to unify all the different subway lines and rebrand them. The effort didn’t stick, but some of these Ms remain.

This last subway sign image comes from the East 23rd Street 6 train entrance, I believe. The typeface and tile feels classical, and the V instead of a U is a nice Roman touch.

Why this design for this stop? I don’t know—but I do know that all the variety of styles in the subway make traveling underground a little more interesting.