Although the North Water Terminal had been closed on Augin the CTA's North-South service revision, the station and stub branch was still intact and used intermittently for car storage, emergency lay-ups, and charters, so permanently blocking these tracks was not an option. Immediately to the south was the entrance to the North Water Terminal. The purpose was to extend the platform to allow longer trains to berth, but extending to the north was not desirable because a sharp curve that would've limited the conductor's visibly of the train sides was present immediately north of the station. (Photo by Doug Grotjahn, Collection of Joe Testagrose)Īlthough the platforms were largely unaltered, the most significant alteration during this period was the installation of a 70 foot moveable platform at the south end of the northbound platform in 1952. The station name sign directs exiting passengers to the Kinzie Street exit (left) or into the Mart itself (right). Heritage Cars 6101-6102 make up a 2-car Ravenswood All-Stop, stopped at the Merchandise Mart on August 30, 1982. The project mirrored alterations to the other public areas of the Mart building, especially the shopping arcade.
The walls were striped of any ornamentation and an illuminated drop ceiling was installed. They were replaced with two simple booths of a wooden lower half and glass panels on the upper half. Gone were the ornamental wall treatments and agents booths that fit in with the Mart's original Art Deco design. The Mart was subject to just such treatment, and the fare control area was completely modified. The office/retail building underwent a modernization campaign in the late 1950s and 1960s that reflected a broader trend of renovating older, urban buildings that often meant removing ornamentation and detail, replacing it with drop ceilings, metal or plastic panels or other synthetic and streamlined materials. The Merchandise Mart underwent multiple renovations in the second half of the 20th century. After North Water terminal was demolished, the bridge over Carroll Avenue was demolished, leaving a transfer bridge between the inbound and outbound Mart platforms. The station also included an overhead pedestrian transfer bridge at the south end of the station that connected the two platforms to the center platform of North Water Street terminal, only a short distance to the east. Auxiliary exits were located at the north end of both platforms to the corner of Kinzie and Wells streets. In some stations, such as Merchandise Mart, the gentle, almost organic-looking curvature of the canopies and enclosures took on an Art Nouveau-influenced look. With their gently curved roofs and support columns with latticed framing, this style of canopy had become the standard design for the "L" from the 1910s to the 1930s, found in most new stations and canopy extensions. The station, which was built in less than four months, had a platform and canopy design that generally followed those used on the Ravenswood branch. The platforms occupied the site of the former Kinzie Street station, which had been demolished nearly ten years before when the Grand Avenue station opened to the north. The station's fare controls are located on the second floor of the building. The Merchandise Mart station, which opened December 5, 1930, was built for its namesake building, finished the same year, which was the largest commercial building in the world with 4.1 million square feet of floor space. The depression saw a loss of traffic and revenue for the CRT, but, curiously enough, it also brought a number of system improvements. The nondescript look of the walls, ceiling, and fare controls mirrors not only the design trends of the era, but modifications and "modernizations" that had been made elsewhere in the Mart. The Merchandise Mart fare control area, looking north in 1971. Original Line: North Side Division, Main Line The entrance and fare control of the Merchandise Mart station, location inside the Merchandise Mart building on the 2nd floor, are seen looking east on October 29, 2009. Chicago ''L''.org: Stations - Merchandise Mart
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