Queen (TTC)
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| Queen 171 Yonge Street |
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| Opened | March 30, 1954 |
| Line | Yonge-University-Spadina line |
| Next station | ≅0.5 km north to Dundas 1 min
≅0.4 km south to King 1 min |
| Connections | 97 Yonge, 141 Downtown/Mt Pleasant Express, 142 Downtown/Avenue Road Express, 143 Downtown/Beach Express, 144 Downtown/Don Valley Express, 501 Queen, 502 Downtowner |
| Platforms | Side platforms (uncompleted perpendicular platform underneath)
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Queen is a station on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the Toronto subway. It is located at 171 Yonge Street at Queen Street West/East. It opened in 1954. Nearby landmarks include the Hudson's Bay Company, the south end of the Eaton Centre, the Old City Hall courts, the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, and Massey Hall.
The station contains painted murals by John Boyle at the platform level entitled Our Nell, featuring depictions of Nellie McClung, as well as the former Simpson's and Eaton's department stores.
[edit] Lower Queen
Early subway expansion plans called for an east-west subway for streetcars under Queen Street, and a lower Queen station for these was roughed in under the subway station. Priorities changed and the line was never built, but many people unknowingly pass through this lower station every day; the tunnels that go under the station so that riders can move between northbound and southbound platforms use portions of this intended station, with most of the excess infrastructure walled off.
Strictly speaking, it is only a roughed-out second set of platforms built underneath a currently-operating station. It is located directly underneath the existing station. The station was designed as part of a planned but never-built streetcar subway that would have run east and west along Queen Street. A similar station was planned underneath the existing Osgoode station (also situated along Queen Street). Although underground pipes and conduits were specifically routed around this intended site, construction was never started.
The trackway was planned for streetcars rather than dedicated subway trains, similar to the much newer streetcar-only underground track originating at Union Station used for the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina routes. The Queen subway would have allowed streetcars from the Queen line (now route 501) to avoid city-centre traffic, and then surface to run on regular streets in outlying areas.
The plan to build a streetcar subway under Queen Street was delayed and then cancelled in favour of an east-west line further north, which became the Bloor-Danforth line. As a result, the Lower Queen station was never put into service. Unlike the abandoned platform at Lower Bay, this station is not used in any way save as an occasional storage facility and film set, and the aforementioned passageway.
