Directions to Crerar Library

The John Crerar Library
5730 S. Ellis Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637

Deliveries to our loading dock should be sent to 5745 S. Drexel: our dock is at the southwest corner of the building. For information about deliveries, or directions not listed on this page, please call either Crerar Administration at 773-702-7720 or Crerar Circulation at 773-702-7409. You can find phone numbers for all Crerar departments and staff here.

Crerar forms part of the Science Quadrangle, the cluster of buildings west of Ellis Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets. The Library can be hard to spot from Ellis as it is located behind the Kersten Physics Teaching Center, Hinds Geophysical Sciences Building, and the University Bookstore. There is street parking available on both 57th Street and Ellis Avenue. (The parking on Ellis is metered.) There is also paid parking available at the U of C Hospitals parking structure, which is 2 blocks west of Crerar, or at the 55th St and Ellis parking garage, 2 blocks to the north.

Driving Directions to Crerar

Plagiarized from the University's main Directions page, where you can find directions to the University from places not listed below (such as from O'Hare, Midway, or the suburbs). From the Loop or Southeast Chicago

Route to Crerar in blue. Main University route in red.

1. Take Lake Shore Drive and get off at the 57th St. exit (Museum of Science and Industry).
2. Go west around the the Museum, and take the fourth right onto the Midway Plaisance.
3. Drive nine blocks west on the Midway to Ellis Avenue. (The main University route turns on University Ave., but for Crerar go past University to Ellis.)
4. Turn right onto Ellis and drive north almost three blocks.

From the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94)

1. Take the Dan Ryan to the 55th St./Garfield Blvd. exit and drive east (which is a left hand turn off the exit ramp, if you come from the north) on 55th St, aka Garfield Boulevard.
2. Stay on Garfield until you cross (Martin Luther) King Drive and enter Washington Park. Follow the signs for 57th St.: take the first right, then the first left.
3. Cross Cottage Grove Avenue. If you want to park in the Hospital parking garage, follow the signs for the U of C Hospitals. Otherwise continue on 57th past the Hospitals.
4. Once you get past Drexel Avenue, you might start looking for street parking. (Drexel, 57th, and/or Ellis north of 57th are all good spots, depending on the time of day.)
5. Ellis Ave. is a four-way stop underneath the pedestrian skybridge. If you want to park in the University parking structure, turn left on Ellis and continue north for two blocks. Otherwise, turn right at the four-way stop. The entrance to the Science Quad and Crerar is on the right side of Ellis. (Note that parking on Ellis between 57th and 59th is metered.)

Taxi

A cab ride from the Loop to the Hyde Park area usually costs around $15-$20 one-way. Catching a cab in Hyde Park can be tricky: during the day there is a cab stand at 58th and Maryland which usually has a few cabs looking for hospital visitors. However, on evenings and weekends you'll have to call for one, and since the closest cabs are usually in the Loop it usually takes about 30 minutes for a cab to show up. We recommend you take public transportation instead.

Public Transportation

By Bus (CTA)
There are two main routes to Crerar:

• #6 (Jeffrey Express): This is the recommended route coming from the Loop. Catch the bus southbound on State St. in the Loop. Get off at 57th St. Walk west under the train tracks and continue walking for 9-10 blocks until you reach Ellis. Turn left on Ellis and walk between Kersten and Hinds.
• Red or Green Line/#55: Catch the Red or Green Line El and take it to the 55th St. stop. Exit the El station and catch the #55 bus going east. (Note that you have to cross the street.) Get off the bus at Ellis and walk south about 3 blocks. The X55 (Garfield Express) is slightly faster, but there is no Ellis stop: you will have to get off at either Cottage Grove or Woodlawn Ave.
• If the 2 routes above don't work for you, you can try the CTA website.

The CTA also operates buses that run within Hyde Park (#170, #171, #172) and an evening express downtown (#173). For more information, see the University transportation website.

By Train
The Metra Electric and South Shore Lines serve Hyde Park. Board the Metra train downtown at either the Randolph St. (Randolph and Michigan) or Van Buren St. (Van Buren and Michigan) stations. Get off at the 57th or 59th street stops and walk 9 blocks west to Ellis Avenue.

Visit the Metra website or the South Shore Line website for station locations and train schedules. Note that during non-rush hours, the trains usually come once an hour--plan your visit accordingly.