`Crown of iron' gives downtown unique identity

Bruce Lord, who owns an office building at 228 S. Wabash, has acommanding view of the Loop L. That's fine with him, except for onething.

"It'd be nice if they could put rubber tires on the cars toreduce the noise a little," he said.

Down at street level, a French artist stood among the L'sshadows. Artistry showed in his description of the scene: "The skyis of iron and perpetually growls a rolling thunder."Same sentiment - but with nearly a century separating them.Lord spoke in 1997. The artist wrote his observations shortly afterthe L opened downtown in 1897.Chicago's downtown had about a 60-year head start before the Larrived, but the two have grown up together. The L carries in itsdaily bumps and grinds attributes that have shaped the city'sbusiness core, mostly for the better.Start with the noise. Walk the streets below the L today, andyou get more of an "old Chicago" feeling. Stores and offices crowdthe vision. Many of the buildings are older, but even newer onesencourage street life.The L lowers rents right next door. Landlords have to dosomething because of the din, so they rent to single-store retailersand other small firms."The L really introduced a diversity to downtown, and it'shelped downtown retain diversity over the years," said Perry Duis, anassociate professor of history at the University of Illinois atChicago.An example is South Wabash, with its longtime concentration ofmusic businesses, said John McDonald, UIC economics professor."My great-grandfather was a concert pianist, and he had hisstudio on South Wabash," McDonald said. "That's where you'd have ittoday."The diversity hasn't always been so positive, said real estateconsultant Jared Shlaes, who recalled that when he started in thebusiness in 1954, buildings along Lake Street looked like dumps. Atother times, the retail row along Wabash Avenue has appeared haggard,and Van Buren Street once was known for flophouses.Chicago's downtown would be where it is without the L, but theiron crown gave it a boost early on by certifying it as the place tobe.McDonald said the L focused and intensified the demand forbusiness real estate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Commercial and industrial uses spread across land that had beenresidential. People didn't mind moving farther out because the Lmade it easier to get to work.To illustrate the trend, McDonald noted that populationdensities in and near the Loop doubled between 1870 and 1900 butdeclined after 1910.The trend has been arrested lately as the Loop and adjacentstreets have become more popular places to live. Developers havebought outdated office buildings and warehouses and peddled the spaceto people who prefer the city's action to the suburbs' slumber.The L contributed to an office construction boom from about 1900to 1915, the greatest in the city until the speculative 1980s.The L never was beautiful, strictly speaking, but it sported anintricate "built-up" steel construction that many appreciated eventhen. Angled steel was riveted to flat steel, which was riveted toeven more steel to make massive structural members. Then the wholepiece was braced even more.To last another 100 years, all the L really needs now is routinemaintenance, on which the CTA spends $100,000 to $200,000 a year.Rail ties of creosote pine last about 20 years, and rails last up to50 years, except at stations, where the braking of trains wears themdown in as little as a decade. Every seven years, it gets a $7million paint job.Before expressways influenced development patterns, transitlines were a premier force. Their role still can be seen in today'sdowntown market, where the most leasing and new construction aregoing on near the two Metra stations in the West Loop.The Loop has had its hard times, but a strong economy, a surgein tourism and more housing throughout central Chicago have helped itrebound. So has the access the L continues to provide, a conveniencethat Schaumburg and Naperville envy.The L has been called "a steel girdle" for Chicago's businesscommunity, a view now out of date. Our whole notion of whatconstitutes downtown has been changed by the expansion of commercefar beyond the L's limits. Listen to people talk about "goingdowntown," and they could be referring to everything from the LincolnPark Zoo to McCormick Place.Now the L is more like a necklace complementing the city'seconomy. Tear it down and life would go on, but something oftangible and sentimental value would be missing."The L is Chicago," said Duis. "It creates a sound and a feelthat is Chicago."