100 architecture tours and counting
By the time you read this article, Liz Challoner will have been on at least 108 of our architecture tours—more than anyone in CAC history. She’s a CAC member and a superfan of Chicago. This is her story.
LIZ, MEET CHICAGO—CHICAGO, MEET LIZ
Liz Challoner has lived in the Chicago area for decades, but it was only in 2014 that she moved into the city. Now Liz lives downtown near 875 N. Michigan Ave (John Hancock Center). She retired early from her job in quality assurance testing and became a CAC member in September 2014. Amazingly, her record of more than 100 tours has taken shape in just two years. “My life now, during retirement, is to do Chicago. That’s my hobby,” said Liz in an interview with CAC.
Before moving downtown, Liz found herself overwhelmed by the long commute and the scale of Chicago. She would “breathe a sigh of relief as [she] saw a familiar sign” on her way back home to the western suburbs. But all that changed two years ago when Liz’s friend (a docent at the Glessner House, a historic house museum and the original home of CAC) recommended that she look into CAC as a way to learn about the city, its neighborhoods and its history.
Liz joined CAC and started taking tours. She was hooked. At times, she was exploring the city at a rate of nearly a tour a day. “I’m competitive. [CAC membership] is a great value. I saw it as a great tool to learn the city and to meet people.” By late 2015, she had caught the attention of a number of CAC docents. Mary Jo Hoag (Docent Class of 2007) has led at least five of Liz’s tours. “I feel like I know Liz!” Mary Jo said. “She's a wonderful member of CAC—enthusiastic, knowledgeable, interested and just a joy to see arrive for a tour.”
A TOUR DE FORCE
Liz’s quest to see all of Chicago reaches beyond tours. In 2014, she first participated in CAC’s Open House Chicago festival. In 2015, she volunteered for the annual event. “I really needed to give back, so I volunteered for OHC 2015 at the Charnley-Persky House,” Liz said. This gave her a chance to get up close and personal with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of her favorite architects.
Liz also likes Jeanne Gang and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. For her birthday last year, she went to see Mies’s masterpiece on CAC’s Farnsworth House tour. “It was the perfect birthday.” And her latest interest is in the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, which opened to the public in the summer of 2015. Liz cites the restored former 1893 private club as one of her favorite buildings in the whole city. “Buildings are beautiful,” Liz said. “It sounds silly, but I never really thought of that before.”
Over the course of her two-year quest, Liz has kept a detailed log of every tour she’s ever been on. The log is a spreadsheet with tour titles, dates, times, docent names and comments. It even has sortable filters and a complex color-coding system. Liz has been on more than 60 walking tours and 20 building tours, and she has set her sights on seven more tours to take in 2016.
CHICAGO THROUGH ITS NEIGHBORHOODS
In 2014, Liz was not an architecture enthusiast. She was new to Chicago and wanted to experience its many neighborhoods and buildings. Through all this discovery, Liz has learned that architecture is about more than steel frames and cantilevers. It’s also about people.
One of her favorite memories from a CAC tour is walking through a neighborhood and meeting people who live there. She loves to hear stories from residents about their apartments, houses or blocks. “When you actually meet the owner or resident, I go nuts for that,” Liz said. “CAC is a gem. I don’t know of any other city that has an organization like CAC that allows you to learn about your own backyard and the diversity of the city.” Liz has seen scores of Chicago neighborhoods and buildings. We can’t wait to see where she goes next.