Argyle is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system. It is situated between the Berwyn and Lawrence stations on the Red Line, which runs from Rogers Park at Chicago's northern city limits, through downtown Chicago, to Roseland. It is an elevated station with an island platform serving northbound trains and a temporary side platform serving southbound trains located at 1118 West Argyle Street in the West Argyle Street Historic District of Chicago's Uptown community area. Purple Line weekday rush hour express service use the outside tracks but do not stop at this station.

Argyle   5000N 1200W
Chicago 'L' rapid transit station
The main platform prior to renovation (temporarily the northbound platform with the other side unused) Temporary southbound platform
General information
Location	1118 West Argyle Street Chicago, Illinois 60640
Coordinates	41.973365°N 87.658561°W / 41.973365; -87.658561
Owned by	Chicago Transit Authority
Line(s)	North Side Main Line
Platforms	1 Island platform (temporarily one island platform with one side unused and one temporary side platform)
Tracks	4 (two temporarily out of service)
Construction
Structure type	Embankment
Parking	No
Bicycle facilities	No
Other information
Status	Temporary Station
History
Opened	Chicago & Evanston Railroad: May 21, 1885; 137 years ago (1885-05-21) Northwestern Elevated Railroad: May 16, 1908; 114 years ago (1908-05-16)
Rebuilt	1921, 2012, 2021–24
Previous names	Argyle Park
Passengers
2021	516,188[1]  40.5%
Rank	47 out of 143
Services
Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station Berwyn toward Howard Red Line Lawrence toward 95th/Dan Ryan      Purple Line does not stop here
Former services Preceding station Milwaukee Road Following station Edgewater towards Llewellyn Park Chicago – Evanston Sheridan Park towards Chicago
Track layout Legend Purple Line Express north to Linden Red Line north to Howard Temporary platform for station reconstruction Argyle St. Purple Line Express south to Loop Red Line south to 95th/Dan Ryan

Location

Argyle is situated on West Argyle Street, close to the intersection with Broadway. The station is located in the West Argyle Street Historic District in the Uptown community area of Chicago; the area surrounding the station consists of a mixture commercial and residential areas,[2] and is particularly noted for the high concentration of Vietnamese restaurants, bakeries and shops; as well as Chinese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai businesses.[3]

History

The site of Argyle station was first used as Argyle Park on the Chicago and Evanston branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad route, which opened on May 21, 1885.[4] On opening, the station houses along the route were described as "attractive frame structures built in the Gothic and Queen Anne styles."[4] In 1908, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad was extended north from Wilson, using the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, and a new station was constructed on the site of the previous depot.[5][6] The station was again rebuilt to a design by architect Charles P. Rawson when the tracks between Wilson and Howard were elevated onto an embankment between 1914 and 1922.[7] In 1979, the station received a $250,000 facelift[8] and, in 1991, a Chinese-style hipped-and-gabled roof was added to the platform canopy.[9] The station was closed for renovation from August 24 to October 5, 2012.[10]

Services

Argyle is part of CTA's Red Line, which runs from the northern city limits at Howard Street to downtown Chicago and 95th street. The station has an island platform on an embankment located between Broadway and Winthrop Avenue. It serves the Red Line's two tracks; the northbound track serves trains to Howard, while the southbound track serves trains to 95th. The station entrance is located on the north side of Argyle Street, built into the embankment. It is located between the Berwyn and Lawrence stations. Red Line trains serve Argyle 24 hours a day, every day of the year; trains operate roughly every 3 to 9 minutes during rush hour and midday operation, with longer headways of up to 15 minutes at night.[11][12] The station is also located 1⁄2 a block from the 36 Broadway bus.

Red & Purple Modernization Project

The Argyle station is being rebuilt as part of this project. The station will receive new wider platforms, new signage, new lights, new security cameras, and new elevators, reconstruction will begin in May 2021 and will be completed by the end of 2024.[13][14][15] During Stage A, the two northbound tracks and the main entrance will be closed with northbound trains using what is normally the southbound Red line tracks and southbound trains using the southbound Purple Line Express track stopping at a temporary side platform. Purple Line Express trains will continue to skip this station in both directions.[15] Unlike a similar reconstruction happening simultaneously at Bryn Mawr, both platforms are using a single temporary entrance, as opposed to one platform using the normal entrance and one platform using a temporary entrance with no link in the paid area. Once Stage A is completed in 2022, Stage B will begin, where Argyle will temporarily close and be replaced by a temporary station at Foster Avenue.[16]

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argyle (CTA).

• Argyle Station Page CTA official site
• Argyle Street entrance from Google Maps Street View