Jacquie Brave
Partner
Accenting Chicago Events & Tours
Chicago, IL
What are three memorable ways for groups to take in the architectural heritage of Chicago?
Partner
Accenting Chicago Events & Tours
Chicago, IL
What are three memorable ways for groups to take in the architectural heritage of Chicago?
- Customized DMC Tours: The Chicago Architecture Foundation runs tours all the time, every day, but they are more for individuals. We set up tours for groups ahead of time and give them options as to where they can go. I have a group coming in October, and we set up an architecture tour of the downtown area mainly. People are mostly interested in the historical aspects and the architecture downtown.
- Architectural River Cruises: Weather permitting, we love architectural river cruises. These boats go along the river and you can see practically every building; it’s a wonderful way to experience the buildings from a different vantage point. They are fabulous because you get a different vantage point on the city, and there are quite a number of boats—six or eight—that do the river cruises. There’s Chicago’s First Lady, which uses the docents from the Chicago Architecture Foundation. We also really like Chicago from the Lake. Their docents are excellent, and we use that company quite a bit. The architectural river cruises are 90 minutes long.
- Millennium Park: There are tours of Millennium Park, and I would put that in the category of architecture and architecture as art. There’s the Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate—everyone just calls it “The Bean”—and the beautiful serpentine BP Bridge.