📸 Chicago, you showed up! These amazing shots from #OHC2025 capture the city at its best.
Swift Hall: @mwb0153
Emil Bach House: @quaintcities
Edgewater Beach Apts: @leylairoyale
Hilliard Apts: @scottanselmophoto
OHC2026: Oct 17–18
OHC2025 Photo competition: https://bit.ly/3Lbg5TR
That’s a wrap on #OHC2025! You braved the rain, traffic, and long lines—all for the love of Chicago ❤️
Huge thanks to our incredible volunteers 🙌
See you Oct 17–18 for #OHC2026!
Got photos? Enter the OHC Photo Competition → https://bit.ly/4mQH0Sv
A few more details from this incredible building.
Stone Temple Baptist Church (originally First Roumanian Congregation)
Architects: Joseph W Cohen & Co, 1926
#OHC2025
New details on this year's revisit
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (originally the Isaiah Temple)
Architect: Dankmar Adler, 1899
#OHC2025
Color photo of a big hunk of synagogue-turned-church in variegated tan brick. Ashlar-type facade on ground floor. Main focus is four two-story columns under three pointed arches, with windows in between, including stained glass Stars of David. At top a corbel table and triangular pediment, with Ten Commandments tablets decoration. Sign in purple above front doors reads STONE TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH. Some cars rudely parked in front.
Color photo of a church sanctuary on ground floor with cantilevered balcony on both sides, three sets of pews and altar above. Large chandelier in middle. Ceiling gently rounded with simple box patterns in brown or gold. Light streams in through windows, stained glass on left and clear glass on right.
Color photo of the back row of pews and a pair of arched stained glass windows in mostly shades of orange and brown. Bottom and middle panes are rectangles but a section at the top has pink cusps, resembling a trefoil arch, that culminate in a small blue-and-green section resembling a plant, surrounded by golden curls. Above, a stained glass lunette featuring a Star of David.
Color photo of a framed sign above a doorway. White sans-serif font: FREE FREE FREE -DOM
Stone Temple Baptist Church (1925-26, Joseph Cohen & Co. architects), originally a synagogue, a church since 1954, and a key site for the Chicago Freedom Movement and other civil rights organizing. #OHC2025
14 story red brick tower with white windows and terracotta accents at the top level. Over the windows is the name of the company.
View looking East towards downtown Chicago. The Sears (Willis) tower can be seen.
View looking south towards North Lawndale, Little Village, and beyond.
View looking West towards Garfield Park. Trees can be seen beginning to change color.
The original Sears Tower: Nichols Tower at Homan Square, constructed by Sears, Roebuck & Co
#ohc2025
Color photo of an unimaginably large Catholic Church, taken from across the street in an effort to fit it all in the frame. One tiered, English Baroque steeple reaches way into the sky; it obviously had a twin at one point which was lost sometime in the past.
Color photo of an apse with a stunning coffered ceiling, monumental liturgical paintings and an enormous white marble altar.
Color photo looking back towards the entrance to the Basilica from near the altar. Under a barrel vaulted coffered ceiling, pews seem to stretch back for acres. Above arches to each side are incredibly detailed sculptural depictions of the Stations of the Cross. Directly above the entrance are three large stained glasses windows, with an enormous liturgical painting in the arch above them. The church is so enormous that all of this looks very far away.
Color photo of one of the many tiny chapels with shrines and reliquaries that line either side of the nave. A white on gold mosaic tells us this ornate shrine is to St Juliana, who reposes under the altar in the form of an exquisitely detailed recumbent effigy.
Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica & National Shrine
Architects: Engelbert, Pope & Brinkmann, 1902
#OHC2025
Color close-up of a bronze sculpture suspended over the entrance to the Chicago Loop Synagogue. It features abstract hands hovering over a benediction that is spelled out in an artistic jumble of three dimensional letters in both Hebrew and English, like an old-fashioned manual typesetter's drawer has been dumped out. Above and behind the sculpture is just a hint of the stained glass wonder that exists inside.
Color interior photo of Let There Be Light, an exquisitely designed monumental stained glass window that dominates almost an entire wall. A vibrant kaleidoscope of colors and abstracted symbols on a background made up of different shades of blue, it is incredible to behold.
Chicago Loop Synagogue art
Sculptures: Henri Azaz
Stained glass: Abraham Rattner
Architects: Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, 1959
#OHC2025
Exterior of Apollo's 2000 theater. There is scaffolding at street level and on the roof.
Interior of the main event space looking towards the stage. There are large circular tables draped in ornate gold colored tablecloths. Each table has approximately 10 white chairs. There are large bouquets of white flowers for each table. The lighting in the room is a mixture of warm yellow and purple.
Neon parrot.
Autographed and framed photographs of various Latin entertainers such as Arturo Sandoval, Poncho Sanchez, Jesus Alemany, and Eddie Palmieri.
Apollo's 2000 #ohc2025
Vintage yellow VW van that says "Four Star Mushrooms"
Rows of Blue Oyster mushrooms
many large bags of mushrooms in storage.
Four Star Mushrooms #ohc2025
Secret entrance disguised as a laundromat. There are several rows of spinning dryers with clothes inside. One pair of dryers opens up to reveal the magic lounge inside.
Vintage 1920's poster for Adelaide Herrmann and Company. Two bronze busts as well as various vintage books can be seen on the bookcase just below.
Portrait of a magician with some personal artifacts mounted on the wall
Art Deco style bar where drinks are served and magic is performed for patrons
Chicago Magic Lounge #ohc2025
The original Sears Tower (Sears Merchandise Building)
Architects: Nimmons and Fellows, 1905-1906.
#OHC2025
A view of concrete animal sculptures in Animal Court immediately outside of the National Public Housing Museum.
Partial view of a model created by students that reimagines a greenway space in Altgeld Gardens in Chicago as part of the Project Greenway exhibition at the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago.
Open House Chicago Sunday #2: National Public Housing Museum. I was here shortly after it opened and was happy to see it on the #OHC2025 sites. The Living In the Shade and Project Greenway exhibitions were new on this visit.
View from a window looking out towards Buckingham fountain.
Sculpture between two beige leather chairs.
Large, old wooden study desks in a former dining hall turned library.
Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University - 10th floor library #ohc2025
Interior of Rudolph Ganz Hall, a prairie style recital hall. View is looking towards the stage from the rear seating area.
Stained glass work and engraved wood and gold panels adorn the walls.
Side view of Ganz Hall. Stained glass, chandeliers, murals, and the seating area can be seen
Stained glass artwork on the ceiling.
Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University - Rudolph Ganz Hall
#ohc2025
Ornate fireplace of engraved wood and intricate tile work.
Close-up of tile work on the fireplace
Grand piano in a lounge area. There are a few historical photographs seen in the background.
Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University (1/3) #ohc2025
Looking down nave of Church of the Holy Family in Chicago from the right center pews. The altar in the background and the vaulted ceilings of the nave and aisles are brightly illuminated.
Open House Chicago Sunday #1: Church of the Holy Family. I had some things going on that kept me from going out until mid-afternoon. It’s in long walking distance of home but somehow I hadn’t been here until today, probably because St. Ignatius H.S. next door hijacked my interest. #OHC2025
The front entrance to Electrical Audio. It is a bright red door with a metal emblem with the studio logo and house # engraved on it
Tour of the recording room of Studio A
The "Kentucky room" of Studio A
Electrical Audio #ohc2025
OHC is free thanks to you 🫵 Help keep it that way! Even a small gift to the Chicago Architecture Center keeps the festival going strong. ❤️ https://bit.ly/4h9viQT #OHC2025 #OHC2026 #allfortheloveofChicago
Color photo of view from high up window onto city blocks below. Blue tape in horizontal lines framing a view indicate LOOK HERE with arrows
Thank you #OHC2025 for the guides (and for leaving some windows untaped)!
Color photo taken in the Arts and Crafts interior of a large church, facing the altar. Painted into an arch is an enormous, medieval style mural with about a zillion angels stationed over the Tree of Life. In front of this is a wooden structure on which stand four carved wooden angels with their wings spread. A fifth is perfectly centered, but in a completely different position, looking down at the pulpit. To the far right and left other angels lean over to dangle lights over the aisles.
Color photo of a carved wooden angel blowing a trumpet. It stands in front of a mural featuring more angels.
Color close-up looking straight up at an unimpressed plaster angel. She is staring back down at you through the golden lamp she holds.
Color photo of a mural painted into an arch. On either side of a centrally located tree are angels or saints doing either angelic or saintly things. High above, two curious but unimpressed angels peer down at you from their lofty perch.
Angelic details.
Second Presbyterian Church interior
Architects: James Renwick Jr (1874), Howard Van Doren Shaw (1901 renovation)
Muralist: Frederic Clay Bartlett
#OHC2025
Limiting myself to just one more from Hilliard, & I'll make it this curvy beauty of a staircase that I fell madly in love with
#OHC2025
16-stoey concrete apartment tower with "bubbled" facade and horizontal oval windows. Trees in front provide shade to passing pedestrians.
Goldberg's brutalist concrete and steel social housing, 1966. #OHC2025
📸 The 2nd annual OHC Photo Competition is on! Snap Chicago’s architecture this weekend + submit your best Interior, Exterior, Detail, or B&W shots. Winners featured at an upcoming exhibition at the CAC! https://bit.ly/4mQH0Sv
#OHC2025 #ChicagoArchitecture #allfortheloveofchicago
More shots of the incredible Hilliard Tower Apartments #OHC2025
Color photo of the entire Hilliard complex, taken from some distance on the elevated platform at Cermak-Chinatown. Tracks, cement and the station identification sign are the in the foreground, a parking lot and more tracks in the middle, and the four buildings of the tower complex off in the distance.
Color photo taken looking straight up the undulating, concrete sides of one of the circular buildings.
Color photo of the tree-filled Hilliard courtyard taken from atop one of the circular buildings. The camera catches the concrete lip of the building as we peer down, and where the trees part, the half circles of the outdoor amphitheater can just be made out from this height. Parts of the other circular building and one of the crescent shaped buildings is visible, along with an urban landscape beyond.
Color photo taken in wide angle between the two crescent shaped Hilliard Tower Apartment apartment buildings. Neither of these two massive buildings is fully in view, but the camera does crane enough back to show their height.
Hilliard Tower Apartments
Architect: Bertrand Goldberg, 1966
#OHC2025
The Sullivan Room on the second floor of the Auditorium Building. Looking east toward a small fireplace with windows on either side overlooking Grant Park.
The indoor outdoor terrace on the second floor of the Auditorium Building. Looking north northeast with seating overlooking Grant Park
Ganz Hall on the seventh floor of the Auditorium Building. A performing arts space with fixed seating facing a stage in the background, arched windows and decorative columns on either side and amazing chandeliers above
A portion of the library reading area on the tenth floor of the Auditorium Building. Looking south southeast toward windows on either side overlooking Grant Park.
Open House Chicago Saturday #1: Auditorium Building. 2nd floor Sullivan Room, 7th floor Ganz Hall, 10th floor library. #OHC2025
Color detail of a brown terra cotta relief on the Marquette Building, a series of interlocking waves intersected by circles.
Marquette Building detail
#OHC2025
Color photo of a stained glass window in a hundred pretty shades of green. Two trees in foreground, mountains in back, in between veins of green that could be water or verdant hills.
Took a break between #OHC2025 and No Kings to take in some nature
