5 Reasons to Go to Open House Chicago With Your Kids

For one weekend every October, Chicago lets you in. Open House Chicago, run by the Chicago Architecture Center, opens the doors of more than 200 buildings across roughly 30 neighborhoods, many of which are normally closed to the public. You can walk into private clubs, historic churches and temples, office lobbies, theaters, breweries, residential buildings and city landmarks, often with volunteers and staff on hand to explain what you are looking at.

It is easy to assume it is an event for architecture fans. It is actually one of the best family weekends of the fall. Here are five reasons to bring the kids, and how to plan the day.

How it works

Open House Chicago is free. Sites are first come, first served, and you do not need tickets or reservations for general entry. You choose which buildings to visit and go at your own pace. The full list of sites is published on the Chicago Architecture Center’s website, usually about a month ahead of the festival, and you can save sites and build an itinerary on the site or the app.

Chicago Architecture Center members get a priority access pass that lets them skip lines, which can matter at the most popular sites. Some extra programming around the weekend may be ticketed, but the open buildings themselves are free.

Five reasons to go with your kids

1. It is free, and you can leave whenever you want. No tickets means no pressure. If a building is a dud for your kids, you walk out after five minutes and go to the next one. If a toddler melts down, you go home, and you have lost nothing. Few big Chicago events are this forgiving.

2. Kids get to go where they usually cannot. Children love being allowed into places that feel off-limits. A grand banking hall, a private club, a backstage space or a building they have walked past a hundred times all become small adventures. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, for example, has taken part by opening its Great Hall to festival visitors, alongside its free Money Museum.

3. It gets you into a new neighborhood. Sites are spread across the city, not just downtown. Choosing a cluster of buildings in a neighborhood you rarely visit turns the day into a mini trip: a church, a historic theater, a local bakery and a park. If you are new to the city or thinking about a move, it is a good way to see how different neighborhoods feel. Our guide to choosing a Chicago neighborhood with kids pairs well with it.

4. It teaches kids to look up. Once children start noticing stained glass, mosaics, carved stone and strange ceilings, they keep doing it. Turning the day into a scavenger hunt helps: find an animal carved in stone, a staircase that curves, a window made of colored glass, the oldest thing in the room. Kids who are bored by the idea of architecture are often fascinated by the details.

5. It is a city tradition you can repeat every year. The site list changes from year to year, so it never quite repeats. Families who go once tend to make it a fall tradition, and kids get more out of it as they grow. A preschooler likes the elevators. A ten-year-old can read the history.

How to plan the day

• Pick a cluster. Choose four to six sites within walking distance of each other, rather than crossing the city. The site map makes this easy.
• Mix big and small. The famous downtown sites draw long lines. Pair one popular site with a few quieter ones in the neighborhoods.
• Go early. Lines are shortest when sites first open in the morning, and kids have the most energy then.
• Read each site’s notes. Some sites have limited capacity, stairs only or restrictions on what you can access. Check before you go if you have a stroller.
• Check for updates. Sites occasionally close or change hours during the weekend. The festival’s website and app post real-time updates.
• Use transit. Downtown sites are close to the L, and parking around popular sites can be tight. If you drive, our Chicago parking guide can help.
• Plan food stops. Build lunch into the route at a neighborhood spot near your cluster, rather than hunting for food with hungry kids.

Make it part of a fall weekend

Open House Chicago falls in mid-October, which is also peak season for apple picking, pumpkin patches and fall color. Our list of things to do in Chicago before it snows has more ideas for the same weekend. And if your kids catch the architecture bug, the Chicago Architecture Center’s river cruise runs into late fall.

The site list for each year goes up on the Chicago Architecture Center’s website at architecture.org. Put a reminder in your calendar for September to look it over and pick your cluster.