DOWNTOWN — A record 109,000 people participated in Open House Chicago this year.
The annual, free event ran Oct. 19-20, allowing anyone to visit and explore hundreds of sites scattered across the city. In all, the sites saw nearly 370,000 visits during the weekend, according to the Chicago Architecture Center, which organizes Open House Chicago.
As usual, Downtown sites saw the biggest crowds, with more than 10,000 people stopping by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Money Museum, making it this year’s most popular site.
The Elks National Memorial in Lincoln Park proved to be the most popular of sites in neighborhoods, with more than 3,800 visits.
A record number of volunteers also participated, with 3,319 people putting in an estimated 20,000 hours of work to help venues, according to the Chicago Architecture Center.
The Chicago Architecture Center announced next year’s Open House Chicago will run Oct. 17-18.
The five most popular places Downtown:
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Money Museum: 10,068 visits
- Chicago Cultural Center: 9,041 visits
- Broadway in Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre: 7,331 visits
- The Central Standard Building and Wintrust’s Grand Banking Hall: 7,284 visits
- McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum: 5,801 visits
The five most popular neighborhood sites:
- Elks National Memorial: 3,822 visits
- Lincoln Park Conservatory: 3,722 visits
- Bahá’í House of Worship
- Wheeler Mansion: 2,367 visits
- Edgewater Beach Apartments: 2,245 visits
Here’s a look inside the Elks National Memorial:
Check out more photos of the top-visited spots here:
