The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), under the leadership of President and CEO Lynn J. Osmond, is pleased to announce nearly 50 online programs and trails for self-guided biking, driving and walking during the CAC’s 10th annual Open House Chicago (OHC) festival, reconfigured for outdoor and remote attendance from Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 25, 2020. CAC members get priority access to an OHC 2020 preview program on Wednesday, October 7 at noon, as well as exclusive access to a series of eight “My Neighborhood, My Story” virtual tours with local celebrities and public figures.
These offerings highlight more than 20 Chicago neighborhoods and two suburbs with an intentional focus on, and engagement with, areas and corridors prioritized by the City of Chicago’s INVEST South/West initiative including Auburn Gresham, Austin, Back of the Yards and New City, Bronzeville, Englewood, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, Pullman and Roseland, and South Shore. Fifteen additional OHC 2020 focus areas are Chicago’s Loop, Near North Side and Near West Side plus Beverly, Chinatown, Evanston and Rogers Park, Hyde Park and Kenwood, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Oak Park, Pilsen, Wicker Park and Woodlawn.
“As we approach the end of a year that has brought unforeseen challenges to us all, we’re proud to offer this year’s Open House Chicago as a gift to the city’s residents, as well as a way for people to learn more about ‘the city of architecture’ from wherever they’re most comfortable,” says CAC President and CEO Lynn J. Osmond. “In partnership with our friends at Choose Chicago and in response to the unfortunate but necessary contraction in local tourism, we’re leveraging OHC 2020 to prompt visitation and patronage of more than 100 businesses, sites of cultural significance and other assets near official OHC sites and trails. For making this all possible, the CAC extends its deepest appreciation to Presenting Sponsor Wintrust, for its remarkable support of North America’s largest annual architecture festival.”
Visitors to each OHC 2020 area will be supported in their self-guided exploration by free resources available online at openhousechicago.org, as well as through the free OHC 2020 application for mobile devices, compatible with both Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) operating systems. Using these free resources, OHC 2020 attendees will be able to explore and select routes on a variety of themes, learn more about buildings and sites of interest in each neighborhood, browse and register for related OHC online programs and more. OHC online programs are aligned with the festival’s neighborhoods and themes, featuring guest presenters and representatives from more than 50 local organizations.
OHC 2020 Supports a Safe Experience
All OHC 2020 experiences and programs are outdoors or online in support of public safety. While select online programs during the festival may include images and video footage of building interiors, please do not attempt to enter any of the more than 100 OHC sites and buildings located along OHC trails. OHC participants are asked to observe all current recommendations from public health officials from the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago.
OHC 2020 Mobile App and Self-Guided Trails
Access complete OHC site and trail content including audio, images and video via the OHC 2020 mobile app, available for download via the App Store (for iOS devices) and Google Play Store (for Android devices) prior to the festival. Out-of-app, analog versions of this content will be available upon request for those with access needs. Unless otherwise noted, OHC trails are easy to intermediate bicycle rides or walks designed to last an hour or less.
Architectural Innovation Trail: Chinatown
Take 30 minutes or more to follow this one-mile route, tracing historic and recently completed sites of architectural significance, including Hilliard Tower Apartments, Chinatown Square, Ping Tom Memorial Park, the CTA Green Line station at Cermak-McCormick Place and the Chicago Public Library’s Chinatown Branch. Audio narration by Carol Ross Barney, Ross Barney Architects; Brian Lee, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Ernest C. Wong, site design group, ltd.
Architectural Innovation Trail: Fulton Market District
Take 30 minutes or more to follow this one-mile route highlighting just a few of the many new developments in and around Chicago’s Fulton Market District. Trail stops include 1K Fulton, Fulton West, the Chicago Public Library’s West Loop Branch and McDonald’s Global Headquarters, plus the under-construction projects Fulton East and 800 Fulton Market.
