Day 58: The Classy Station

     When Chicago's El system was first being constructed in the late 19th Century, there were multiple companies undertaking the building of the stations.  In 1895, the City Council let the Northwestern Elevated Railroad spearhead construction of all stations on what is now known as Wells Street.  Later that same year, construction on the new Wells stations commenced, and on October 3, 1897, the Quincy elevated station was opened up for business.

     The Quincy station was designed by A.M. Hedley in a Neoclassical style with some Palladian influences.  The station itself was appointed with many fine materials, making it one of the more ornate station houses in the system.  Once the CTA took things over, there were some changes made in the 60s and 70s.  Chief amongst those were aesthetic changes to Quincy, including replacement of the incandescent lights with fluorescent lights, as well as putting in aids to the Ticket Agents, a program which had been rolled out at the Roosevelt Station.

     One of the plans that the CTA had in the late 70s was to replace the Loop elevated with a series of subways.  That plan fell through, but one side-effect was that the elevated stations weren't maintained while their demise was being planned.  So, upon the notification of the El's eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, there was a deal struck that would let the El be enshrined in the register while the CTA would only have to restore one station.  The station chosen to be restored to 1890s style was the Quincy station.(one of the other stations that was redone in this time period was the Clark/Lake Station)  First off, the station was closed down and all of the many layers of paint that was on the station were chipped off, revealing what was thought to be the original bottom layer(i.e. the FIRST, original color)  However, it was discovered during the repainting that the original bottom layer was actually just a coat of primer, so the station was being repainted in the wrong color. The light fixtures were restored, and the enamel signs were installed(albeit with a more retro look than the originals).  The interior of the station house was just as well attended to as the rest of the facility.

     The project was undertaken in November of 1985 and was supposed to be completed in 4 months.  Instead, the whole thing took 2 and a half years to get done, and the new station didn't open up until February of 1988.  The Quincy project was the cheapest restoration of any of the loop stations, mainly because the Quincy station didn't have any elevators or escalators to install, which cut down on the price a bit.  The Quincy station is within walking distance of Union Station, so next time you're in that area, you can swing by and know how historic this station really is now.