Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wilson & Broadway, Circa 1940s

A view of the Wilson el station from the 1940s.  How grand!  You can see the main entrance to the station was where the former Popeye's was.  The lobby, we're told, had benches and marble floors and a news stand that stretched the length of the station, along Broadway.  As always, you can click on the photo for a larger version.

13 comments:

  1. Does anybody know what happened to the top of the station where the clock is? Was it removed and destroyed or stored somewhere? Does anyone know why it was removed in the first place?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. It would be great to return the Wilson stop back to this type of design. An inviting grand entrance with a few businesses leasing the interior space. Imagine an EL stop that is seen at a positive focal point for the neighborhood .

    Our current Wilson station tells people to stay away. It is as if the powers that be believe Uptown does not deserve or could not appreciate a well planned, designed and beautiful public space.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So if the station was so beautiful, why did they get rid of the main entrance? It makes little sense to have it halfway down the block. I don't understand why they decided to make it the ugly eyesore it is today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Before circa 1940’s there was a Frank Lloyd Wright Building at Wilson & Broadway circa 1909. Check the Reader and Wright Studies sites:
    An architectural history of Uptown http://www1.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/uptown/architecture/
    Today the neighborhood is a museum of urban flux, grandeur and decay, adaptation and rebirth. You can still see traces of the elegant 1923 beaux arts-style Uptown Station, which replaced Frank Lloyd Wright’s Stohr Arcade Building of 1909, but these days it’s just the Wilson stop on the Red Line.
    Wright Studies – Peter C. Stohr Arcade Building, 1909
    Check out this web site with a cool article including photo’s and drawings of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Store Arcade the preceded the current Wilson El stop and was torn down in 1922 and replaced by the current ‘White City’ styled Wilson El station.
    http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhRtS162.htm

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm sure removing the clock was someone's bright idea of "modernization" as I believe it was removed around 1959.

    The lobby, as it was, was huge and quite classy (according to pictures) but it probably made sense at the time to cut it up into smaller retail spaces as Wilson was no longer the "end of the line." Before Popeyes left its "stain" on the builing there was a grocery store that occupied most of the corner space and the adjoining "Wilson Mall" space. Certainly convenient, but paid little homage to the structure itself. I think the building just steadily went downhill from the 70's on.

    Unfortunately, I highly doubt the clock was saved. It would be nice to recreate it in a full station renovation. One can dream...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I sse all these old pics of Uptown and I feel so sad sometimes how beautiful and quiet it looks and such nice old buildings.I have been searching for some old pics of Kenmore between Irving and Montrose .

    ReplyDelete
  7. What's going to happen to the Wilson Mall...I think it was shut up as well. Not that I really want it back...it always looked like a flea market in there and the signage on the front is very ugly.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Terra cotta cornices and parapets tend to deteriorate - just look at the Uptown or Riv. That could have been why, or modernization. The waiting room closed because the North Shore Line did - no need for all that space if there's no train to wait for. I've seen pictures of the interior, maybe in that Lost Treasures book.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anyone who wants to know the detailed history of the Wilson Station should check out the wonderful site - http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/wilson.html which answers pretty much every question posted here. The clock and cornice were removed to "clean up"/open up the look of the station - so said the train management... most of us would disagree with their taste. The Frank Lloyd Wright Wilson Station was short-lived because the train station & its lobby were enlarged around 1922.

    Check out other old train depots along the EL that are now gone while at the website.

    A tidbit I have found interesting is that funeral trains once ran on what is today the EL tracks & delivered caskets & mourners to the old Buena Avenue entrance of Graceland Cemetery (there used to be a stop at Buena until 1949 and a gate into Graceland there - where the dog run is today - the entrance pre-dated the existence of the train line and continued to exist when the train came through. When the train became "elevated" one went under the tracks at Buena to pass through the East Gate of Graceland. The architect of Graceland's renovation (and of early parts of Montrose Harbor parkland - Buena Park resident OC Simonds, had his landscape company office just inside Graceland's East Gate at Buena. Simonds' own home and gardens sat on 4+ acres of land that are part of Pensacola Place/Jewel/etc. today.

    One reason Buena Avenue has the circle at Kenmore was to make it more "processional" for funeral horse-drawn carriages entering the cemetery (the Circle was bought from original BP founding Waller family of 4200 N. Sheridan - the city tried to replace Buena Circle Park with a public swimming facility in the early 60s, but was thwarted by the community.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey, Buena Parker, can we compare tidbits and share info sometime about the cemetery entrance and Buena Circle?

    ReplyDelete
  11. To Buena Boy: Sure, I'm not sure how to do so - but since the topic in regard to Uptown and its history, perhaps the UptownUpdate comment moderator could forward to me, with your permission, your email or contact info and I'd be happy to give you a call or send an email - I love to discuss Chicago History in general and Lake View/Buena Park/North Side history in particular.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The moderator has my permission to share my contact info with you if she is able to do that. (Thanks!)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Buena Boy and Buena Parker -- if you each send your contact info to uptownupdate@hotmail.com and identify yourself, we'll exchange it with the other person. (We're good at keeping secret identities secret.)

    ReplyDelete