The writer proposed instead that ''one corner might have been thrown up into a minaret, iron and glass in graceful combinations might have been substituted for the dead walls of yellow brick.''

In 1905 The Times itself said that the stairs of the 72nd Street station ''are wholly inadequate and very badly designed.''

The new subway line was a hit, and crowds were greater than expected; soon the platforms were extended, adding to the pedestrian loads. Three decades later, the marvel had worn off. In 1938, an article by Laurence Bell in The American Mercury magazine entitled ''The Most Awful Ride in the World'' deplored the ''murky depths'' with ''concrete even filthier than the stairs, a filth that is accentuated by the dim lights whose sole reflectors are the stained walls of once-white tile.''

BY that time most of the vault lights had been removed. ''Very early on there were complaints about the heat buildup and especially the smells,'' Mr. Stachelberg said, and he quoted a 1906 report listing the prevalent smells of the subway as ''fish oil in the brake lubricant, disinfectant, creosote and odors of human origin.'' In many cases, the vault lights were replaced with the steel vents now visible near many stations. But since the vents allowed rain into the stations, drainage pans were installed underneath them, blocking the light.

At 72nd and Broadway a project is now under way to alleviate station crowding that involves rehabilitating the old control house (a designated landmark) and building a second, similar structure on the north side of 72nd Street. The new station house for the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 lines promises to be an interesting work, designed by a joint venture of the architects Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton. Both the new and old buildings will incorporate glazed roofing elements to let sunlight fall into the turnstile area at street level.

But that's where it will stop, even though vault lighting was used extensively in the 1904 control house, both inside and out. Mr. Tarantino, New York City Transit's chief architect, said that cost-cutting and continuing concerns over maintenance of vault lights had eliminated them from the 72nd Street project. (Last month, three of the 144 glass panels for the control house's roof were stolen from outside the new subway entrance, which was inspired by the Crystal Palace at the London Exhibition of 1851.)

Cost-cutting and maintenance issues prevented the installation of vault lights in the Times Square subway station a few years ago. In the passageway between the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and the A, C and E trains, there is a ceiling, perhaps 20 by 100 feet, of concrete matrix with round indentations. But there are no vault lights; the glass inserts were canceled after the concrete had been laid.