Exclusive tour with Prosecco on Pastor’s Skyscraper Balcony

Chicago Detours expands offerings of creative architectural tours

 

Chicago, IL –  Chicago Detours will offer two chances for a special interior tour of the architecture, history and culture of the Chicago Temple Building on Saturday, August 6 and Friday, September 9, 5:00pm-6:45pm. Guests will stay cool while exploring the city with their visit to this 23-story building owned by the First United Methodist Church. Like all Chicago Detours’ tours, this experience will include multimedia; visitors will get to share iPads with historic images.
 
For the “Exclusive Tour of the Chicago Temple Building,” guide and Chicago Detours Founder Amanda Scotese will share stories on the church’s history and how this building was to be a model for all urban churches. The church has an original “kitsch Jesus” and Scotese will tell how it came to be the most viewed image of Jesus in the world. Another unusual story will recount the radical events that led to the integration of the church in the ’60s, as visualized in a sculpture that incorporates an actual KKK cross. Guests will also visit the church itself and discuss the ornate and colorful stained glass windows from the 1960s.
 
The group, which is limited to 22, will stop by Clarence Darrow’s former office, the famous lawyer for the Leopold and Loeb murder trial, on the way to the top of the building for a visit to the Sky Chapel with its carved walnut beams and stained glass windows. The tour will conclude with a toast on the pastor’s personal balcony with fantastic views. Wine and light snacks included, and guests will get a peak inside the pastor’s mid-century modern interior of his three-story penthouse.

Tickets are $28 for the 1 hour, 45-minute long tour, and this includes refreshments and shared use of iPads with historic images. Reservations can be made at www.chicagodetours.com. Group size is limited.
 
Like other tours that Chicago Detours offers to the public, this tour will not solicit tips; instead guides take donations for worthy causes. This tour’s donations will purchase Chicago history books the First United Methodist’s youth tutoring program.

Chicago Detours’ innovative approach got them runner up for Best Tour in the Chicago Reader “Best of 2011” polls, after not even a year in business. Chicago Detours also has top ratings on both Yelp and TripAdvisor. The tours that are like mobile exhibits; guests interact with each other, urban space, and historical media while exploring stories and places that locals don’t even know about.

Regularly offered tours by foot include a visit of downtown interiors, called “Inside the Loop: Explore the Unexpected,” and also  “Good Times Around Michigan Ave,” which explores the architecture and historic stories of drinking culture, elite entertainment, underground clubs, and vices. “Our Chicago Sound: Jazz, Blues, & Beyond,” is a multimedia tour by bus that includes a harmonica lesson with a blues musician. Details on these tours are on their website, which includes the notable press that Chicago Detours has received.

Scotese honed her skills while employed as a guide and guidebook researcher with Rick Steves, one of the nation’s most well-known travel authors and television personalities. She enriched her knowledge of architecture, urban studies, and art history through her M.A. in the Humanities at the University of Chicago.

For more information, contact: Amanda Scotese, 312.350.1131, amanda@chicagodetours.com