Open House used to be one weekend, then it was two and now it's increasingly filling in the gap in the middle.
Some properties open midweek as an extra to the weekend and some don't do the weekend at all.
Some do midweek because it's easier, some because they're open anyway and some because they're shameless attention-seekers.
Here are five midweekers I've been to since Monday.
And just for a change I'm writing about places you could visit because they're all open again.
Open House:County Hall (Kingston) The No Longer Anomalous One
One thing I love to visit for Open House is a town hall, be it current or former. This is one step up, the administrative centre for an entire county, if not the right county for much of that time. It made sense in 1893 that Surrey's County Hall should be in Kingston, winning out over competitors like Guildford or Epsom, but in 1965 Kingston was wrenched into Greater London and Surrey's administrative HQ simply stayed put. The anomalous situation somehow lingered until 1st January 2021 when the council shifted to a new home in Reigate, a much more sensible location, and sold the former County Hall to a developer for a paltry £25m. It's now being converted into 292 luxury apartments, a heritage bolthole for the simperingly affluent, at least judging by communal facilities including The Tasting Room, The Games Parlour, The Picture House and The Balance Studio. This was thus the ideal year to let the general public see some of the heritage assets before they end up behind a concierged gateline, starting with the stained-glass window at the foot of an elegant staircase ("No we can't go up there").
First stop the entrance hall beneath the clocktower, its floor beautifully mosaiced and its walls covered by long lists of High Sheriffs and Members of Parliament. Victoria Bottomley gets five namechecks and Michael Gove only three, this because they stopped updating the list after 2015. Upstairs a much grander reception room leads to two key chambers, both listed so unable to be apartmentalised. One is the council chamber where Surrey's councillors met until March 2020, its benches somewhat dusty and with pretty much no individual facilities bar a flip-up wooden tray. The Latin phrase on the clock behind the chair translates as 'Be brief; the hour is passing', which is excellent advice to councillors everywhere. The other chamber is the former county court (operational 1893-1997) where we had free rein to join the jury, stand in the dock and peer down the dusty staircase to the cells, as seen in several TV dramas when this was still an unlikely outpost of Surrey.
Also open Friday 18th (11-4) and Saturday 19th (10-4).
Open House:Resonance FM (Southwark) The 24/7 Eclectic One
Resonance FM operates the ultimate in community radio stations, running round the clock since 2002 with a sequence of niche and arty programmes. You might be listening to the sounds of the Congo one hour, then pensioner news, then live music from a narrowboat and birdsong overnight. It's an astonishing idea, especially as it grew up on FM before an age of streaming and replayability when the content played to a tiny but devoted audience. These days the global reach is over a million and it all comes from a mini studio complex near the South Bank, the latest stop on a journey that started out in a tiny room above Denmark Street. And for Open House they're inviting Londoners inside, but only for an hour in the morning when what's playing out is recorded rather than live. I was still a bit nervous though when I stepped behind the mixing desk in Studio 1 and the red light came on.
It's a tight ship with much to juggle, hence the new second studio really helps. A store cupboard's recently been converted to a 'Green Room', i.e. a small bench surrounded by whiteboards and archive ephemera. Part of this is an exclusive artwork by the artist Bob and Roberta Smith, whose weekly show goes out at 10pm every Sunday, archive here. It was great to get the opportunity to talk with the station's chief audio-juggler and learn how the slots get filled, why most of the equipment is still analogue and how volunteers are always welcome. The station's amazing output is currently put together by just four permanent staff and planned up to six months ahead to make sure you never quite know what you'll get. Do peruse the Resonance schedules (I suspect several readers already have their favourite shows) and if you can't find something interesting to listen to you may be culturally inert.
Also open Thursday 17th (10-11) and Friday 18th (10-11).
Before Netflix, before even television there were 3000-seater places of entertainment on our high streets where high drama and variety captivated nightly. One such was the Streatham Hill Theatre, opened in 1929 with a production of Wake Up and Dream to serve fast-growing audiences in south London. The architect WGR Sprague also designed Wyndham's and the Aldwych in the West End, the Stratford Empire and the Whitstable Hippodrome. The theatre survived until 1962 before being Bingo-ified and is now divided into spaces for slot machines and evangelical worship, the Ruach City Church taking over the larger multi-stacked space. They mostly need the seats and the stage but Open House visitors seemed more interested in the ornate decor, the ornate decor and the ornate decor. It may not hold you for long.
Also open Thursday 17th (11-4)
If mega-theatres float your boat you may be more interested in the 4000-seater Kilburn Gaumont which is opening for one day only (tomorrow, noon til 7).
It's almost obligatory for Open House to visit a church, this one tucked away in the alleyways of Covent Garden immediately behind Operation Mincemeat. It's a Presbyterian Kirk founded in 1719, although the current building's a 1909 rebuild to support a larger congregation, complete with an upper storey of benches overlooking the communion table. Amongst the points of interest are a wall of 34 postwar stained glass windows, the second panel depicting Scottish heroes including John Knox, Robert Bruce and David Livingstone, also a chunky square font believed to be made from the last marble ever quarried on Iona. File under 'I never knew this was here and I like it'.
Also open Saturday 19th (12-3) and Sunday 20th (1-5).
In 1974 down Lots Road, near Chelsea Harbour, two young architects bought a bakery oven factory and converted it into a modular creative workspace. They were way ahead of their time so not only are they still going but they've extended nextdoor and filled up with smart upmarket Chelsea types. Think interior designers, bespoke furniture merchants and wellness therapists. I expected a quick look round the ground floor and a brief exhibition but instead the baffled receptionist pressganged me onto a guided tour run by one of the original founders, and that made the whole thing properly worthwhile. Nothing at Open House beats being shown how a building works by someone who created it, and in this case helped it to evolve into a buzzy frictionless warren where profit margins thrive. Don't come just for the quick look unless you really like polkadot frontage and "& Avo" cafe options.
Also open Thursday 17th (11-5) and Friday 18th (11-5).
