For nine days, buildings that are never open, open

Thirty-five years ago somebody had the rather good idea of simply asking building owners whether the public might come in. A surprising number said yes, and have gone on saying yes.

Open House Festival 2026 dates

Open House Festival 2026 runs 12–20 September. It is the 35th edition, it covers all 33 boroughs, and it is free. Booking opened at midday on 19 August.

What one should do about the ballot having already happened

The famous buildings went within the hour, as they do every year, and there is no particular use in being cross about it. The festival's actual value was never the six places everybody wanted.

A very large proportion of the programme is walk-up — no booking, no ballot, simply a door that is open and somebody standing beside it who is pleased to be asked. These are the private houses, the small practices, the places of worship and the working buildings, and they are almost always the better afternoon.

Why all 33 boroughs is the line to read

It would be very much easier to run this festival in four boroughs. Architecture tourism in London means the City, Westminster, Southwark and a small part of Hackney, and a programme confined to those would still be substantial.

Insisting on all thirty-three changes what the festival is about. It stops being a tour of celebrated buildings and becomes an account of how the city is actually built — which, one might gently suggest, is a rather more interesting subject than another look at a well-photographed atrium.