Save the Date: Open House New York Weekend set for October 17-19, 2025
Citywide festival unlocks 300 buildings across the five boroughs, reveals hidden gems across design, culture, and infrastructure.
Top FREE NYC fall activity returns for 23rd year, bringing together architecture aficionados, history buffs, infrastructure nerds, urban explorers, and curious New Yorkers.
Powerhouse Arts
Credit: Karina FengSelect high res photos available here.
June 24, 2025—Mark your calendars for a weekend of exploration, discovery, and behind-the-scenes access! On October 17-19, 2025, Open House New York will present Open House New York Weekend (OHNY Weekend), an annual five-borough, volunteer-powered festival offering 300 ways for the public to engage with the city and experience the breadth of New York’s design, culture, and infrastructure.
Since 2003, OHNY Weekend has invited New Yorkers to gain a deeper understanding of the city by opening the doors to notable spaces for visits, guided tours, and other special activities led by architects, engineers, designers, public servants, community advocates, curators, and more. More than 50,000 people, representing 80% of the city's zip codes, attended the festival in 2024.
“Bringing people together to experience the city and participate in our shared civic and cultural life is a radically simple, yet deeply democratic act,” said Kristin LaBuz, Executive Director of Open House New York. “By offering an opportunity to explore new neighborhoods or gain a new perspective on familiar sites, OHNY Weekend connects New Yorkers and builds a stronger city.”
Last year, OHNY Weekend invited New Yorkers to visit a former sugar factory in Williamsburg recently transformed into a state-of-the-art workspace (The Refinery at Domino), explore a new art center with fabrication facilities for large metals, public art, and textiles in Gowanus (Powerhouse Arts), climb to the top of a former fire tower in Harlem (Mount Morris Fire Tower), and traverse the banks of an innovative shoreline restoration project in Queens (Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge).
The full OHNY Weekend lineup will be released to the public on September 26, 2025. The majority of the festival is free and open to the public—no advance registration or tickets are required. Select OHNY Weekend sites will require tickets for safety and security, and ticketing will open on October 3, 2025.
Organizations interested in taking part in OHNY Weekend by opening their space or project to the public may submit a proposal for festival participation by July 8. Guidelines for submissions are available here.
OHNY Weekend is produced by Open House New York, a nonprofit organization that promotes broad, unparalleled access to the city—to the places, people, projects, systems, and ideas that define New York and its future. Through year-round programming, including the annual Open House New York Weekend festival, OHNY offers a citywide platform for education, exploration, and engagement about the connections between quality of place and quality of life for all New Yorkers.
The 2025 festival is made possible with support from Bloomberg Connects. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. Additional support is provided by Brooklyn Army Terminal & MADE Bush Terminal, M&T Bank, the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation, and the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Top photo: The Refinery at Domino during OHNY Weekend 2024. Credit: Ben Tso
