CAC River Cruise aboard First Lady
River Cruises have ended for the 2025 season. Sign up for our email list to be the first to know when tickets go on sale for 2026.
This walking tour peels back the layers of luxury residential architecture that shape this neighborhood along the lakefront near Chicago's Magnificent Mile retail district, from Revival-style mansions to bold Art Deco apartments and supertall Modernist towers.
This tour explores the architectural evolution of the Streeterville neighborhood and the stories behind its most notable buildings. Along East Lake Shore Drive, see how gilded apartments by Marshall and Fox reflect turn-of-the-century grandeur and how high-end residential design evolved through the streamlined geometry of Art Deco to the structurally-innovative 875 North Michigan (formerly Hancock Center). Learn how architects including Fugard & Knapp, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill contributed to a changing skyline and how their work mirrors broader cultural and aesthetic shifts.
This is an accessible tour, mostly on sidewalks with limited street crossings through the neighborhood. All walking is done on flat surfaces.
The Drake Hotel.
875 N. Michigan Ave.
River Cruises have ended for the 2025 season. Sign up for our email list to be the first to know when tickets go on sale for 2026.
Ticket price includes entrance to the Chicago Architecture Center within 7 days of your walking or bus tour.