The most popular sites from last year’s Open House Chicago

Open House Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s annual event where architectural gems across the city are opened to public for one weekend, has been gaining moment over the years, and the nonprofit organization has just released a slew of data offering more insight into the impact and attendance figures for last year’s edition.

The group witnessed yet another record attendance number last year with 100,000 people estimated to have participated. Over 200 sites were open to visitors last October, and the Chicago Architecture Foundation estimates that these locations recieived a total of 380,000 visits. The figure represents a significant increase from the 84,000 site visits from the first Open House Chicago weekend just five years earlier.

But beyond the total attendance figures, the Chicago Architecture Foundation breaks down the numbers to offer a more comprehensive look at the trends. It’s not a big surprise that downtown sites saw the most visits, but some neighborhood sites logged big attendance numbers as well. The Hard Rock Hotel (Carbide and Carbon Building), one of Chicago’s most famous Art Deco skyscrapers, proved to be the most popular site overall with 8,500 visits while the Elks National Memorial in Lincoln Park was the most popular neighborhood site with over 5,200 visits.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation also offers some insight into who the attendees were and where they came from. Unsurprisingly, locals were by far the largest demographic that participated in the event, but thousands of people from out of state and hundreds more from other countries also attended.

• 100,000 people attended this year’s Open House Chicago [Curbed Chicago]
• Open House Chicago 2016: 20 must-see sites [Curbed Chicago]