|
The original Logan Square
station served as the terminal of the Northwest branch of
the Metropolitan Elevated (and successor Logan Square branch
of the CRT and CTA®)
for 90 years, opening on May 25, 1895. The complex included
a double-track, two platform station, a 14 car inspection
shop built of corrugated iron and a storage yard that could
hold 66 cars. In the late 1960s, it was decided the Logan
Square branch was to be extended passed its namesake
terminal for the first time, necessitating the removal of
the old elevated station, which closed concurrently with the
new extension opening on February 1, 1970.
For additional
information and photos of the earlier Logan Square
elevated station (1895-1970), click here.
The extension of the Milwaukee Line of the West-Northwest
Route (the forerunner of today's Blue Line) reached its new
terminal at Jefferson Park
via a new subway and the median of the Kennedy Expressway.
As a result, the tracks had to descend into a new subway
under Milwaukee and Kimball avenues before the old Logan
Square terminal, requiring the construction of a new
subterranean station to replace the elevated terminal. The
new station, located just to the northeast of the old
terminal, is actually immediately to the north of the
station's namesake public square.
The Kedzie
mezzanine, seen on September 13, 2001, was
renovated in the summer of that year, with new
flooring, CA booth, and other improvements. For a
larger view, click here.
(Photo by Graham
Garfield)
|
The design of station was carried out by Skidmore, Owings
& Merrill, who developed a modern, functional form.
Skidmore took the Kennedy-Dan Ryan ("KDR") project in a
unique direction, designing all aspects of the new lines to
harmonize in both shapes and materials. All windbreaks,
dividers, and ticket booths were stainless steel. The shape
of everything, from the buildings to the agents' booths, to
the trashcans, flowed together into a seamless design
philosophy, which perfectly captured the boxy, purely
functional International Modern style for which Skidmore is
so well known.
The fare controls are at a mezzanine level, with
entrances from multiple sides of the streets above. The
station has two exits, one at Spaulding/Milwaukee (2732N),
serving Diversey (2800N/3400W), the other at
Kedzie/Milwaukee (3200W/2600N), at Logan Square. The
mezzanines are not enclosed, as in the State
and Dearborn
subways, but are cantilevered over the platforms, and thus
functioned more as an open deck overlooking the track level.
The island platform is spacious, with a column-free platform
obtained by using a box-girder construction. The walls of
the station mezzanines and platform areas were off-white
brick (since discolored to a tan hue), with white concrete
coffered ceilings and fluorescent lights recessed in the
coffers. Further down the platform from the mezzanines, the
ceilings become arched concrete. The Kedzie entrance has a
concession at mezzanine level and, at street level, has a
bus terminal on the northeast corner, with one of the
stair/escalator accessways from the station mezzanine
leading directly to the bus terminal.
In 2000, the CTA®
began construction on a number of improvements to the Logan
Square subway station. These additions included two new
elevators (one from the street to the Kedzie mezzanine and
one from the Kedzie mezzanine to the platform), additional
mezzanine floor space, and a relocated customer assistant
kiosk and platform-to-mezzanine stairway. By March 2001, the
sidewalk at street level had been modified to accept the new
elevator. The steel work for the mezzanine extension over
the platform for the new stairway and elevator was underway
and nearly complete by the middle of the month. Also
underway were the construction of new
CTA® personnel
restrooms, maintenance rooms and customer assistant
kiosk.
The new steel
mezzanine structure, staircase, and elevator space
at the Kedzie end of the Logan Square platform,
looking southeast on March 9, 2001. For a larger
view, click here.
(Photo by Graham Garfield)
|
In April, the new janitor's closet and revenue room, as
well as pouring of a new sidewalk at street level was
completed, as was the extension of the Kedzie mezzanine
floor over the platform. Work on the elevator tube framing
and new customer assistant kiosks then progressed, with
construction of the new interior and exterior elevators, the
kiosks, and maintenance/electrical rooms all scheduled to be
substantially completed in May. By July, the elevator shafts
and housing on both lifts had been completed and the
sidewalk around the elevator at street level had been
re-poured. The new CA kiosk and flooring in the mezzanine
area was finished as well. Completion of outside and inside
elevators was underway. The completion
CTA® employee
restrooms, maintenance rooms and mechanical room was also in
progress. The new stairs between the platform and mezzanine
were complete. Final work on the elevators, mezzanine and
some platform signage, auxiliary rooms, and other features
was completed in late Summer 2001.
New station name signs, following the Current
Graphic Standard, were installed at four Blue Line
stations in late 2002/early 2003, including Logan Square.
The fabrication and installation of these signs was actually
the continuation of the renovation work that was completed
here in 2000-01. New station name signs were installed
around February 2003 and replaced the original signs on the
brick walls outside the tracks, opposite the island
platform. Here, as at a few other stations, the tabs (whose
color is used to denote the lines serving that platform)
have the names and directions of the various exits in them.
The tabs at Logan Square are an improvement of sorts, in
that the streets listed in the tabs are actually more
accurate than in the KDR
signs they replaced: in the original signs, the exits were
listed as "Kedzie" and "Diversey", though Diversey is
actually a block north of the north exit; the new signs list
the exits as "Kedzie" and "Spaulding" (where the north exit
actually deposits passengers). In this sign installation,
the new Current
Graphic Standard signs were initially only placed
outside the tracks, facing the platform, but not on or over
the platform. At the same time, the symbol signs that were
posted on the outside walls were removed. Later, station
name signs were also placed down the center of the platform,
hung overhead on newly-installed brackets suspended from the
arched ceiling.
|
