Chicago Architecture Foundation Center River Cruise aboard Chicago's First Lady
Chicago’s First Lady is committed to taking the proper precautions to ensure the safety and wellbeing…
Recommended Tours
Visiting Chicago
Choose one of CAC’s acclaimed architecture tours, from a selection of our guests’ perennial favorites.
Latest and Greatest
Join us for our one-time-only CAFC River Cruises with top Chicago architects, whose firms designed buildings you'll see along the water!
Skyscrapers
Select a tour of architectural treasures throughout Chicago and its suburbs, brought to life as only a CAC docent can.
Parks & Public Spaces
Explore Chicago’s green spaces and learn why well-designed parks and outdoor recreational areas are essential to the city.
Neighborhood Tours
Choose a tour featuring your favorite architect.
Visiting Chicago
Choose one of CAC’s acclaimed architecture tours, from a selection of our guests’ perennial favorites.
7 Tours in this collection
Must-See Chicago
Must-See Chicago is a fast-paced, 90-minute introductory tour to Chicago featuring some of its most famous…
Chicago Architecture: A Walk Through Time
Want a quick introduction to Chicago’s magnificent architecture? This 90-minute tour takes a comprehensive…
Chicago Icons: Connecting Past and Present
This lively overview of Chicago architecture explores iconic buildings from the 1890s to present. We'll…
Chicago’s First Skyscrapers
Chicago is home to some of the world’s earliest skyscrapers. Get an up-close look at these 19th Century…
Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park
Oak Park is home to the world’s largest collection of buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. View…
Elevated Architecture: Downtown "L" Train
Explore Chicago’s amazing architecture from the unique perspective of elevated trains and station platforms…
Latest and Greatest
Join us for our one-time-only CAFC River Cruises with top Chicago architects, whose firms designed buildings you'll see along the water!
3 Tours in this collection
Wabash Avenue Arts Corridor
*Premier Tour: Discover a living urban canvas along the Wabash Avenue Arts Corridor in the South Loop…
Helmut Jahn: Architecture in Real Life
*Premier Tour: Helmut Jahn had a profound and lasting impact on Chicago's built environment. This walking…
What's New
Over the course of 90 minutes, explore some of the newest buildings around the Chicago Architecture Center…
Skyscrapers
Select a tour of architectural treasures throughout Chicago and its suburbs, brought to life as only a CAC docent can.
3 Tours in this collection
Chicago’s First Skyscrapers
Chicago is home to some of the world’s earliest skyscrapers. Get an up-close look at these 19th Century…
Mid-Century Modern Skyscrapers
Looking for iconic Mid-Century Modern architecture? What better place than Chicago with its triumvirate…
Art Deco Skyscrapers: The Loop
View Art Deco masterpieces built in the heart of Chicago’s financial district during the Roaring '20s…
Parks & Public Spaces
Explore Chicago’s green spaces and learn why well-designed parks and outdoor recreational areas are essential to the city.
Neighborhood Tours
Choose a tour featuring your favorite architect.
3 Tours in this collection
Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park
Oak Park is home to the world’s largest collection of buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. View…
Northwestern University
Discover Northwestern University’s stunning, wooded campus on the shore of Lake Michigan. This two-hour…
Fulton-Randolph Market
Discover the fascinating 150-year evolution of the Fulton-Randolph Market District from food wholesaling…
Find a Tour
Tours by type
Tours by Location
Evanston Along the Lake
This walk through Evanston's Lakeshore Historic District explores a variety of churches and residences in the town that became Daniel Burnham's "country retreat" and which is still considered one of Chicago's most desirable suburbs.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Hyde Park
In addition to being the site of the 1893 World’s Fair, Hyde Park is also home to the University of Chicago and many significant buildings, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Robie House. See these sites as well as pre-Chicago Fire houses…
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Gold Coast: Astor Street
Discover the architectural treasures of the Gold Coast, one of Chicago’s most affluent neighborhoods. This tour covers residential architecture along Lake Shore Drive and in the Astor Street Historic District.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Gold Coast: Dearborn Street
See beautifully preserved examples of domestic architecture of the early 1900s in this delightful walk along three blocks of Dearborn Street in the heart of Chicago’s Gold Coast.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Aqua, St. Regis Chicago and Lakeshore East
In just one hour, discover Chicago’s newest neighborhood, Lakeshore East, featuring two notable buildings designed by woman-led Studio Gang Architects: Aqua Tower and the soon-to-be-completed St. Regis Chicago.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Mies and Modernism: The IIT Campus Tour
The Illinois Institute of Technology is home to the largest group of buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe—the most influential figure in American Modernism. This tour traces the evolution of the campus with a special emphasis on the years 1938—1958—the…
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Wicker Park
Learn the history of this Northwest Side classic Chicago neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Developed by numerous immigrant communities beginning in the 1870s, today it is a diverse mix of economic levels and architectural…
Grant Park Secrets
Grant Park’s landscape is both front yard and recreation spot for Chicago. But did you know that the area was once under water? Or that at one time it housed an airfield, a major league sports team and the tomb of a Civil War hero? Join us as we unlock…
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Chicago's Moveable Bridges
Understand how the unique Chicago-style bascule bridges work. View the underpinnings of the bridges, as the tour follows the bridge lifts of three of the Chicago River’s most famous bridges, including Michigan Avenue’s DuSable Bridge, Columbus Drive’s…
Civil War to Civil Rights at Oak Woods Cemetery
Hear the stories behind the people buried at the beautiful and tranquil Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side, from important local African Americans who fought for Civil Rights to Confederate prisoners of war.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Civil War and Chicago's Role: Rosehill Cemetery
Hear the stories of the heroes, villains and ordinary citizens on this visit to Rosehill Cemetery. Learn about men who were instrumental in the nomination of Lincoln, discover the role of newspaper editors in this struggle and see how women contributed…
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
Elevated Architecture: Downtown "L" Train
Explore Chicago’s amazing architecture from the unique perspective of elevated trains and station platforms. Learn the history behind the famous "L" system and hear how it has shaped the development of buildings within the Loop.
Modernist Masterpieces: Marina City and the IBM Building
Where else but Chicago can you find two iconic mid-century buildings living side by side? Get the inside scoop on the buildings and their architects, Bertrand Goldberg and Mies van der Rohe. We will compare and contrast the sites, uses, structures, styles…
Art Deco Skyscrapers: The Riverfront
Tour the lobbies of five opulent Art Deco skyscrapers built near the banks of the Chicago River during the business boom of the Roaring '20s. Learn how Art Deco reflected the era’s fun-loving optimism with lavish materials and geometric ornament.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!
White City Revisited
Explore Jackson Park, site of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and future home to the Obama Presidential Center.
Note: There are currently no departures available for booking. New tour departures are released on the 15th of each month. Please check back soon!