Ten (Plus) Open House Chicago Sites to Visit in 2025

Chicago has a wealth of architecture worthy of attention and exploration, but we generally interact with most buildings here only from the outside. Open House Chicago offers a chance to change that. This festival organized by the Chicago Architecture Center lets you go inside more than 200 sites across the city, including many not typically open to the public, free of charge. 

Open House Chicago takes place this year on October 18 and 19. Given how big the city is, a great way to enjoy it is to pick a neighborhood, perhaps one you don't often visit, and use Open House's neighborhood guides to see sites in one area. Or you can take advantage of some of the itineraries based off of public transit, like the Red Line, Green Line, and Metra stations. 

If you need more help choosing, here are a few highlights, with a special focus on new and unusual places not typically open to the public. You can also look back at our recommendations from previous years; just make sure to check that a given site is still participating this year. 

Be sure to check the Open House website or app for open times and accessibility of sites, not all of which are open the whole weekend.

Aspire Center

5500 W. Madison St.

A former school has been transformed into a community hub and workforce training center in Austin. The Aspire Center opened this year, and offers a dynamic version of reusing and reclaiming unused buildings. 

Columbia Yacht Club

111 N. Lake Shore Dr.

The Columbia Yacht Club was founded in 1892 and now has its headquarters on Lake Michigan in a former icebreaking train ferry, where you can explore a dining room and event space. 

Electrical Audio

2621 W. Belmont Ave.

This was the recording studio of the legendary producer Steve Albini, who died last year. The former manufacturing facility has seen hundreds of bands, particularly independent ones, and is hidden in plain sight. 

Four Star Mushrooms

320 N. Oakley Blvd.

You might be surprised to learn that there are delicious mushrooms in all shapes and sizes and forms being grown on an indoor farm in West Town, using agricultural byproducts and thus consuming waste. You can tour this mad scientist's lab of a farm that supplies high-end restaurants, grocery stores, and more. 

Intuit Art Museum 

756 N. Milwaukee Ave. 

As a museum, the Intuit Art Museum is generally open to the public. But it's worth highlighting here, because it reopened this year after an expansion and remodeling. 

Japanese American Service Committee

5700 N. Lincoln Ave.

The JASC was founded in 1946 to help Japanese Americans settling in Chicago after their internment by the American government in World War II. Almost 80 years later, it has remodeled a midcentury bank building into a new headquarters, leaving behind a dark former industrial space in Uptown.

Sheridan Trust & Savings Bank

4753 N. Broadway

This white terra cotta skyscraper from 1924 dates from Uptown's time as a glamorous counterpart to the Loop, full of theaters, banks, and stores. Now a mixed-use building with residences and commercial tenants, it retains elements of the original bank, like a spacious atrium, basement vault, and panic room. You can visit them during Open House. 

Smart Museum of Art

5550 S. Greenwood Ave. 

Yes, you can visit the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago anytime, but it is currently home to an exhibit by the influential artist Theaster Gates, whose focus on urbanism has shaped spaces across the South Side of Chicago (including Open House participant the Stony Island Arts Bank) and so fits in perfectly to an architecture-filled weekend encouraging people to engage with their city. 

Wheeler Mansion

2020 S. Calumet Ave.

This historic mansion dates to the time when the South Loop was home to Chicago's wealthy elite, including banker Calvin T. Wheeler. The 1870 building is now a boutique hotel. Visitors can meet some of the artisans who have helped restore it while exploring the renovated library and lodging rooms.

The Weaving Mill

1801 N. Spaulding Ave.

See industrial looms and the weaving process in person at this artist-run studio with equipment dating from as long ago as 1919. Machine demonstrations will take place at 11:00 am, 1:00, and 3:00 pm; earplugs will be available. 

Public Housing, Its History, Its Present

With housing prices and shortage a constant topic of discussion, it's worth looking back at previous attempts to address the issue. The National Public Housing Museum opened this year at 919 S. Ada St. in one of Chicago's earliest sites of public housing. Lathrop Homes at 2000 W. Diversey Pkwy. were another early public housing complex that featured landscape design by legendary Jens Jensen that has now been restored by another icon, Michael Van Valkenburgh. The complex was controversially redeveloped recently to become a mixed-income community recently. The unusually shaped concrete Hilliard Tower Apartments at 54 W. Cermak Rd. were designed by Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg in the 1960s as affordable housing. The Lucy Gonzalez Parsons Apartments (named after an infamous anarchist) at 2614 N. Emmett St. are a modern version of affordable housing opened in 2022. 

Some Skyline Views

We already mentioned the Hilliard Tower Apartments at 54 W. Cermak Rd., but there are plenty more places to view the city spread out before you from on high. A few suggestions: the 22nd-floor Cliff Dwellers Club at 200 S. Michigan Ave., Suite #2200; the 11th-floor rooftop and terrace across from Millennium Park of One Pru at 180 N. Stetson Ave.; the McCormick Place Rooftop Farm at 2310 E. Cermak Rd.; and the original Sears Tower, Nichols Tower at Homan Square, at 906 S. Homan Ave.