Architectural Innovation Trail: Hyde Park
Take 45 minutes or more to follow this 1.5-mile route, spotlighting historic and recently completed sites of architectural significance, including the Frederick C. Robie House, Keck-Gottschalk-Keck Apartments, Promontory Apartments, University Park Condominiums and Townhomes and Solstice on the Park. Audio narration by Mark P. Sexton, Krueck + Sexton; and Juliane Wolf, Studio Gang
Bicycle / Driving Trail: A Ribbon of Green on the West Side
The chain of wooded roadways and major parks on Chicago’s West Side comprises more than 1,700 acres of green space, connecting six public squares and eight parks, linked by 18 historic boulevards. Built in stages between 1869 and 1942, the showpieces in this famed “ribbon of green” are the city’s Douglass, Garfield and Humboldt Parks. Enjoy this 7.5-mile trail of highlights by bicycle, car or on foot, or go the distance and travel all 26 miles from end to end. Audio narration by Julia Bachrach, historian and Chicago parks expert
Bicycle / Driving Trail: Chicago’s Tied Houses
This citywide trail is best approached as a half-day adventure enjoyed by car or bicycle, with a route linking well-preserved examples of Chicago’s once-commonplace tied houses—bars and saloons “tied” to selling the products of a single brewery. Many designed by architects Frohmann & Jebsen in Chicago for Milwaukee’s Schlitz company, tied houses and the system they supported played a significant role in triggering the movement that led to Prohibition.
Bicycle / Driving Trail: North Shore Historic Homes
Take your time following this five-mile route through Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe on Chicago’s North Shore, highlighting homes on the National Register of Historic Places designed by David Adler, Howard Van Doren Shaw and Frank Lloyd Wright. Audio narration is by Lisa Pickell, president of Orren Pickell Building Group and a CAC docent. The North Shore Historic Homes trail is sponsored by Orren Pickell Building Group.
Bicycle / Walking Trail: Olmsted’s South Park
Chicago’s Jackson and Washington Parks, along with the Midway Plaisance, form a coherent, 1,055-acre landscape originally known as South Park. Designed in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmsted, “the father of landscape architecture,” this trio of urban assets took time to mature. Enjoy this 2.5-mile trail of highlights or go the distance and travel all five miles from end to end. Audio narration by Julia Bachrach, historian and Chicago parks expert; and Robert W. Karr, Jr., Project 120 Chicago
Neighborhood Trail: Austin: Frederick R. Schock Homes
Take 20 minutes or more to enjoy this half-mile route past four houses designed by Frederick R. Schock, a Chicago-born architect who pushed stylistic boundaries and helped establish Austin as a fashionable residential enclave. Featured sites, including Schock’s own residence, combine elements of Queen Anne and the Shingle Style—a design approach uncommon in the Midwest but highly influential to Chicago architects associated with the Prairie School.
Neighborhood Trail: Beverly: The Prairie School
Take an hour or more to explore this two-mile route showcasing the rich variety of homes on and around a prominent natural ridge extending from Chicago’s 87th Street south to the City of Blue Island. While there are unique homes and vibrant communities along all six miles of the ridge, this trail focuses on a short stretch featuring grand homes by influential architects—and a collection of Prairie Style exemplars to rival Oak Park.
