Chicago has a rich architectural heritage built into its skyline. It’s where Frank Lloyd Wright got his start, where the world’s first skyscraper was built, and where this week, Democrats gathered to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president. The DNC almost doubles as an architectural tour of the city, inviting politicians and the politically curious to some of Chicago’s most iconic landmarks. Here are some of the venues around town hosting events this week of the Summit.
United Center
The stadium, home to the Chicago Bulls and the Blackhawks, is the main venue for the Democratic National Convention. It is the largest arena in the NBA and is designed to be high, with angled steel panels at the top level of the arena placed to reflect sound down into the seating area. The stadium was also the site of the 1996 Democratic National Convention, which nominated President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for re-election.
This is McCormick’s place
The largest convention center in North America, McCormick Place was designed by modern architect Gene Summers. The convention center will host daytime events open to the public, called Dempalooza, that will include “training, panels, briefings, and activations to help Democrats win more votes,” according to the Democratic Party.
Salt shed
This music venue was once the site of the Morton Salt factory. This week, it’s where Illinois Governor JB Pritzker will host a party with a performance from John Legend, and where the podcast Pod Save America will host the event. The factory operated from the late 1920s to 2015, and an adaptive reuse project that transformed the space into a 121,500-square-foot facility was completed in 2022 by teams from Lamar Johnson Collaborative, HBRA, Blue Star Properties, and R2 Companies.
Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago
Built in 2009, the tower named after the former president has become the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Democrats displayed messages at the tower Sunday night including, “Trump-Vance ‘Weird as Hell,’” “Harris-Walz Fighting For You,” “Project 2025 HQ,” “Harris-Walz: Joy and Hope,” and “Trump-Vance: Come out for yourself. It is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world.
Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture
The Athenaeum Center is where Comedy Central is The Daily Show is filming this week in front of an audience, including a live show on the final night of the convention on Thursday. The building opened in 1911 and was designed by Hermann J. Gaul, a German-American architect known for his Midwest churches.
Union Park
This park hosts the Pitchfork Music Festival, and along with Park No. 578, was designated as a protest site during the meeting. In addition to the protests in the parks, two protests were allowed to march in the Loop in downtown Chicago.
Wrigley Field
The home of the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday will be the site of a “Brunch at the Ballpark” hosted by Illinois home state Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and US House members Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley. Wrigley Field was designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, the “Frank Lloyd Wright of Baseball.”
