You can tour the shuttered Uptown Theater during Open House Chicago 2026

A number of iconic theaters, including the long-shuttered Uptown Theater, will be open to tours during Open House Chicago this October.

Open House Chicago is the annual free public festival put on by the Chicago Architecture Center, which lets people access and tour architecturally significant buildings in the city, from some of our most iconic buildings to hidden gems.

This year's festival will be held on Oct. 17 and 18. Not every building is open on both days. And among them are some of the city's most iconic theaters.

You can get inside the Uptown Theater, which has been closed since 1981; the Cadillac Palace Theater, which was a flagship for vaudeville when it opened in 1926; or go inside the Auditorium Theater, inside what was once the tallest building in Chicago when it opened in 1889.

The Avalon Regal theater in South Shore, Central Park Theater in Garfield Park/North Lawndale, Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater downtown and the Timeline Theater in Uptown are also among the venues participating in Open House Chicago this year.

For more information on all the sites opening their doors that weekend, visit openhousechicago.org.