Morning View - Interborough Subway Sign

There's still a few places around town where you can find these groovy old deco signs for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) subway lines, like this one on the New York Life building. All of the numbered train lines were originally owned by the IRT. Via Wikipedia:

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940. The former IRT lines (the numbered lines in the current subway system) are now the A Division or IRT Division of the Subway. The first IRT subway ran between City Hall and 145th Street at Broadway, opening on October 27, 1904. It opened following more than twenty years of public debate on the merits of subways versus the existing elevated rail system and on various proposed routes.

I fondly recall my late aunt telling me on one of my first visits to NYC as an adult, "All ya gotta know is that the lettered trains don't go anywhere good." A Manhattan snob, through and through.