Bricktown Opens Its Doors: Avondale's Best Hidden Spaces Welcomed the Public for Open House Chicago 2026
By Socialhood News · Avondale ·
For one weekend every October, Chicago lets you walk into buildings you'd normally only admire from the sidewalk. Open House Chicago — the Chicago Architecture Center's annual free festival of access — returned last weekend, October 18–19, and Avondale showed up with one of the more eclectic lineups on the entire city map. From a legendary recording studio to a working distillery tucked inside a riverfront industrial complex, Bricktown gave visitors a rare look behind the doors that define the neighborhood's creative and industrial character.
The Avondale roster for Open House Chicago 2026 ran five sites deep. Electrical Audio, the celebrated recording studio at 2621 W. Belmont Ave., opened its doors on Sunday only — a rare public glimpse inside one of the most acoustically respected independent studios in the country. Avondale Bowl, the beloved Milwaukee Avenue institution at 3118 N. Milwaukee Ave., was open both days. Guild Row, the creative complex at 3130 N. Rockwell St., offered tours across the weekend. And Lake Effect Brewing Company, at 3074 N. Milwaukee Ave., rounded out a Milwaukee corridor that gave visitors a natural walking tour of some of the strip's most distinctive addresses.
The most intriguing addition to the Avondale list may have been Judson & Moore Distillery, located at 3057 N. Rockwell Ave., Building 5 — the same riverfront industrial campus on the North Branch of the Chicago River that longtime Avondale regulars know as the former home of Metropolitan Brewing. Judson & Moore, a craft spirits operation, has been quietly building its presence in that complex, and Open House Chicago gave curious neighbors a chance to step inside a space that carries a lot of neighborhood history. It is worth noting that this is the same address — 3057 N. Rockwell Ave. — where Phase Three Brewing Company has announced plans to open its first Chicago taproom, with the brewery having signed a lease at the site earlier this year. The riverfront campus is becoming one of Avondale's most active addresses for food-and-drink makers, and Open House Chicago put it directly on the map for the broader public.
Neighboring Hermosa added its own noteworthy entry to this year's festival: Smashed Plastic, the vinyl LP pressing plant inside the former Hammond Organ factory, made its Open House Chicago debut as a new addition to the program in 2026. For residents who made a day of exploring the northwest side, the Hermosa-to-Avondale stretch offered one of the more satisfying routes in the entire city — industrial history, working makers, live music, and cold beer, all within a reasonable walk or bike ride.
Open House Chicago is produced annually by the Chicago Architecture Center and is free to attend. The full event drew visitors to sites across all 77 community areas this year, but the northwest side corridor — Hermosa, Avondale, and Logan Square together — offered a particularly dense cluster of spaces that reflect how the neighborhood has evolved: not by erasing its industrial and working-class bones, but by filling them with new uses that still feel rooted in the same creative, hands-on character that drew people here in the first place.
If you missed this year's Open House weekend, the Chicago Architecture Center typically opens registration and site listings for the following year in the late summer. In the meantime, several of the Avondale sites that participated — including Avondale Bowl and Lake Effect Brewing — are open to the public year-round. For Judson & Moore Distillery and Guild Row, keep an eye on their own event calendars for future open hours and programming. Bricktown's doors don't stay closed for long.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/10/12/heres-what-to-see-in-hermosa-avondale-and-logan-square-during-open-house-chicago/
2. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/08/06/phase-three-brewing-opening-its-first-chicago-taproom-at-former-metropolitan-space-in-avondale/