Neighborhood Trail: Bronzeville: Performance Spaces in the Black Metropolis
Through the first half of the 20th century, discriminatory practices by banks and insurance companies forced Black Chicagoans and new arrivals to the city from the American South to settle in a narrow corridor of the South Side known as “The Black Belt.” With space so limited, several buildings operated both as community gathering points and venues for musicians and other performing artists. Take 45 minutes or more to follow this 1.5-mile trail connecting a few sites still standing from the heyday of Chicago’s “Black Metropolis.” Audio narration by Bernard Loyd, Urban Juncture; and Robert M. Marovich, Journal of Gospel Music
Neighborhood Trail: Downtown: Lakeshore East
Take 30 minutes or more for this half-mile exploration of the latest structures to rise in Lakeshore East, a master-planned community on the former site of the Illinois Central Railroad yards and, later, a nine-hole golf course. Tucked between Lake Michigan, Millennium Park and the Chicago River, Lakeshore East is now home to some of the tallest new buildings in the United States. Audio narration by James Loewenberg, Magellan Development Group; and Juliane Wolf, Studio Gang
Neighborhood Trail: Lincoln Park: A Women’s History
Take 45 minutes or more to follow this one-mile trail and learn how a small cemetery was transformed into today’s 1,200-acre recreational landscape. The handful of important contributions by women to the creation of Lincoln Park are often overshadowed by men whose names and figures adorn the park’s historic sites and natural features. Explore locations that broaden the narrative of how the park took shape over 150 years, with an emphasis on women who envisioned—and continue to improve—a space all Chicagoans can enjoy. Audio narration by Julia Bachrach, historian and Chicago parks expert
Neighborhood Trail: Logan Square: Homes of the Boulevards
Take 45 minutes or more to follow this 1.5-mile trail of highlights along the tree-lined boulevards radiating outward from Chicago’s Logan and Palmer Squares. Having taken their design cues from older, heavier façades along Drexel and Grand Boulevards as well as Lake Shore Drive, the Prairie, Queen Anne and Greystone homes on Kedzie and Logan Boulevards aimed to attract newly affluent buyers seeking a then-suburban setting.
Neighborhood Trail: Near North Side: Gold Coast Tales
Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, grand residences were built throughout the northeast pocket of today’s Gold Coast neighborhood, along Lake Shore Drive between Division Street and North Avenue. Take 45 minutes or more to follow this one-mile trail profiling the ambitions, personalities and stories of figures and families who chose to make homes in the area. Audio narration by Virginia Gerst, CAC docent
Neighborhood Trail: Near South Side: Prairie Avenue Homes
Some of the oldest, most picturesque homes still standing in Chicago can be found tucked away along South Prairie Avenue southeast of Soldier Field, including the Henry B. Clarke House (1836), Keith House (1870) and OHC 2020 community partner Glessner House (1885−87). Take 30 minutes or more to enjoy this half-mile stroll through Chicago’s historic Prairie Avenue District—and learn which of the area’s buildings were picked up and moved from their original locations.
Neighborhood Trail: Oak Park: The Young Frank Lloyd Wright
Take 30 minutes or more to follow this half-mile trail highlighting seven early houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright during the first two decades of his long career. Curated from among Wright’s 25 extant Oak Park commissions, these examples show how his work evolved, from his early tenure as a draftsman under Louis Sullivan to his emergence as an established and influential architect in private practice. Audio narration by Adam Rubin, Chicago Architecture Center
Neighborhood Trail: Pilsen: Mosaics
Take 30 minutes or more to appreciate the remarkable mosaics along this 1.25-mile trail, created using tiles and other mixed media over the past 30 years. Tracing at least to Mario Castillo’s “Peace or Metafisico” mural of 1968, Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood has long been a hub of the Mexican muralist movement in the United States. Many of the neighborhood’s works of tile and painting merge expressions of cultural and religious identity with calls for social justice, by artists such as Sandra Antongiorgi, Aurelio Diaz, Héctor Duarte, Sam Kirk, Jeff Maldonado, Francisco Mendoza, Gabriel Villa and others. Audio narration by Luis Tubens, Pilsen murals expert
Neighborhood Trail: Pullman and Roseland Today
Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives president David Doig discusses historic rehabilitation and housing development work in and around Pullman, originally intended as an idyllic community for Pullman Palace Car Company laborers but, within 15 years, the site of the violent Pullman Strike of 1894. Absorbed by the City of Chicago in 1889, Pullman today encompasses the Pullman National Monument, including landmark buildings by architect Solon Spencer Beman and landscapes by Nathan Barrett, as well as larger areas to the west of Lake Calumet and north to 95th Street, urbanized throughout the mid−20th century. Video content by Video Parachute, with kind assistance from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and Leadership Greater Chicago
Neighborhood Trail: Rogers Park: The Mile of Murals
Take 45 minutes or more to enjoy The Mile of Murals—more than 14,000 square feet of bold imagery and vibrant color on street-facing walls abutting elevated CTA Red Line tracks through Rogers Park. Launched in 2007, the project aims to promote and celebrate the arts-centered identity of the neighborhood, which includes the Glenwood Avenue Arts District. Audio narration by Ana Bermúdez, Rogers Park Business Alliance
Neighborhood Trail: Wicker Park: Beer Baron Row
Take 30 minutes or more to peruse this half-mile trail through a well-preserved collection of mansions between Damen and North Avenues and Leavitt and Schiller Streets. Dubbed “Beer Baron Row,” this tightly packed assortment of grand homes in Queen Anne, Second Empire, Richardsonian Romanesque and other styles are surrounded by humble workers’ cottages of the same period, built to house German, Scandinavian and Polish immigrants who shared the neighborhood.
