Open House Chicago Returns This Weekend With 13 Near North Gems You Can Finally Walk Inside
By Socialhood News · Near North ·
Near North neighbors, one of the year's best free weekends in Chicago is almost here. Open House Chicago 2026 runs Saturday and Sunday, October 17–18, and the Near North Side has one of the strongest lineups in the entire city — 13 sites spanning the Gold Coast, Old Town, River North, and Streeterville that offer an unusually honest look at how this part of Chicago has been built, rebuilt, and reimagined over the past century and a half.
Organized by the Chicago Architecture Center, Open House Chicago opens more than 200 sites across 30 neighborhoods citywide, all free and open to the public. The Near North cluster is one of the event's most diverse: the 13 stops range from a Gilded Age athletic club on the Magnificent Mile to a mid-century animal shelter whose architect gave its facade the face of a basset hound. For residents who walk these blocks every day, the weekend is a rare chance to step behind the lobbies and facades of addresses you've always been curious about — no reservation fee, no membership required.
The marquee new addition to the Near North lineup this year is the Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago at 626 N. Michigan Ave., making its Open House debut. Founded in 1898, it holds a remarkable distinction: it was the first athletic club for women in the entire country. The club moved into its current Michigan Avenue home in 1929, when architect Philip B. Maher designed the building specifically around its members' needs, and the clubhouse was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1991. It has never appeared on the Open House roster before, making this weekend a genuine first for curious neighbors and architecture enthusiasts alike.
Just off the lakefront, visitors can also tour the Murphy Auditorium, part of the Driehaus Museum complex, a six-story hall built in the 1920s originally for the American College of Surgeons. The interior features a limestone exterior, Tiffany Studios bronze doors, and a towering stained-glass window — details that are easy to miss when you pass the building from the street. Old Town adds its own layers of neighborhood history to the tour. The House of Glunz, a wine and spirits shop at 1206 N. Wells Street, has been family-operated since 1888, making it the oldest continuously operating business in Old Town. Around the corner, the Anti-Cruelty Society's building — designed by architect Stanley Tigerman in 1979 — features a facade famously shaped to resemble the face of a basset hound, one of the more quietly beloved pieces of architectural whimsy on the entire Near North Side.
The breadth of the 13-site Near North roster is part of what makes Open House Chicago a different kind of weekend than a typical neighborhood event. The sites span the Gold Coast, Old Town, River North, and Streeterville, offering visitors a chance to read the neighborhood's layers of history in a single afternoon — from the Gilded Age wealth that built the Michigan Avenue clubs and mansions, to the mid-century civic institutions that shaped Old Town, to the commercial and residential towers that define the area today. For longtime residents, a number of these buildings are familiar from the outside; the event opens their interiors.
All 13 Near North sites are free and open to the public on both Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, with no tickets or reservations required at most locations. The Chicago Architecture Center recommends checking the Open House Chicago website — openhousechicago.org — for specific hours, any timed-entry requirements, and a full map of all sites before heading out. The CAC itself, at 111 E. Wacker Drive, serves as a central hub for the citywide event and is a natural starting point for neighbors who want to anchor their weekend in a broader sense of what Chicago's built environment looks like right now.
This is the kind of weekend that Near North residents tend to remember for years — not because of a single building, but because of the cumulative effect of walking through a dozen doors that are normally closed. Are you planning to make the rounds this weekend? Tell your Near North neighbors which site you're most excited to see in the Socialhood comments below — and if you've been inside any of these buildings before, share what to look for.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/10/12/heres-what-to-see-on-the-near-north-side-during-open-house-chicago-2026/
2. https://openhousechicago.org