Downtown ‘L’ Train
On Friday, we took a walking tour hosted by the Chicago Architecture Center. This tour was all about the ‘L’ - the elevated train that encircles Chicago’s downtown business district. This unique rectangular section of the ‘L,’ as well as the 35-block area inside it, is known as “the Chicago Loop,” or simply, “the Loop.”
Over the years, on business trips to Chicago, I would ride the ‘L’ between the airport and the Loop, always marveling at how fast and convenient it was. I could take the Blue Line from O’Hare or the Orange Line from Midway - both lines took me to a station near my office. Chicago is one of just a few cities in the world with train service to TWO airports.
Visitors to downtown Chicago will be familiar with the steel girders and rivets - a construction style resembling that of the Eiffel Tower - and the noisy racket of the ‘L’ passing overhead. For me, this street-level view of the ‘L’ is instantly recognizable as Chicago. (Heads up: this video has sound!)
In the late 1800s, downtown Chicago was growing rapidly, and the streets were terribly congested. Trolleys and street cars made the problem worse. There were several privately-operated train lines, but they were unable to bring passengers into the central business district because property owners refused to grant right-of-way. The problem was solved in 1897 when a man named Charles Tyson Yerkes, Jr. acquired control of the railways and built elevated tracks to connect the trains together. Yerkes was a wealthy magnate from Philadelphia who had served time in prison for larceny, and didn’t hesitate to use bribery and blackmail to achieve his objectives. He was very unpopular and fled Chicago in 1899. For all his faults, Yerkes was the reason we have the Loop today. With trains able to travel into downtown, around the Loop, and back out, Chicago was transformed, eventually becoming a vital transportation hub for the entire country.
Our first stop was the Washington/Wabash station, with its distinctive wavy metal canopy. Surprisingly, every component of that canopy is straight - there are no curved parts. Wabash Street was once Jewelers Row; today, those late 19th century storefronts, designed by noted Chicago architects Adler & Sullivan, are part of the facade of a modern residential tower.
From Washington/Wabash, we rode the ‘L’ around the bend to the H W Library station. From the platform, we learned about the buildings around us:
On State Street and Van Buren, a building with terra cotta medallions with the letter “R” was the former home of Rothschild & Co., one of seven large department stores that once lined State Street. Today, the building is owned by DePaul University. We learned that this building, completed in 1912, was a classic example of tripartite division, a design with a distinct base, shaft, and crown. ( The only State Street department store building still operating as such is Marshall Field & Co, which is now Macy’s.)
The Fisher Building on Dearborn and Van Buren was covered with terra cotta decorations featuring, appropriately for the name, fish, crabs, and other sea creatures. Built in 1896, it was one of tallest buildings in Chicago at the time (18 stories), and had an impressive number of large windows. This was an early example of skyscraper technology, using curtain walls on a steel frame instead of load-bearing walls. The main entrance was moved to another side after the ‘L’ was constructed.
The Harold Washington Library (built in 1991) was a Postmodern building of red brick with playful references to the city of Chicago. The base featured medallions with the face of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture - perhaps a tongue-in-cheek reference to the faceless statue of Ceres atop the Board of Trade building (another Chicago landmark). The shaft of the Library was decorated with garlands of corn stalks. The crown was a “classical” pediment topped with fanciful sculptures of giant owls with books.
To explain Postmodernism, our guide pointed to a tall building with endless rows of identical rectangular windows. It was the Federal Center, designed by Mies van der Rohe and built in 1974. Postmodernism was a critique of this Modernist style that had become prevalent in the mid to late 20th century. Mies liked to say that “Less is More,” but Postmodern architect Robert Venturi responded that “Less is a Bore.”
From H W Library, we rode the ‘L’ around another bend to the Quincy station, which has been carefully preserved and still looks much as it did when it first opened in 1897. The two historic station houses still had pressed tin ceilings and walls. They were originally divided into two parts - each of the four half-stations serving a different train line. There were no free transfers; passengers had to exit one half-station and pay for a new fare in another half-station.
From Quincy, we rode the ‘L’ to Clinton Station, which was actually across the river, outside of the Loop. From here, we could see (and hear) the commuter trains rolling in and out of Ogilvie Transportation Center, one of two main terminals in downtown Chicago. Rising above the terminal was Accenture Tower (built 1984-87), which some say looks like a giant cash register. At left was the distinctive black Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, which opened in 1973 and was the word’s tallest building (110 stories) for 25 years. SinceI used to work for Accenture, and Steve used to work for WTW (Willis Towers Watson), I thought it was fun to have one photo with both buildings.
From Clinton, we rode the ‘L’ one more time, past the distinctive Merchandise Mart, and got off at State/Lake, the end of our tour.
I think it’s remarkable that the Loop section of the ‘L’ is largely intact and has remained relatively unchanged for nearly 130 years. Unfortunately, Chicago’s transit system is in financial straits. Federal funds for COVID relief will be depleted by the end of this year. Ridership, which is only half of what it was ten years ago, remains low due to a combination of unreliable service, work-from-home, and safety concerns due to increased homelessness and crime. Consequently, Chicago’s streets and highways are more congested than ever. I hope that officials and politicians are able to rescue the CTA so that the ‘L’ that has defined Chicago does not disappear.
Postscript
The ‘L’ figures prominently in our favorite Christmas movie, While You Were Sleeping (1995). We may have to re-watch it now, while we’re in Chicago.