OHC 2020 App Exclusive: Aural Neighborhoods Trails
Download and install the OHC 2020 mobile app to experience a pair of corresponding, self-guided sound trails created exclusively for the festival by NON:op Open Opera Works. Grab your headphones, choose the Auburn Gresham or Evanston option, travel to the trailhead and follow maps and prompts in the app to find specific points at which you can listen to custom-created, site-specific soundscapes.
OHC 2020 App Exclusive: The Planner’s Path with CAC Teen Fellows
Download and install the OHC 2020 mobile app to check out original neighborhood improvements designed by CAC Teen Fellows in summer 2020 to bring community connection and engagement to 19 underutilized Chicago sites. Additional OHC 2020 content and programs designed for young people and families will be announced at a later date.
OHC 2020 App Exclusive: Site Portrait Gallery
Download and install the OHC 2020 mobile app to browse and share unique portraits of 15 OHC 2020 sites, curated exclusively for the festival by artists from Plein Air Painters Chicago.
OHC 2020 Online Programs
Advance registration for most free and paid online events will be required. Event listings and registration will be available at openhousechicago.org/programs and via the OHC 2020 mobile app. Unless otherwise noted, all OHC 2020 online programs are scheduled on Central Time, hosted via Zoom and subject to change. Current CAC members get free access to most OHC online programs, and exclusive access to the “My Neighborhood, My Story” series of video tours led by noted architects, artists, media personalities and public figures.
MEMBERS ONLY OHC 2020 Preview
Wednesday, October 7 at noon
FREE exclusively for CAC members first
CAC members are invited to attend this special sneak preview of the OHC 2020 mobile app and virtual programs, with opportunities to ask questions and get recommendations for maximizing their OHC 2020 experience. This online preview program will be accessible to the general public following its premiere for CAC members only.
OHC 2020 Trivia Night
Friday, October 16 at 7pm
$15, CAC members $10
To kick off 10 days of endless discoveries during Open House Chicago 2020, join fellow OHC devotees and special guests to compete in teams on trivia questions about Chicago places and spaces.
Artmaking and Placemaking in Chicago Communities
Saturday, October 17 at 2pm
FREE
OHC 2020 community partner Hyde Park Art Center co-convenes this roundtable discussion about artist-driven community activations, creative projects and placemaking across Chicago, ahead of its forthcoming 2021 exhibition, “Planting and Maintaining a Perennial Garden.” Presenters include lead exhibition artist and Floating Museum co-director Faheem Majeed, Borderless Studio founder and principal Paola Aguirre, social justice artist and Folded Map Project creator Tonika Lewis Johnson and Future Firm principal Ann Lui.
