The Open House Festival London 2025 is the capital’s finest annual festival to celebrate architecture, urban spaces and the people and communities that create them (whether they be past, present or future). Running from September 13 – 21, 2025, Open House Festival London will again provide free access and ticketed access to over 800 buildings, sites, and hosted walks, stretching across all 33 London boroughs. It provides Londoners and those visiting the chance to explore spaces that they would not normally be able to, whether that is iconic historical buildings or cutting-edge contemporary architecture.
The festival positions and supports London as an architectural epicenter with rich diversity, social history, evolving urban fabric, whilst encouraging visitors to engage in an unfamiliar and intimate manner with the spaces that make London one of the most globally iconic and dynamic capitals to live in. Open House Festival has its origins in small-scale architectural tours to then, and shaped it into a large-scale cultural event which has captured the enthusiasm of architecture lovers, local communities, students, and families across London.
The core mission for the festival is not only access, but about education, discovery and cultural connection. It is about identifying how architecture and design shape our daily lives and promoting awareness of sustainability, community development and heritage conservation. This year, visitors can expect more curated programming, a broad range of interactive experiences, and increased digital engagement to enhance exploration and learning. Central London landmarks, residential neighborhoods, community halls, modern structures, and green spaces all play vital roles in the festival’s comprehensive program.
Dates, program, and booking for Open House London 2025
The festival officially runs from Saturday, September 13, through Sunday, September 21, 2025. Each day offers an extensive schedule of open building days, guided tours, workshops, talks, exhibitions, and family-oriented activities. While many sites operate drop-in entry, a significant number of high-demand venues and special events require advance ticket booking, which became available at midday on Wednesday, August 20. To participate in ticketed events, visitors need to create a free Open House account on the official website, facilitating easy booking management.
The 2025 program features over 800 events on a range of themes including Gothic cathedrals, historical livery halls, cutting-edge office spaces, and residences converted from industrial warehouses. It will offer exclusive access to government buildings (such as 10 Downing Street), cultural institutions, and also often closed private homes of architectural significance. The festival will also offer the Building by Public Ballot collection, a fan favorite, which allows visitors to enter a lottery for tickets to some of the most sought-after buildings in the city. The festival’s online platform also provides maps, timetables, and thematic trails to help visitors navigate through a large collection of mixed activities.
In general the entry to the majority of buildings and tours during Open House London is free, consistent with the public access aspect of the festival. However, there may be a small reservation fee on selected guided activities, such as to cover the specialist guide costs which assist in maintaining the sustainability of the festival. Where there are reservation fees (which will be nominal) this will be made clear at the time of booking. Advance booking is highly recommended particularly for the more popular events, as many of these can reach capacity within a couple of days. The festival also accounts for a range of accessibility needs including reservations for disabled visitors, accessible routes, accommodation, and support services where necessary, as part of its commitment to inclusiveness.
Exploring the festival lineup and unique experiences
The lineup of buildings, tours, and events at the 2025 Open House Festival reflects London’s architectural and cultural richness. Visitors can explore restored historical sites tied to significant periods of British history, such as the Victorian era, the Blitz, and post-war reconstruction, alongside ultra-modern sustainable developments exemplifying London’s green future. The architectural tours average a blend of historic narratives and technical insight delivered by experts, architects, and historians who share stories behind the structures, their design philosophies, and evolving urban roles.
Guest curators have assembled a number of collections that explore various possibilities such as adaptive reuse & heritage preservation, arts within urban public spaces, and other themes relevant to the event. The curator collections visit a number of venues, such as Studio AVC’s reconfigured & updated office space from the 1920s, & The King’s Foundation in Hackney, a re-imagined factory warehouse. Other examples are institutions in arts & film housed in repurposed buildings, which reflects more broadly on London, and showcases the re-use / regeneration of sites in playful “creative” & “art” elements. Urbanists & architects can enjoy an exclusive behind the scenes pass to leading architectural practices such as Ben Adams Architects, to gain insights into contemporary & future urban issues.
The festival will include children’s activities, participatory experiences, and immersive workshops, beyond just the building tours, exploring issues of impromptu urban tensions to collaborative community building & community focused learning experiences. Elements such as tactile tours with an audio description for blind visitors, in partnership with VocalEyes, will give Open House a model of urban cultural tenets for visitor experience. Dimensions such as seasonal art installations, healthy/local food markets, and cultural performances in various sites will provide an outdoor tour environment with all senses engaged as a complete festival experience.
The festival’s impact on London’s cultural landscape and tourism
Open House Festival contributes to London’s cultural ecology by educating the public about architecture and urbanism. Open House creates a more equal understanding of sites that represent economic, political, or cultural power that often sit behind the closed door for the entire year. Opening these spaces plays a vital role as a conduit between the public and the built means, creating civic pride and an awareness of urban evolution and change.
The festival brings architecture into public discourse, connecting Londoners and visitors alike with their neighbourhoods in ways they did not anticipate before, and along with bringing Londoners and visitors to sites, the festival also provides an important contribution to local cultural tourism and local businesses.
This materially contributes to the hospitality sector; we see the increase in foot traffic helps a number of businesses including restaurants, hotels and local transport. The festival boosts the profile of less well-known boroughs for an increased public awareness of sites that might either be ignored or seen as an alternative to areas of London that are often tourist dominated. The festival actively influences equitable urban development, and we see through post-festival reports that the economic contribution of the festival supports cultural jobs, creative industries and small businesses, but also makes its own extra value for leisure.
The educational dimension is equally important; many schools and universities integrate Open House into their curricula, using it to supplement classroom learning with real-world explorations. The festival enlivens debates around sustainable city-building, housing policy, and cultural heritage preservation, encouraging participants to engage with London’s future thoughtfully. This role positions Open House as a key driver of community empowerment and informed urban citizenship.
Future prospects and evolving innovations for Open House London
Looking to future editions, Open House London’s organizers are focused on scaling the festival’s reach, inclusivity, and technological integration. The 2025 program embraces digital enhancements such as augmented reality tours, mobile apps providing immersive navigation and storytelling, and increasingly sophisticated online resources including virtual tours for those unable to attend physically. These innovations enhance accessibility and allow a more diverse audience to participate in one of the city’s most beloved cultural events.
The festival is currently making efforts to better engage in sustainability themes which align with London’s climate targets and the architecture profession’s shift toward the regenerative design spectrum. Future curatorship will focus on zero-carbon buildings, green infrastructure, and urban biodiversity, making the festival a champion of urban resilience. Their program will develop further collaborations with local neighbourhoods, artists, and educational institutions to enhance programming and to continue to develop the festival as a socially responsive festival of architecture.
The success of their ballot programs and ticketing strategies will also influence plans to improve the experience of visitors through fairer ways for them to access new experiences with the ability to manage capacities to better prevent overcrowding. The organizers are clear in their intention to keep both free and ticketed events to maintain some of the integrity as an open and accessible festival while creating a more sustainable way.
Open House Festival London 2025 contains a sense of tradition with new innovation, providing a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience architecture from the interiors of one of the world’s most well-known cities. Its combination of free access, contemporary experiences, depth of history, and inclusion of community engagement, celebrates it as a key cultural event, and is on a trajectory to inspire and educate the next generations.