Irving Park Just Opened Its Doors for Open House Chicago — Here's What Neighbors Got to See Inside
By Socialhood News · Irving Park ·
Irving Park neighbors, one of the city's most beloved annual events made a return visit to the Northwest Side this past weekend — and the buildings it put on display are exactly the kind of places that make this neighborhood worth living in.
Open House Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center's annual citywide event, returned to Irving Park and Albany Park on Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12. Hosted by the Chicago Architecture Center, the event featured more than 200 locations spread across 30 neighborhoods — giving residents and visitors a rare, free look inside structures that are otherwise closed to the public. In Irving Park, that meant the doors swung open at three local landmarks: Eris Brewery and Cider House at 4240 W. Irving Park Road, and Carl Schurz High School at 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Eris Brewery and Cider House is arguably the most architecturally striking address on Irving Park Road. The building is a former Masonic Temple — a grand, century-old structure that Eris converted into one of the Northwest Side's most distinctive dining and drinking destinations. Open House Chicago's inclusion of Eris gave neighbors who may have never stepped inside a reason to finally do it, and gave out-of-neighborhood visitors a reminder that Irving Park Road has the kind of bones that most Chicago corridors can only wish for.
Carl Schurz High School, at 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave., brought a different kind of architectural history to the weekend. The building is 116 years old — a public school that has educated generations of Northwest Side students and that carries the kind of institutional weight that only comes with more than a century of continuous use. For neighbors who attended Schurz, or whose parents and grandparents did, the open house offered something closer to a homecoming than a tour.
The Irish American Heritage Center, located nearby in Albany Park, was also part of this year's Irving Park and Albany Park Open House Chicago programming, rounding out a weekend that gave the Northwest Side a rare moment of neighborhood-wide architectural pride.
Open House Chicago is free and open to the public each year, typically held on the third weekend of October. The Chicago Architecture Center organizes the event as part of its broader mission to connect Chicagoans with the city's built environment — and Irving Park's selection as a featured neighborhood reflects the genuine architectural richness of the corridor. From the Masonic-turned-brewery on Irving Park Road to a high school that predates World War I, the neighborhood has a physical history that rewards the kind of slow, deliberate looking that Open House Chicago encourages.
If you missed this year's event, it's worth putting the third weekend of October 2027 on your calendar now. And if you did make it out this past weekend, Eris Brewery and Cider House at 4240 W. Irving Park Road remains open for business year-round — no architectural tour required to enjoy it. Carl Schurz High School's history is also visible from the outside any day of the week on Milwaukee Avenue.
Did you visit any of the Open House Chicago locations in Irving Park this weekend? Share what you saw in the comments — and tag a neighbor who should have been there.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/10/12/heres-what-to-see-in-albany-park-and-irving-park-during-open-house-chicago/