Chicago Landmarking at 50: Past, Present and Future
Saturday, October 17 at 4pm
FREE
Chicago’s historic preservation movement is now more than half a century old. Learn how local landmarking came into being and how its use and impact have gone far beyond preservation, with Chicago’s diverse Third Ward serving as a case study. Presenters include urban planner Jeremi Bryant, Third Ward Alderwoman Pat Dowell and OHC 2020 community partner Glessner House curator and executive director William Tyre.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Gordon Gill
Saturday, October 17 at 7pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Renowned architect Gordon Gill, FAIA of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture brings CAC President and CEO Lynn Osmond on a video walking tour, to view a selection of the firm’s projects in Chicago and discuss its skyline-altering work in cities around the globe.
A New Vision for the Kenwood Line
Sunday, October 18 at 2pm
$8, FREE with registration fee to CAC members
Inspired by the City of Chicago’s INVEST South/West Initiative, Migel Antonino Santos, recent graduate of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, created a proposal to revitalize the Kenwood Line, a six-station branch of the city’s “L” network that served South Side residents and visitors from 1907−57. Now based in Chicago, Santos originally hails from Pasig City, Metro Manila in the Philippines—among the most densely populated areas on Earth. Hear how Santos suggests Chicago leverage this decommissioned rail line in support of greater socioeconomic equity and neighborhood vitality.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour of Pulaski Park Fieldhouse
Sunday, October 18 at 4pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Free Street Theater and Performance for Social Justice gives CAC members a video tour through the curious, mural-filled rooms of Pulaski Park Fieldhouse (William Carbys Zimmerman, 1914), where Free Street is headquartered through the Chicago Park District’s Arts Partners in Residence program.
Women in Architecture Virtual Tour
Monday, October 19 at 10am
$8, FREE with registration fee to CAC members
While women in architecture and design professions were historically limited by glass ceilings, they’ve secured bigger and more visible roles in the 21st century, opening and running their own offices and designing buildings that have changed cities and skylines the world over. CAC docent Mary Jo Hoag leads this special encore presentation during OHC 2020 of her popular virtual tour, premiered on CAC Live in June 2020.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Heather Ireland Robinson
Monday, October 19 at 5:30pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Jazz Institute of Chicago executive director Heather Ireland Robinson brings CAC members on a video tour through Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, where Robinson grew up.
Revitalized: What’s New and Cool on the River
Tuesday, October 20 at noon
$8, FREE with registration fee to CAC members
Join CAC docents Lance Friedmann, Wayne Johnson, Kelly Jones and Alison Schlickman as they share highlights among the many new buildings, neighborhood developments and works of public art along the Chicago Riverwalk.
Investment through Preservation in Roseland
Tuesday, October 20 at 5:30pm
FREE
OHC 2020 community partner Preservation Chicago co-convenes this roundtable discussion about the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. After decades of disinvestment, what does Roseland need to rebuild its community health and vibrance, and how might historic preservation be leveraged as a means toward such progress? Presenters include Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce founding executive director Andrea D. Reed, Preservation Chicago director of community engagement Mary Lu Seidel, Roseland Heights Community Association president and Red Line Extension Coalition member Clevan Tucker, Jr. and historian, musician, photographer and lifelong Chicago resident Paul Petraitis.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Neil Steinberg
Tuesday, October 20 at 7pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg brings CAC members on a video tour highlighting some of Steinberg’s favorite buildings, places and spaces in Oak Park.
Get to Know Your House: Rogers Park Edition
Wednesday, October 21 at 10am
Registration fee TBA
Based on the CAC’s popular class series Get to Know Your House, initially offered and sold out in March 2020, this one-time special edition provides attendees tips on researching their historic homes. With Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood serving as a case study, this program features a discussion between Rogers Park homeowner and CAC Vice President of Education and Audience Engagement Nicole Kowrach and Property History Quest staffer Dona Vitale from OHC 2020 community partner Rogers Park / West Ridge Historical Society.
Changing the Narrative: African Americans in Evanston
Wednesday, October 21 at noon
FREE
Established in 1863, the City of Evanston benefited economically and socially from the contributions of its African American residents—a fact often diminished in, if not excluded entirely from, historical records and narratives. OHC 2020 community partner the Evanston History Center co-convenes this conversation between its director of facilities, visitor services and collections Kris Hartzell and Shorefront Legacy Center founder and executive director Dino Robinson.
