Open House New York returns this month with free tours of 270+ places in NYC

The annual Open House New York Weekend returns for its 20th year this month and for the first time, the festival will be totally free to attend. OHNY takes place from October 21 through October 23 and offers an up-close look at more than 270 buildings, projects, and other spaces across New York City typically off-limits to the public. Even better, the festival has done away with its $5 reservation fee at places with restricted capacity and has introduced a new lottery system for ticketed locations that will replace its old first-come, first-serve model.

Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility; Photo courtesy of Sims Municipal Recycling

“Open House New York Weekend is a celebration of the openness and resilience that defines New York,” Pamela Puchalski, executive director of Open House New York, said in a statement. “Following years of social distancing and screens, more than 90% of the 2022 lineup is in-person—testament to the fact that New Yorkers are hungry to connect with the city and with each other.”

Since 2003, OHNY Weekend has unlocked hundreds of amazing places across the five boroughs to the public, allowing New Yorkers to experience their city in a new way. This year’s festival will offer a mix of in-person experiences, self-guided explorations, and digital content.

The lottery will open on October 13 at noon and stay open for 24 hours. Every location that requires tickets will have a link to enter the lottery for a specific time. While you can enter the lottery for as many places and for multiple time slots, only one entry is allowed per time slot for each tour.

Winners will be randomly selected and announced between Friday, October 14, and Sunday, October 16. Lottery winners must confirm tickets in order to receive them.

The Kings Theatre; Photo courtesy of Whitney Cox

Highlights of this year’s festival include tours of the Billiou-Stillwell-Perine House (the oldest house on Staten Island), the iconic Helmsley Building on Park Avenue, the world’s largest Anglican cathedral, The Grolier Club (America’s oldest society for bibliophiles), City Hall, the historic Kings Theatre in Flatbush, the New York Times Building, the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum, the country’s largest municipal Material Recovery Facility, the 400-acre landmark, Woodlawn Cemetery, the Westbeth Artist Housing in the West Village, and so much more.

This year’s series includes the popular “Factory Friday,” providing a behind-the-scenes look at local production, Sandy+10, which will explore the investment in recovery and resiliency in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and OHNY @ Night, which showcases the work of Lumen Award-Winning Lighting Designers.

OHNY Weekend also includes over 100 “Open Access” sites, which are free and do not require tickets. This year’s Open Access sites include the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the City Reliquary Museum, Edgar Allen Poe Cottage, the Ford Foundation Garden Atrium, Gowanus Dredgers Canoes, the High Bridge Water Tower, New York Botanical Garden, Weeksville Heritage Center, and many more.

Considered one of the largest festivals of its kind in the country, OHNY is produced in partnership with 350 neighborhood and cultural organizations, city agencies, designers, and New Yorkers, along with over 1,000 volunteers.

See the full lineup of OHNY 2022 events here. 

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