The city’s best free festival is Open House Chicago

Published on Oct. 17, 2016 by Steven Vance

Every year the Chicago Architecture Foundation — which turned 50 this year — has organized Open House Chicago, a weekend in October when the owners of over 200 buildings, houses, and museums, open their doors to the public for free. The festival started in 2011 with 131 sites.

Here are some of the highlights from October 15–16, 2016.

This was the first year River City, a condo complex designed by Bertrand Goldberg, joined Open House Chicago. Photo by Andy Marfia.
River Road is a “street” inside River City, on the fifth level. Photo by Steven Vance.
The Chicago Transit Authority’s “Skokie Shop” train repair facility in Skokie, Illinois, was also a first-timer. Guests had to RSVP for limited slots weeks before the weekend. Photo by Jonathan Hartsaw.
University Hall at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) opened the 28th floor Chancellor’s office to guests. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers, the official event photographer for the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
The Rookery stands among old bank buildings on South LaSalle Street in Chicago’s financial district. It was designed by Burnham and Root, an architecture firm founded by Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root. The building “light court”, seen here, is open to the public daily.
The Yale Building in Englewood is currently apartments for senior citizens. It was built as luxury housing for guests of the Columbian Exposition in 1893 in nearby Jackson Park.

Find 100s more photos on Flickr with the tag #OHC2016. Leave a comment with a link to your photos and we may add them to this post.

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