Open House Festival to celebrate 30th anniversary with two-week bumper line-up
The world’s largest celebration of special buildings and neighbourhoods, Open House Festival will turn 30 this September with a fortnight-long programme of tours, free events and publications exploring London’s housing, architecture and landscapes.
The 30th anniversary festival will feature its most diverse mix of events to date including tours of buildings never before opened to the public, music performances in unique and hidden spaces, and the publication of London Feeds Itself, a new book exploring the capital’s food culture.
Eight highlights from the 30th anniversary Open House Festival programme include:
The introduction of nine headline neighbourhoods with specially-curated programmes of free events at each in Aldgate, East Ham, Greenwich Peninsula, South Tottenham, Somers Town, Battersea, Walworth, Shepherd’s Bush, and Cambridge Heath.
Tours of unique buildings rarely open to the public including the Bank of England, ROOM an inhabitable sculpture by Anthony Gormley forming part of Mayfair’s Beaumont Hotel, and the Leathersellers' Hall livery company building refurbished by Eric Parry Architects.
Music performances from a Sofar Sounds-curated gig at the Aga Khan Centre in Kings Cross and DJ sets in Bexley’s Old Library, to a demonstration of a historic William Hill organ in Aldgate and Swahili choir.
Tours of pioneering one-off houses including the David Adjaye-designed Fog House in Clerkenwell, the Khan Bonshek-designed Two-up Two-down House in Stratford, The Straw Bale House by Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till in Camden, and Richard and Su Rogers’ high-tech house in Wimbledon.
The publication of London Feeds Itself, a new book edited by Jonathan Nunn featuring contributions from 25 writers including Claudia Roden, Nikesh Shukla, Jeremy Corbyn and Ruby Tandoh exploring stories of how food and migration intersect with the urbanism of London.
Special tours of some of Britain's best council housing estates including Dawson’s Heights designed by Kate Macintosh for Lambeth, the Vanbrugh Park Estate designed by Chamberlin Powell and Bon for Greenwich, and Mansfield Road designed by Benson and Forsyth for Camden.
Demonstrations of amazing infrastructure including the remarkable new Rolling Bridge designed by Tom Randall-Page at Cody Dock in Canning Town, the 1888 Beam Engine in South Tottenham, and the ‘palace of poo’, Abbey Mills Pumping Station.
Walking and cycling tours across the city exploring London’s heritage such as a Westminster family trail about the capital’s forgotten history of black Tudors, a walking tour in the City of London examining the links between historic architecture and the transatlantic slave trade, and a cycle tour traversing the Royal Docks – the new home of the Mayor of London.
Zoë Cave, chief curator of the Open House Festival said:
‘To mark the 30th anniversary of the Open House Festival we’ve curated our most dynamic and diverse programme to date. What other festival includes everything from free tours of the Bank of England to DJ sets in Bexley’s Old Library? I’m especially excited about the many private homes that will be part of the 30th anniversary festival from multi-million pound houses designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects to some of Britain's best council estates. We’re going to have an amazing two weeks celebrating London’s urban landscapes, heritage and communities – come join us.’
Printed festival guide books featuring over 400 highlights from the festival programme can be ordered now at www.openhouse.org.uk. The full Open House Festival programme will be announced and opened for bookings in late August.
Founded in 1992, the Open House Festival has grown from featuring up a handful of free building tours over a single weekend, to a giant city-wide celebration of architecture, communities and built heritage across all 33 London boroughs. Over its three decade history, the Open House Festival has helped set up sister festivals across the world from New York City to Lagos. There are now over 50 Open House Festivals worldwide which together attract around 750,000 visitors a year.
Sarah Brown, Head of Brand at Rightmove, headline partners of Open House Festival said:
‘Rightmove is the perfect place to discover homes in new areas you might want to live in. And Open House Festival is a unique opportunity to visit some of those areas first-hand. We know it's the people who live in London's neighbourhoods that make them such great places to live. At the festival you’ll be able to see how local communities in these vibrant places work together, as entire streets and estates open up across the capital.
‘As part of the online festival programme, we’ll be sharing Rightmove’s unrivalled expert insights to create unique guides, spotlighting a few London neighbourhoods and supplementing the Open House Festival Guidebook. So you'll be able to discover everything you need to know about an area before you head to the festival. Find out about local house prices, schools and transport links, and explore some of the great homes you can buy and rent in each area. And we'll be sharing insider tips on where the locals love to eat, drink and shop, too.’
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Notes
The 2022 Open House Festival will launch on Thursday 8 September and close on Wednesday 21 September.
In a typical year the London Open House Festival attracts 250,000 visitors making it the largest and most inclusive event of its kind in the world.
Contacts
Please contact press@open-city.org.uk with press enquiries.