Chicago has a rich architectural heritage built into its skyline. This is where Frank Lloyd Wright got his start, where the world’s first skyscraper was built, and where this week, Democrats are gathering to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president. The DNC almost doubles as an architectural tour of the city, inviting politicos and the politically curious into some of Chicago’s iconic landmarks. Here are some of the places across the city hosting events this week for the Convention.
United Center
The arena, home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, is the primary venue hosting the Democratic National Convention. It’s the largest arena in the NBA and designed to be loud, with angled steel panels in the arena’s top level that are positioned to bounce sound back down to the seating area. The arena was also the site of the 1996 Democratic National Convention, which nominated President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for reelection.
McCormick Place
The largest convention center in North America, McCormick Place was designed by modernist architect Gene Summers. The convention center will host daytime events open to the public, called Dempalooza, that will include “trainings, panels, briefings, and activations to help Democrats win up and down the ballot,” according to the Democratic Party.
Salt Shed
This music venue was once the site of a 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 hold an event. The factory was operational from the late 1920s to 2015, and the adaptive reuse project that transformed the space into a 121,500-square-foot venue 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 for the former president has become a billboard for the Democratic National Committee. Democrats projected messages on 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: Out For Themselves.” It’s one of the tallest residential buildings in the world.
Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture
The Athenaeum Center is where Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is taping this week in front of a live audience and where they’ll broadcast a live show on the Convention’s final night, Thursday. The building opened in 1911 and was designed by Hermann J. Gaul, a German-American architect known for the churches he designed in the Midwest.
Union Park
This park hosts the Pitchfork Music Festival, and along with Park No. 578, it’s been designated a protest zone during the convention. In addition to protests in the parks, two demonstrations were permitted to march through the Loop in downtown Chicago.
Wrigley Field
On Tuesday, the home of the Chicago Cubs will be the site of “Brunch at the Ballpark,” hosted by Illinois’s home-state Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. House members Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley. Wrigley Field was designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, the “Frank Lloyd Wright of Baseball.”