Loyola (6550N/1200W)
Loyola Avenue and Sheridan Road, Rogers Park

Service Notes:

	Red Line: Howard
	Accessible Station
	Owl Service

Quick Facts:

Address: 1200-08 W. Loyola Avenue
Established: May 16, 1908
Original Line: Northwestern Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: Hayes Street

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: 1921, 1982
Status: In Use

History: The rebuilt Loyola station, looking northwest along Loyola Avenue in 1985. Though the main entrance to the new station is actually on Sheridan Road, this is where the 1920s station entrance was. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Olga Stefanos) The first station at this site was built in 1908 and was of simple frame construction. The right-of-way was owned by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (see Argyle), but that railroad never had a station at this site. Originally called Hayes Street station, Loyola was rebuilt in 1921, following designs prepared by architect Charles P. Rawson, when the tracks were elevated. This station, located where Loyola Street meets the embankment on the west side, remained in use until 1982 when a new station was constructed and the old one was boarded up. It has since been demolished. As part of a station modernization program, the CTA® replaced the station with a white steel and glass platform and a tan brick building, typical of current "L" construction. The new station, designed by the firm of Dubin, Dubin, Black and Moutoussamy, was designed specially to be fully handicap accessible, and is located east of the old station, at Sheridan Road. The CTA® 1980 Historical Calendar describes the new station like this: Featuring an open-plan design concept, the CTA is rebuilding five major rapid transit stations which will have escalators and elevators for the convenience particularly of the elderly and handicapped. The design provides maximum visibility, easy movement of people through fare control areas, and a high level of illumination. Under construction are a new terminal at Desplaines Avenue, Forest Park, for service in the Eisenhower Expressway, an enlarged station at 79th Street on the Dan Ryan expressway route, elevated stations at Loyola and Granville on the North (Howard) route, and an elevated station at Western Avenue on the Ravenswood route. The station has a concrete floor on the island platforms, an elevator shaft, and a large station house with a concession/newspaper stand. The layout of the station is somewhat interesting, owing the need to accommodate both the station's high ridership, leading to a crowded platform during rush hour, and the narrow space between the center local tracks (Tracks 2 and 3). The island platform is over twice as long as a typical eight-car platform, with trains of different directions berthing at different ends of the platform: northbound Howard trains stopped at the west end of the platform while southbound Englewood-Jackson Park trains stopped at the east end. The two ends are separated by the elevator shaft, with access between the directions prohibited at platform level. The new station opened in 1982. On August 2, 1998, loading berths at the Loyola station were changed. Because the east end of the platform is curved southward, once one-person operation began on the Red Line trains the motorman had difficulty seeing around the curved train to the back car to make sure no one was still in the doorway. So, they berthing locations swapped positions, with northbound trains stopping at the east end and southbound trains (now going to the Dan Ryan branch since 1993 rather than the South Side Elevated) using the west end, allowing the motorman to see around the train easier. Canopy-mounted cameras and monitors also aid them. Coinciding with this was new signage, which replaced the directional signs in the station house and the small symbol signs on the light and canopy support posts (but leaving the older blue name signs hanging on the platform). In April 2002, Loyola received new station name signs, though not in the form of replacements but in addition to the current station name signs. The new Current Graphic Standard station name signs were installed in addition to the existing signs that date from the station's reconstruction in 1980. The new signs are located on new tan steel poles and brackets mounted on the embankment wall between the tracks and the alleys adjacent to the solid-fill embankment of the North Side Main Line, thus placing them facing the platforms rather than on them. These new signs are similar to new ones installed at Sox-35th and 95th/Dan Ryan in November 2001. As of mid-April, the new signs were only installed on the wall opposite the southbound loading section of the platform (north half of the platform, west side of the embankment). Signs for the northbound loading area were to be installed shortly after, but as of mid-2003 have yet to appear. In 2006, the station name signs and column signs on the platform were replaced, with Current Graphic Standard signs replacing the KDR Standard graphics, as part of a signage upgrade project on the Red Line. As part of this effort, the station also received granite compass roses inset into the sidewalk in front of the station entrance to assist customers leaving the station to navigate their way, and three-sided galvanized steel pylons in the station house and on the platform to display maps and station timetables.

To accommodate the station's high ridership and the narrow space between the center local tracks, the island platform is over twice as long as a typical eight-car platform, with trains of different directions berthing at different ends of the platform. The two two ends are separated by the elevator shaft, seen in the center of this July 26, 2003 view looking northwest. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

loyola04.jpg (77k) The rather plain, un-ornamental tan brick front facade of the current Loyola station, looking west at the Sheridan Road elevation in 1999. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)

loyola05.jpg (191k) The outer ends of the Loyola island platform are not covered by the canopy, though with separate berthing areas for each direction there are rarely so many people waiting on each half of the platform as to require people to wait beyond the canopy if they don't wish to. This July 26, 2003 view looks northwest from the far south end of the northbound half of the platform. (Photo by Graham Garfield)