Open House London

30 St Mary Axe

Open House London is an organisation which promotes appreciation of architecture by the general public. It organises tours, lectures, educational projects for children and so on, but it is best known for Open House Weekend, a two-day event which takes place on one weekend each September throughout London since 1992. The event forms a London version of the European Heritage Days (Journées Européennes du Patrimoine), a Europe-wide event that started as Journées Portes ouvertes des monuments historiques (Historic Monument Open Door Days) in France in 1983. During this weekend many buildings considered to be of architectural significance open their doors for free public tours. Heritage Open Days is a similar event covering the rest of England, and takes place the previous weekend.

The Open House event in London is usually held on the third weekend in September. The 2010 event which took place on 18 and 19 September featured over seven hundred buildings, neighbourhood walks, architects' talks, cycle tours, and more. Well known buildings not usually open to the public which were open on Open House weekend in 2005 included Marlborough House, Lancaster House, the Mansion House, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Horse Guards. The event attracts tens of thousands of people. It is often possible to turn up and go straight into some establishments, although queues are an hour or two long at the most popular buildings, while in other cases admission is by advance booking of a guided tour only.

A queue of people waiting to look around the Bank of England on 17 September 2005

People outside the Lloyd's building on 17 September 2005

Comparison with Europe and other events in Britain

The Open House event in London is synchronised exactly with the Europe wide event. The corresponding weekend outside London in the UK is held one week earlier (in 2010 11-12 September) but on largely the same basis.

See also

• Historic Houses Association
• Open House New York
• Doors Open Days
• Treasure Houses of England

External links

• London Open House Homepage
• Unofficial Site
• Interview with Sarah Yates, Open House
• Heinz Richardson from firm Jestico & Whiles presenting a talk as a part of Open House's Green Sky Thinking (video)

This article about an organisation in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Doors Open Days Annual events in London London architecture Organisations based in London United Kingdom organisation stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР King River Shalford Mill Look at other dictionaries: Open House London — The Open House London ежегодное мероприятие в Лондоне, посвященное архитектуре. Основной формат осмотр (как самостоятельный, так и с гидом) зданий, мест и районов Лондона. Цель The Open House London содействие понимаю архитектуры среди самой… …   Википедия Open House — may refer to: Open house (common school event), a common school event held in the United States and Canada Open House (album), a 1960 album by jazz organist Jimmy Smith Open House (film), a 2004 independent film Open House (novel), a 2000 novel… …   Wikipedia Open House Tel Aviv — Łodzia House, one of the buildings that was opened to the public in 2010 Open House Tel Aviv (Batim MiBifnim, lit. Houses From Within ) happens over the course of a weekend annually in Tel Aviv, Israel, in which different buildings, landmarks and …   Wikipedia Open House Arts Collective — Founded 2008 Location London, Ontario Focus A …   Wikipedia Melbourne Open House — Melbourne Open House(MOH) is an event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that showcases many of the city s buildings to the public. This annual event is held on the last weekend in July since 2008. Melbourne Open House is a not for profit… …   Wikipedia Manor House, London — This article is about the district in North London. For the building in Soho, see Manor House, 21 Soho Square. Coordinates: 51°34′19″N 0°05′48″W / 51.57182°N 0.09671°W …   Wikipedia Mansion House, London — Coordinates: 51°30′47.7″N 0°5′21.7″W / 51.51325°N 0.089361°W / 51.51325; 0.089361 …   Wikipedia Custom House, London — For other uses, see Custom House (disambiguation). Coordinates: 51°30′27″N 0°01′47″E / 51.5076°N 0.0297°E / 51.5076; 0.0297 …   Wikipedia Nutford House, London — Nutford House was built in 1916 and was acquired by the University of London in 1949, after which it was expanded to take in five terraced houses in Brown Street, known as the Annexe and one house in Seymour Place. Accommodation is provided for… …   Wikipedia Holland House, London — Coordinates: 51°30′9″N 0°12′9″W / 51.5025°N 0.2025°W / 51.5025; 0.2025 …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”