CTA completes $43M overhaul of Garfield Green Line stop in Washington Park

On Thursday, the CTA announced the completion of its $43 million overhaul of the Garfield Green Line station in Chicago’s Washington Park community. Under construction since last spring, the “Garfield Gateway” project includes new platform canopies and landscaping, improvements to the station’s elevator and escalators, and a renovation of the historic station house.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel / Twitter

The original station house structure was built in 1892 to bring visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition. A relic of the city’s very first L station, it is one of the oldest intact mass transit buildings in the country. Though no longer in use by transit customers, the restored South Side landmark will see new life as a community event space.

Meanwhile, the roughly 475,000 CTA passengers that use the Garfield Green Line station each year will be treated to new public art including colorful overhead mosaics created by Chicago artist Nick Cave. Patterns designed by Cave are also incorporated into the station’s glass windbreaks and the exterior columns.

Partly financed through a $25 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Garfield Gateway is one aspect of a larger push to revitalize the surrounding area. It joins the nearby Arts Block project from the University of Chicago and local artist Theaster Gates.

In addition to the revamped Garfield platform and station house, the CTA recently completed restoration work on the Loop’s historic Quincy stop and opened the new 95th Street Red Line terminal on the city’s Far South Side.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel / Twitter

• Green Line gets a boost with $50 million Garfield station update [Curbed Chicago]
• Garfield Green Line station tapped for major overhaul [Curbed Chicago]