The Seventh Avenue station was constructed by the Independent Subway System (IND), and it opened on August 19, 1933.

[10] In 1990, Utah tourist Brian Watkins was killed at the Seventh Avenue station while trying to protect his family from a robbery.

[16] In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that the station would become ADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program.

[17] The announcement occurred after a Connecticut woman fell down a staircase trying to carry her 1-year-old daughter on a stroller down a flight of stairs; the baby survived the fall, but the mother died.

The upper level is the reverse, serving trains headed railroad south (toward Lower Manhattan).

[21]: 70  The BMT Broadway Line passes overhead near the west end of the station; this crossing is visible in the ceiling and supporting columns.

The middle exit has staircases leading to the northeast and southeast corners of 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue.