Programs

CAC members are invited to attend this special sneak preview of the OHC 2020 mobile app and virtual programs. Ask questions and get recommendations to maximize your OHC 2020 experience!

Get a special sneak preview of the OHC 2020 mobile app and virtual programs. Ask questions and get recommendations to maximize your OHC 2020 experience!

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.

OHC 2020 community partner Hyde Park Art Center co-convenes this roundtable discussion about artist-driven community activations, creative projects and placemaking across Chicago.

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.

Exclusively for CAC members • Hear what inspired the design of the CAC and view the office of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture—located inside the iconic Inland Steel building—during this virtual tour with renowned architect Gordon Gill.

Hear recent architecture school graduate Migel Santos’ fascinating proposal to revitalize a decommissioned rail line on the South Side, with hopes of boosting socioeconomic equity and neighborhood vitality.

Exclusively for CAC members • Visit the curious, mural-filled rooms of the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse on this virtual tour with Free Street Theater, which is headquartered in the historic building.

Take a 45-minute live, virtual tour with CAC docent Mary Jo Hoag's in downtown Chicago to discover stunning buildings designed by female architects, including the Equitable Building, Aqua Tower and Vista Tower.

Exclusively for CAC members • Join Jazz Institute of Chicago executive director Heather Ireland Robinson on a video tour through the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side, where she grew up.

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 River.

After decades of disinvestment, could historic preservation be used as a tool to help rebuild vibrancy in the Roseland neighborhood? Find out at this roundtable discussion, co-convened with OHC 2020 community partner Preservation Chicago.

Based on the CAC’s popular "Get to Know Your House" series, this program provides attendees with tips for researching their historic homes, using Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood as a case study.

Learn about recent efforts by the City of Evanston to recognize sites and buildings that speak to the role African Americans played in shaping the suburb. This conversation is co-convened by the Evanston History Center, an OHC 2020 community partner.

OHC 2020 community partner Chicago Cultural Alliance co-convenes this discussion among representatives from its member organizations. Hear (im)migration stories from panelists and discover local sites that are meaningful for their communities.

Join OHC 2020 community partner Design Evanston for a look at its new book, "Evanston’s Design Heritage," featuring 127 notable architects, designers, landscape architects and planners who lived or worked in the suburb since its founding in 1863.

Exclusively for CAC members • 93XRT radio host Lin Brehmer stops at sites of significance in the history of rock music in downtown Chicago on this virtual tour.

Take a virtual tour of the former Central Park Theater in North Lawndale, a 1917 movie palace that marked the start of a fruitful partnership between architects Rapp and Rapp and theater corporation Balaban and Katz.

Exclusively for CAC members • Hear fascinating stories about the multi-year, award-winning Chicago Riverwalk project, from two women who worked together to bring it to fruition: architect Carol Ross Barney and CAC docent Michelle Woods.

This special collection of virtual tours and brief performances brings attendees “into” spaces they wouldn’t ordinarily see at storied Chicago music venues, including the Avalon Regal Theater, The Forum, Thalia Hall and the Vic Theatre.

CAC docent Mike McMains joins two community leaders, Allan Lindrup and Yvette Moyo, for this live-streamed, virtual tour of the South Shore neighborhood, showcasing its rich history and beautiful architecture.

Exclusively for CAC members • ”Walking Chicago” author, freelance journalist and photographer Robert Loerzel shares some of his favorite buildings and places in Edgewater and Rogers Park during this virtual tour.

Hear from North Lawndale residents about the positive impact more than 50 community gardens are making in their West Side neighborhood.

Exclusively for CAC members • Join hip-hop artist, community organizer, teacher and writer Che “Rhymefest” Kweku on a virtual tour to places that changed the course of his life and career, in Chicago’s Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods.