164 Best Sights in Chicago, Illinois

This building's graceful swoop—a novelty when it went up—continues to offer an eye-pleasing respite from all the surrounding right angles, and its spacious, sunken bi-level plaza, with Marc Chagall's mosaic The Four Seasons, is one of the most enjoyable public spaces in the neighborhood. Designed by Perkins & Will and C.F. Murphy Associates in 1969, Chase Tower has been home to a succession of financial institutions. Name changes aside, it remains one of the more distinctive buildings around, not to mention one of the highest in the heart of the Loop.

Civic-minded artists grow their practice at this artist-run nonprofit with a mission to provide space and resources for artistic development. The program, housed inside the historic Fountainhead building, also hosts an array of exhibitions that are open by appointment.

Since the late 1960s, Halsted Street near 18th Street has lured a large number of artists, who live and work in the mixed-use community known as the Chicago Arts District. The street-level galleries and studios have put Pilsen on the map as an art destination, and innovative spaces abound. The best time to visit is on the second Friday of each month, from 6 to 9 pm, when artists open their doors to the public. Expect visual art displays, interpretive dance, installations, music, and performance art. Most studios also have regular weekend hours or are open by appointment.

The Gothic-inspired headquarters of the First United Methodist Church of Chicago, built in 1923 by Holabird & Roche, comes complete with a first-floor sanctuary, 21 floors of office space, a sky-high chapel (free tours are available), and an eight-story spire, which is best viewed from the bridge across the Chicago River at Dearborn Street. Outside, along the building's east wall at ground level, stained-glass windows relate the history of Methodism in Chicago. Joan Miró's sculpture Chicago (1981) is in the small plaza just east of the church.

When it opened in 1921, the grand and glitzy Chicago Theatre was tagged "the Wonder Theatre of the World." Its exterior features a shrunken version of the Arc de Triomphe, and its lobby is patterned after the Royal Chapel at Versailles with a staircase copied from the Paris Opera House. Murals decorate the auditorium walls and ceiling. The seven-story, 3,600-seat space has served as a venue for films and famed entertainers ranging from John Philip Sousa and Duke Ellington to Ellen DeGeneres and Beyoncé. Tours let you stand on the stage where they performed, go backstage, and peruse its autographed walls.

This hop-on, hop-off ride takes visitors to many downtown and Loop highlights and allows you the flexibility to stop at attractions that catch your fancy.

This large square is punctuated by animal sculptures, each representing one of the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac. Below the sculptures is a plaque explaining the personalities of those born during each year.

On Monroe, near State Street, the ornate CIBC Theatre (formerly the Bank of America Theatre and before that the LaSalle Bank Theatre and the Shubert Theatre) stages major Broadway plays and musicals. It was the tallest building in Chicago when it opened in 1906.

The handsome home of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet is grand indeed, with pink-and-gray Tennessee-marble floors, pillars with carved capitals, crystal chandeliers, and a sweeping staircase to the second floor. Designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the second-largest opera house in North America combines lavish art deco details with art nouveau touches. Tours are given a few times a year.

This Greek Revival structure dates from 1836, making it Chicago's oldest surviving building. It's a clapboard house in a masonry city, built for Henry and Caroline Palmer Clarke to remind them of the East Coast they left behind. The Doric columns and pilasters were an attempt to civilize Chicago's frontier image, while the everyday objects and furnishings inside evoke a typical 1850s–60s middle-class home. The house has been moved three times from its original location on Michigan Avenue between 16th and 17th streets: the last time, in 1977, it had to be hoisted above the nearby elevated train tracks. In 2022, the house was renamed to affirm the profound role of Bishop Louis Henry and Margaret Ford in preserving the house as a significant part of Chicago’s history.

Part of Printers Row, this is Chicago's oldest-standing passenger train station, designed in the Romanesque Revival style in 1885 by New York architect Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz. Now filled with offices and stores, it has a wonderful 12-story clock tower and a red-sandstone and redbrick facade ornamented with terra-cotta. Striking features inside are the marble floor, wraparound brass walkway, and arching wood-frame doorways.

Chicagoans flock to Devon Avenue to satisfy cravings for Indian, Pakistani, and other Middle Eastern flavors, from restaurants to grocery stores to clothing boutiques (if you need a nine-yard sari, this is the place). Though the many orthodox Jews and Russian immigrants who used to settle on Devon west of Talman have relocated to the northern suburbs, kosher grocers and bakeries are still dotted around the area. 

Serving as the border that separates Wicker Park from Ukrainian Village to its south, Division Street has become a shopping and dining destination in its own right. Bars, boutiques, and trendy restaurants line the once-gritty thoroughfare, which lent its name to journalist Studs Terkel's 1967 book about urban life. To start your exploration, head west on the stretch of Division between Ashland and Leavitt avenues.

Chicago is a city of bridges—and this one, completed in 1920, is among the most graceful. The structure's four pylons are decorated with impressive sculptures representing major Chicago events: its exploration by Marquette and Joliet, its settlement by trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812, and the rebuilding of the city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The site of the fort, at the south end of the bridge, is marked by a commemorative plaque. As you stroll Michigan Avenue, be prepared for a possible delay; the bridge rises about 50 times a year between April and November to allow boat traffic to pass underneath.

Part of the literary legacy of Oak Park, this three-story, turreted Queen Anne Victorian, which stands in frilly contrast to the many streamlined Prairie-style homes elsewhere in the neighborhood, contains period-furnished rooms and many photos and artifacts pertaining to Hemingway's early life. Museum curators have restored rooms to faithfully depict the house as it looked at the turn of the 20th century. You can poke your head inside the one in which the author was born on July 21, 1899.

Film buffs shouldn't leave Lincoln Park without visiting this nonprofit movie theater, which presents an eclectic selection of films from around the world. Each year, Facets also hosts the Chicago International Children's Film Festival: one of the only Academy Award–qualifying children’s film festivals in the world, it showcases the best in culturally diverse, value-affirming new cinema for kids.

This center is spread over three separate buildings: the Everett McKinley Dirksen Building; the John C. Kluczynski Building ( 230 S. Dearborn), which includes the Loop's post office; and the Metcalfe Building ( 77 W. Jackson). Designed in 1959, but not completed until 1974, the severe constellation of buildings around a sweeping plaza was Mies van der Rohe's first mixed-use urban project. Fans of the International Style will groove on this pocket of pure modernism, while others can take comfort in the presence of the Marquette Building, which marks the north side of the site. In contrast to this dark ensemble are the great red arches of Alexander Calder's Flamingo.

This creaky building was constructed in 1895 to house the showrooms of the Studebaker Company, then makers of carriages. Once counting architect Frank Lloyd Wright among its tenants, the building today provides space for more than 200 musicians, visual artists, and designers. Take a look at the handsome exterior; then step inside the marble-and-woodwork lobby, noting the motto engraved in marble as you enter: "All passes—art alone endures." The building has an interior courtyard, across which strains of piano music and sopranos' voices compete with tenors' as they run through exercises. Visitors can get a peek at the studios and hear live music during "Open Studios" events, held on the second Friday of each month between 5 and 9 pm.

Along with the Northwest Tower across the street, this distinctive three-story, terra-cotta structure, situated on a busy six-cornered intersection, is a visual symbol of Wicker Park. Its creaky upper floors have long served as a sort of informal arts colony, providing studio and gallery space for a number of visual artists.

A welcome visual and physical oasis amid the high-rise hubbub of North Michigan Avenue, this Gothic Revival house of worship is the oldest building on North Michigan Avenue apart from the Old Water Tower complex (which survived the Chicago Fire of 1871). Designed by Ralph Adams Cram, the church drew many of its congregants from the city's elite but now reflects the city's diversity. Local architect Howard Van Doren Shaw devised the cloister and companion buildings.

In July and August, free concerts are staged every Friday at 12:10 beside the courtyard fountain off Michigan Avenue; other months they're performed in the sanctuary.

Built in 1888 as the home of the Franklin Company, one of the largest printers at the time, this building has intricate decoration. The tile work on the facade leads up to The First Impression—a medieval scene illustrating the first application of the printer's craft. Above the entryway is a motto: "The excellence of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose." The building was turned into condos in 1989.

A bustling center for food processing and distribution as recently as the 2000s, this former industrial district transformed into an upscale stretch of gleaming corporate offices, luxury condos, and Michelin-star restaurants with remarkable speed. The last of the seafood, produce, and meatpacking plants were gone by the end of the 2010s; Fulton Market is now a full-on dining and nightlife destination.

Bordered by Lake Michigan to the east, a spectacular skyline to the west, and the Museum Campus to the south, Grant Park serves as the city's front yard and unofficial gathering place. This pristine open space has walking paths, a stand of stately elm trees, and formal rose gardens, where Loop dwellers and 9-to-5-ers take refuge from the concrete and steel. It also hosts many of the city's largest outdoor events, including the annual Taste of Chicago, a vast picnic featuring foods from more than 70 restaurants.

The park's centerpiece is the gorgeous, tiered Buckingham Fountain (between Columbus and Lake Shore Drives, east of Congress Plaza), which has intricate pink-marble seashell designs, water-spouting fish, and bronze sculptures of sea horses. Built in 1927, it was patterned after one at Versailles but is about twice the size. See the fountain in all its glory between early May and mid-October, when it's elaborately illuminated at night and sprays colorfully lighted waters. Linger long enough to experience the spectacular display that takes place every hour on the hour, and you'll witness the center jet of water shoot 150 feet into the air.

This small strip may as well be half a world away from the rest of the West Loop. Greek restaurants are the main draw here. Continue west on Madison, past the slew of new condo developments and vintage conversions in progress, and you'll come to one of Chicago's popular dining and nightlife destinations. On a stretch of Madison roughly between Sangamon and Elizabeth streets, you'll find boutiques, trendy bars and lounges, and popular restaurants. The National Hellenic Museum, at 333 South Halsted, explores the Greek immigrant experience and the influence of Greek culture.

On Saturday morning from April through November and Wednesday from May through October, the market takes over a large swath of grass at the south end of Lincoln Park. Farm stands showcase locally grown fruits and vegetables, as well as meats, cheeses, and pastas. Visitors can also dine at food booths and watch cooking demonstrations by local celebrity chefs. When the outdoor season ends, an abbreviated version of the market sets up shop in a warehouse in Avondale.  

Opened in 1991 and named for Chicago's first African American mayor, this library was primarily designed by architect Thomas Beeby, of Hammond, Beeby & Babka. Gargantuan and almost goofy, the granite-and-brick edifice is a uniquely postmodern homage to Chicago's great architectural past. The heavy, rusticated ground level recalls The Rookery; the stepped-back, arched windows are a reference to the great arches in the Auditorium Theatre; the swirling terra-cotta design is pinched from the Marquette Building; and the glass curtain wall on the west side is a nod to 1950s modernism. The huge, gargoyle-like sculptures atop the building include owls, a symbol of wisdom. The excellent Children's Library, an 18,000-square-foot haven on the second floor, has vibrant wall-mounted figures by Chicago imagist Karl Wirsum. Works by noted Chicago artists are displayed along a second-floor walkway above the main lobby. There's also an impressive Winter Garden with skylights on the ninth floor. Free programs and performances are offered regularly.

This famous Michigan Avenue structure, designed by William W. Boyington (who also designed the Pumping Station to the East) and completed in 1869, was originally built to house a 135-foot iron standpipe that equalized the pressure of the water pumped by the similar pumping station across the street. Oscar Wilde uncharitably called it "a castellated monstrosity" studded with pepper shakers. One of the few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire, it remains a civic landmark and a symbol of the city's spirit. The small gallery inside hosts rotating art exhibitions of local interest.

Another Chicago under-the-radar gem, this park was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in the mid-1800s and his work was expanded upon several years later by Jens Jensen. The 1907 Prairie School boathouse is the park’s centerpiece, home to free cultural events and swan pedal boat rentals. The park has a formal garden, tennis courts, baseball fields, bike paths, and the city's only inland beach. In 2019 Humboldt Park temporarily became the subject of local obsession when an immature alligator---likely someone’s illegal pet---was spotted in its lagoon; rest assured Chance the Snapper (as he was lovingly dubbed) was quickly captured and relocated to a Florida gator sanctuary.

When neo-nazis planned to march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie in the 1970s, local Holocaust survivors reacted by creating the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, a group determined to educate the public about the atrocities of World War II. In 2009, the foundation unveiled the 65,000-square-foot Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. The collection includes more than 20,000 items that belonged to Holocaust victims and survivors. Permanent exhibits include the Richard & Jill Chaifetz Family Virtual Reality Gallery, which takes visitors on a journey with Holocaust survivors, and the Spagat Family Voices of Genocide Exhibition, which explores how and why genocide continues to occur across geography and time. The Abe & Ida Cooper Survivor Stories Experience features interactive holograms of Holocaust survivors telling their stories.

A runt compared to today's tall buildings, this sparkling 19-story high-rise from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was a trailblazer when it was built in the late 1950s. It was the first skyscraper erected with external supports (allowing for wide-open, unobstructed floors within), the first to employ steel pilings (driven 85 feet down to bedrock), the first in the Loop to be fully air-conditioned, and the first to feature underground parking.