Let Nature Be Your Guide During Open House Chicago. Check Out These Green Spaces Offering Unique Access

Patty Wetli | October 15, 2026, 6:31 pm

Historic Sears Sunken Garden is one of many green spaces providing unique access during the Open House Chicago weekend. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Think Open House Chicago is just for architecture buffs? Think again.

Check out these green spaces, rooftop gardens, urban farms and nature-adjacent sites all offering unique access during the Open House weekend.

Go Green

Graceland Cemetery debuted a new entry plaza in 2023, designed to invite more people into the 120-acre green space. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

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Sears Sunken Garden, North Lawndale: Built as part of the original Sears, Roebuck and Co. headquarters campus, Sunken Garden is in the early phases of a long-planned restoration effort. Guided tours include other Sears campus sites, some of which have been adapted for new use and some still awaiting redevelopment. The history here is palpable.

Speaking of history, Graceland Cemetery and Arboretum, Uptown is the final resting place for a who’s who of Chicago’s early movers and shakers. There’s an entire schedule of events planned for Open House weekend, but folks are welcome to just stroll the grounds. Be sure to visit the graves of Daniel Burnham and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe — these lauded architects would no doubt appreciate the notion behind Open House.

Oak Woods Cemetery, Woodlawn: At 184 lushly landscaped acres, this historic cemetery is a majestic burial site for luminaries including Ida B. Wells, Harold Washington, Jesse Owens and Enrico Fermi.

Palmisano Park, Bridgeport: It started out as a quarry, then the city used the site as a dumping ground for construction waste and now it’s a breathtaking, award-winning park. Openlands and landscape architect firm Site Design Group will lead guided walks Sunday. The quarry has been incorporated into the park as a fishing hole — pay close attention to the rock walls.

Wild Mile, Lincoln Park: Tour this floating eco-park, which has created habitat for wildlife and a natural area for humans along a highly urbanized stretch of the Chicago River.

Grow Green

Check out the unique growing operation at Four Star Mushrooms. (Courtesy Four Star Mushrooms)

McCormick Place Rooftop Farm, Near South Side: This .75-acre garden atop McCormick Place West is the largest farm-to-fork operation in the Midwest, with 8,000 pounds of produce grown here annually. It’s run by the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest program, which cultivates hundreds of crops and tends to beehives and heirloom trees on the roof, as well.

Farm on Ogden, North Lawndale: Check out the greenhouse, aquaponics and fish hatchery operations.

Farm Zero, Downtown: This vertical hydroponic farm is located in a vacated office. Farm Zero uses a soilless modular growing system to cultivate microgreens, leafy greens, herbs and edible flowers.

Four Star Mushrooms, Near West Side: The mushrooms grown inside this former industrial building are found in Michelin-starred restaurants and on local grocery store shelves. The company also runs a direct farm-to-consumer Mushroom Club.

Growing Home, Englewood: This USDA-certified organic farm provides fresh food and food education to neighbors in Englewood, along with job training opportunities.

Herban Produce, Garfield Park/North Lawndale: Traditional growing practices and vertical farming exist side by side at this innovative urban ag operation, which focuses on specialty greens and herbs.

The Roof Crop, Near West Side: This former manufacturing warehouse, built in the 1920s, is now home to several businesses and also features a green roof, rooftop farm and three large greenhouses.

Green-Adjacent

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum, Downtown: Visitors to the bridgehouse will be treated to a double dose of Chicago history at one site. Learn what it takes to operate the DuSable Bridge, which dates back to the 1920s, and then experience the story of the Chicago River as you climb from river level to the top of the bridgehouse for a panoramic view.

Windy City Bird Lab, Near West Side is working to make Chicago safer for birds — both migratory species and our resident avian populations. Visit their office space to learn more about what they do.