WOW! Vaulted Ceilings at Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station

Commuters go about their ways at this view from the top of the platform escalator at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station of the DC Metro subway system. This station serves the Red, Green, and Yellow lines.

The vaulted ceilings of the Washington, D.C. Metro are one of those “secret wow” features most people only notice once they really look around underground. They’re not just functional; they’re a kind of dramatic architectural statement — and a big part of what makes riding the Metro feel so different from other U.S. subway systems.

Architect Harry Weese, who led the design for the original Metro, wanted to create spaces that felt more like public spaces or civic halls than cramped subway tunnels. The lofty vaults help with that. The coffered vaults echo the Roman Pantheon and other monumental vaulted spaces — but done in raw concrete, giving it a modern, Brutalist twist.

So next time you’re on a D.C. Metro platform, look up! Those ceilings aren’t just there to keep the earth from falling on your head — they’re part of a grand idea to make the subway feel like a public architectural space, not just a way to get from A to B.