London Open House festival is an annual event which invites the public into London's private, hidden spaces that they may walk past every day.
For 10 days, residents, places of worship, businesses, and community organisations throw open the doors of their interesting buildings. With drop-ins, guided vists, walking and cycling tours, you can get a peek inside bits of the capital you never knew existed.
Open House runs until September 17 across every borough. Full details at https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/
Former Grosvenor Cinema now Zoroastrian centre, Rayner's Lane, Harrow: Saturday September 9, tours 11am-3pm.
This stunning Grade II* listed Art Deco building opened as a cinema in 1936 and had a chequered history as a wine bar and nightclub before its restoration was funded by donations from the Zoroastrian faith community. Tours take in the well preserved auditorium with its fluted columns and proscenium arch.
The Charterhouse, Charterhouse Square, Islington: Friday September 8 and Friday September 15 timed tours.
Founded as a Black Death burial ground, the site has served as a Carthusian monastery, Tudor mansion, school and almshouse, which it remains to this day. The Charterhouse opened to the public in 2017 with a new museum, and tours will take in colourful stories of the centuries of folk who have come and gone.
195 Mare Street, Hackney: September 8-10 and September 16-17.
Built in 1697 as a grand country retreat for a wealthy Dutch merchant, the house once housed art by famous European artists, including Rembrandt and van Dyck. It was later owned by Tory MP Thomas Wilson, who was a supporter of the slave trade, then in 1860 it became the Elizabeth Fry Refuge for women prisoners. Thousands of women and girls lived in the house after serving short prison sentences. More recently it was the New Lansdowne Working Men's Club which closed in 2004 and lay abandoned. Soon to be restored to a family home, with community arts space, there's a two day art exhibition by contemporary artists, Kate McDonnell and Nicola Turner, then a weekend of drop in open days to get a peek inside.
Allotments Fitzroy Park, Highgate: Sat 16th September.
This 3.5 acre site is the largest allotment in Camden. The lower site was acquired by local government after the first world war in response to requests by locals for growing space, and the upper part was added after the second world war. Together these two parcels of land now make up the Fitzroy Park allotments which you can visit as part of Open House.
A community enterprise was set up in 2013 by local residents to protect historic Victorian farm outbuildings from proposed demolition as part of the Brent Cross regeneration. They have transformed the site into a vibrant community hub which was shortlisted for the Open City Stewardship Awards. They hold regular events celebrating the farm's rich history; have created an award-winning garden and nature space, a small community cafe, and and will soon open workshops for small businesses.
Phoenix Cinema East Finchley: Sunday September 10.
Built in 1910, and opened in 1912 as The East Finchley Picturedrome, it is thought to be the oldest cinema in continuous use. It was one of the first movie houses in London to introduce sound in 1929, when it was called The Coliseum, and today you can take a tour of the Edwardian gem which has been used itself as a film location in End of The Affair, and My Week With Marilyn.
Former Midland Grand Hotel, now St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and Chambers apartments. Saturday September 16. Tours.
The tour includes the hotel lobby and clock tower - the apartment underneath the landmark clock at St Pancras Station. It's part of St Pancras Chambers, the name given by British Rail to the building once known as the Midland Grand Hotel. A favoured film location for the likes of Harry Potter and the Spice Girls, the building was designed by George Gilbert Scott and built between 1868 and 1873 for the Midland Railway Company. The hotel operated until 1935 before being turned into railway offices and underwent a steady decline before being revamped again as a hotel. On top of the Tower stands the statue of Britannia, but while stone niches adorn the rest of the building, it seems the dozens of planned statues were abandoned as part of the railway’s cost-cutting measures.
Lawn Road flats Isokon Building, Hampstead: September 16 and 17 drop in open day.
Designed by modernist architect Wells Coates for clients Jack and Molly Pritchard, the Grade I listed Isokon block of flats has been compared to an ocean liner and was the last word in modernism when it opened in 1934. Past residents have included spies, exiled Bauhaus masters Gropius, Breuer and Moholy-Nagy, as well as the Queen of Crime Agatha Christie. Today it houses a museum, and private flats many occupied by key workers on a shared ownership basis.
The Alexandra Road Estate. Saturday September 9, Flat tours.
Designed by Neave Brown for Camden Council the estate replicates a long curving street and dates back to the late 70s. Now familiar as the setting for countless urban TV dramas, when it was spot listed in 1993, it became the youngest building in the country with Grade II* status. Open House offers the chance to see inside one of the lovingly restored, cleverly designed two bed maisonettes, which occupy two upper storeys of the concrete terrace and include original features from built in cupboards and wooden stairs to sliding partition doors and the patio or ‘outdoor room,’ and balcony.
CUFOS Community use for Old Station Muswell Hill: September 17, drop in.
Built at the same time as Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Station was opened on 24 May 1873 with a platform built beneath the North Terrace and the booking office at street level on the grand avenue alongside a wide stairway leading up to the palace. With its fortunes tied to the Palace, the station was closed multiple times due to insufficient demand, before closing permanently in 1954. While the platforms were demolished, the single-storey booking office was retained by British Railways, but fell into disrepair until a group of local residents received approval from Haringey Council for a volunteer-run centre that could be used for the community. Now a registered charity, run by a dedicated group of volunteers, over the years it has hosted exercise and language classes, clubs, music groups arts and crafts sessions, drama and performance workshops, mother-toddler groups, antenatal classes, and slimming clubs.
Ferry Lane Estate Tottenham Hale Tours September 8 and 9.
Designed and built by the Greater London Council the estate was transferred to Haringey Council in April 1982 and is now a renowned development, designed to focus on green spaces, low-to-medium-rise blocks (more welcoming than high-rise blocks) The residents’ association will be on hand to give a tour of some of the homes.
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