The Mayor’s Office of Special Events presents the city’s eighth annual Great Chicago Places and Spaces festival, a weekend celebration of local architecture and design, offering more than 150 free tours by foot, bus, el, trolley, or boat, all led by architects, docents, and other aficionados. Seats for Friday’s “Great Chicago Conversations” program are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tours take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 20 and 21, rain or shine. Tickets (with a limit of two per tour and two tours per day per person) are available at the event headquarters at the Chicago Architecture Foundation ArchiCenter, 224 S. Michigan, on the day of the tour, also on a first-come, first-served basis; registration begins at 7:30 AM. Meeting locations will be given upon receipt of tickets. “Great Interiors” tours require no tickets. For more information call 312-744-3315 or 312-744-3370 or see www.cityofchicago.org/specialevents.
Pullman by Train Train tour led by architect and urban planner Michael Shymanski. 8:45 AM (3 hrs.)
Auditorium Building Walking tour led by CAF docents. 9:15 AM (2.5 hrs.)
Holabird & Root in the Loop Walking tour led by staffers from the architecture firm. 9:30 AM (2.5 hrs.)
Railway Structures of Industrial Chicago Trolley tour led by architect Darrel Babuk. 9:30 AM (2 hrs.)
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Architecture River Cruise WTTW producer Geoffrey Baer and a CAF docent offer commentary aboard a cruise on Chicago’s First Lady. 10 AM (1.5 hrs.)
Chicago Bridge Houses Walking tour of various Loop bridge houses, led by Department of Transportation project director Janet Attarian. 10 AM (1.5 hrs.)