Stories of (Im)Migration, Sites of Unity
Thursday, October 22 at noon
FREE
OHC 2020 community partner Chicago Cultural Alliance co-convenes this discussion among representatives from its member organizations. Hear reflections on (im)migration stories from the communities their organizations serve, and learn about local sites where those communities have come together, past and present, as they’ve made homes for themselves in Chicago.
Book Talk: “Evanston’s Design Heritage: Architects, Designers and Planners”
Thursday, October 22 at 5:30pm
Registration fee TBA
Join OHC 2020 community partner Design Evanston for a look at its new book, “Evanston’s Design Heritage,” featuring 127 notable architects and landscape architects, designers and planners who lived or worked in the North Shore city since its founding in 1863. Presenters include architect and University of Illinois at Chicago professor emeritus Stuart Cohen, FAIA; Evanston History Center director of facilities, visitor services and collections Kris Hartzell; architect and landscape designer Tom Hofmaier, LEED AP; Heidrun Hoppe Associates president Heidrun Hoppe; Design Evanston president and Ross Barney Architects marketing principal Laura Saviano; Design Evanston and Teska Associates founder Bob Teska; and Chicago Design Archive president and Jack Weiss Associates principal Jack Weiss.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Lin Brehmer
Thursday, October 22 at 7pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
93 XRT host Lin Brehmer brings CAC members on a video tour of downtown Chicago, stopping at sites of significance in the history of rock music including famed venues where bands beloved by XRT listeners gave still-legendary concerts.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Carol Ross Barney
Friday, October 23 at 4pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Renowned architect Carol Ross Barney, FAIA brings CAC docent Michelle Woods on a stroll along Chicago’s Riverwalk, an award-winning, multi-phase project by Ross Barney Architects that Woods oversees in her role as a City of Chicago project manager for concessions, maintenance and operations.
If Walls Had Ears: Historic Chicago Music Venues
Friday, October 23 at 7pm
$15, CAC members $10
This special collection of virtual tours and brief performances by musical artists brings attendees “into” spaces they wouldn’t ordinarily see, such as backstage dressing and green rooms, at storied Chicago venues including the Avalon Regal (South Shore), The Forum (Bronzeville) and Thalia Hall (Pilsen). Presenters include Bernard Loyd, founder and president of Urban Juncture and owner of OHC 2020 community partner The Forum.
South Shore Neighborhood Virtual Tour
Saturday, October 24 at 2pm
FREE
This live-streamed, virtual tour of the South Shore neighborhood showcases its rich history and beautiful architecture. Presenters include OHC 2020 community partner Rainbow Beach Park Advisory Council president Allan Lindrup; CAC docent Mike McMains; and MOBE and Real Men Charities, Inc. CEO Yvette J. Moyo, publisher of South Side Drive Magazine: Guide to the Good Life Chicago.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Robert Loerzel
Saturday, October 24 at 4pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
”Walking Chicago” author, freelance journalist and photographer Robert Loerzel brings CAC members on a video tour of favorite buildings, places and spaces in Chicago’s Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods.
Historic Community Gardens of North Lawndale
Sunday, October 25 at 2pm
FREE
Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood features a collection of more than 50 community gardens, enlivening many formerly empty lots and often serving as accessible spaces for public gatherings and events. OHC 2020 community partners North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council and North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society co-convene this discussion with North Lawndale residents about the impact and importance of eight area gardens in particular. Presenters include Chicago and Paris−based architect Odile Compagnon, teaching professor in the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
MEMBERS ONLY “My Neighborhood, My Story” Virtual Tour with Rhymefest
Sunday, October 25 at 4pm
FREE exclusively for CAC members
Hip-hop artist, community organizer, teacher and writer Che “Rhymefest” Smith brings CAC members on a video tour to places that changed the course of his life and career, in Chicago’s Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods.
