So far we've shown what the street-side facade of the Visitor Center will look like. But even more important is what will be inside the building. Want to take a tour? We know you do! So here's an explanation of the various features that have been cleverly designed into the structure. This is looking at the building with the roof removed, in the south-east direction. The building directly across the street, in the upper right-hand corner of the picture, is the Schroeder Store.
1 - Main public entrance from parking lot, at the northwest corner of the building near a circle drive for drop-off; the canopy roof provides shelter for school groups to queue or for people to wait out of the rain.
2 - Ticket window, intended to use original ticket counter wickets from Union Station
3 - This wide "hallway" along the side of the building will funnel arriving visitors toward Main Street and will provide space for exhibits along the walls
4 - Restroom entrances are here; the big grey block pictured has restrooms on the lower level and storage space on the upper level, with second-floor bay windows to present an "interlocking tower" look
5 - Past the restroom entrances, arriving visitors are directed left and down this hallway to the main hall, with more space here for exhibits and orientation signage along the walls
6 - In the main hall, there is space for a small theater area where an orientation video can be shown, as well as ample space for historic exhibits
7 - This is where the main entrance/exit from the Visitor Center out onto Main Street is located; from the outside, it will simulate a theater entrance complete with overhead marquee
8 - The center of the main hall will feature a track where a couple of pieces of rolling stock can be displayed; the horsecar is pictured (in yellow) as an example
9 - Along the east side of the main hall are air walls that allow up to three classrooms or flexible event rooms to be blocked off, with various configurations possible
10 - This is the southernmost of the three classrooms, shown with chairs set up lecture-style; these rooms can also be left open to the rest of the Main Hall by retracting the air walls completely
11 - Along the east side of the building is the office wing; at the southeast corner, indicated here, is a small reception room for volunteers that will include the operations sign-in station
12 - This office space will replace the current museum office
13 - The center of the three flexible classroom spaces is shown here with round tables set up and the air wall to the Main Hall retracted
14 - The northernmost of the three classroom spaces is pictured with rectangular tables
15 - In the center of the north wall of the building, facing the parking lot, is a track door to permit equipment to be moved in and out of the Main Hall display track (item 8); this would be intended only for extremely rare use, as the equipment on display would be placed there semi-permanently
16 - Exit through the gift shop! Visitors leaving the museum would walk back into the Visitor Center through the theater door off Main Street (item 7) and be directed through the gift shop to the entrance. The gift shop has doors at both its east and west ends to allow this. The staff working the ticket counter (item 2) could also work the gift shop on light days simply by turning 180 degrees.
2 - Ticket window, intended to use original ticket counter wickets from Union Station
3 - This wide "hallway" along the side of the building will funnel arriving visitors toward Main Street and will provide space for exhibits along the walls
4 - Restroom entrances are here; the big grey block pictured has restrooms on the lower level and storage space on the upper level, with second-floor bay windows to present an "interlocking tower" look
5 - Past the restroom entrances, arriving visitors are directed left and down this hallway to the main hall, with more space here for exhibits and orientation signage along the walls
6 - In the main hall, there is space for a small theater area where an orientation video can be shown, as well as ample space for historic exhibits
7 - This is where the main entrance/exit from the Visitor Center out onto Main Street is located; from the outside, it will simulate a theater entrance complete with overhead marquee
8 - The center of the main hall will feature a track where a couple of pieces of rolling stock can be displayed; the horsecar is pictured (in yellow) as an example
9 - Along the east side of the main hall are air walls that allow up to three classrooms or flexible event rooms to be blocked off, with various configurations possible
10 - This is the southernmost of the three classrooms, shown with chairs set up lecture-style; these rooms can also be left open to the rest of the Main Hall by retracting the air walls completely
11 - Along the east side of the building is the office wing; at the southeast corner, indicated here, is a small reception room for volunteers that will include the operations sign-in station
12 - This office space will replace the current museum office
13 - The center of the three flexible classroom spaces is shown here with round tables set up and the air wall to the Main Hall retracted
14 - The northernmost of the three classroom spaces is pictured with rectangular tables
15 - In the center of the north wall of the building, facing the parking lot, is a track door to permit equipment to be moved in and out of the Main Hall display track (item 8); this would be intended only for extremely rare use, as the equipment on display would be placed there semi-permanently
16 - Exit through the gift shop! Visitors leaving the museum would walk back into the Visitor Center through the theater door off Main Street (item 7) and be directed through the gift shop to the entrance. The gift shop has doors at both its east and west ends to allow this. The staff working the ticket counter (item 2) could also work the gift shop on light days simply by turning 180 degrees.
9 comments:
Will the visitor center gift shop replace the current store? If so, what will go in over there? I know some features of the visitor center have been cut back, but it struck me that a functional second floor would have been nice with a locker room and showers for volunteers. Would have been a good place to store and try on uniforms and so forth.
As to the gift shop, exactly what is sold where will be up to the people in charge of sales to determine. And that can always be changed as we get experience. As for a second floor, as I understand it local building codes would require a functioning elevator for any upper floors, and we don't want to have to install and maintain an elevator.
Will the entrances to the bathrooms be on the main hall side as well?
Would be kinda awkward/annoying if you had to go all the way back to essentially the entrance every single time if a banquet or something was going on. It's a small nitpick, but one that might be hard to change if not done in the beginning.
Can a second floor (and elevator) be added at a later time? Can the building be expanded at a later time - larger footprint on Main Street?
Changes are always possible, but only if the original plan gets built first. So donate now -- thanks!
I think the most logical candidates for equipment that could be put on display here first would be the horse car, the cable car, and the West Chicago Street car. As much as I enjoy their display in the streetcar barn, it would be nice to finally display them in a climate controlled building where they could be kept nice and clean and be kept even further out of the elements. And just for fun, if there's enough space left, maybe squeeze Illinois Terminal 170 in at the very end.
Now, if I could have anything I wanted from the Museum collection in the building, I would choose either Illinois Central 201 or the Amtrak AEM-7, locomotives that we absolutely know for sure will never run again, but would still leave a good impression sitting in the building. I would love to put the UP turbine in there and just leave it there permanently, but it looks to me like there wouldn't be enough room for the entire turbine set. You might be able to get a single E9 or CB&Q 4963 in there at best, but nothing bigger than that.
-Matt Maloy
You should realize that the display track in the building isn't going to be connected to live rail, so anything like the turbine is preposterous. I believe the 201 and the horse car are the main candidates right now. But maybe we could have a yearly auction to determine what gets displayed next. I'd vote for the detector cars!
I hadn't thought about the elevator (ADA and all that). With regard to track getting to the building, I suppose in theory (and with the right amount of cash), a siding could come off of the 50th Street tracks, cross Springfield Ave. and line up with the indoor track. Probably more work than it would be worth for the limited moves of small equipment, but would spare the need for specialized movers if anything new came inside. I expect that space will be reserved for the most valuable and likely oldest pieces. The IC 201 would be a good candidate. Now if the Chicago History Museum was willing to give up the Pioneer...
I know the Turbine is a preposterous candidate. On top of being too much trouble to move onto and off of the isolated track, it's too big and too long to fit in there anyways. But I just thought I'd share a dream I had.
-Matt Maloy
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