Open House New York is letting New Yorkers behind closed doors of more than 275 locations, mostly for free.
Now in its 14th year, the weekend festival, which will run Saturday, Oct. 15 and Sunday, Oct. 16, will include walk-throughs of private spaces normally closed to the public as well as hard-hat tours of high-rises and parks still under construction.
Many of the sites feature talks by the architects or other experts, while others let visitors meander on their own.
"Open House New York uses buildings, and the city itself, to explore ideas and tell stories, all with the goal of creating a more informed conversation about the choices we make about New York's future," Gregory Wessner, the executive director of nonprofit Open House New York, which is funded by donations, memberships, volunteers and year-round events.
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Some sites require reservations, which can be made through Eventbrite for a $5 fee, event organizers said Wednesday. They include tours of:
• Glass catwalks overlooking the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal
• Cupola atop Manhattan's Municipal Building
• Stage of the Metropolitan Opera
• Edward Hopper's studio
• WABC-TV's control room and studios
• An Apthorp apartment
• Department of Sanitation Central Repair Shop
• National Arts Club
• The new St. Ann's Warehouse
• The original Loew's Valencia Theatre in Jamaica
• Douglaston Club
• Off-season access to Governors Island
• A bus tour of the closed sections of Freshkills Park
• Office space in a former Watchtower building in DUMBO
• Red Hook grain elevator
• Upper floors of Schermerhorn Row
• After-hours tour of Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America
The reservation-required sites will likely fill up quickly after they open online Thursday, Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. (Signing up for an Eventbrite account in advance may increase your chances of snagging an in-demand location quickly.)
Hard-hat tours, which also require reservations, include the New York Wheel on Staten Island, Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, and Pier 5 Uplands in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
New luxury development sites opening up include the courtyard of Via 57 in Midtown, the rooftop observatory deck at 50 West, The Charles on the Upper East Side, and the Urby Staten Island. Those locations also require reservations.
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Open House New York weekend spaces that don't require reservations will be free to enter.
Sites that don't require reservations include:
• Black Lady Theater in Crown Heights
• Interiors of 70 Pine Street (the former AIG Building)
• Westbeth Artist Housing in the West Village
• New York State Pavilion built for the 1964 World's Fair
• Little Red Lighthouse
• Kings County Brewers Collective
• Interior of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park
• Brooklyn Navy Yard
• Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility in Sunset Park
• 1929 Kings Theatre in Brooklyn
• Brooklyn Army Terminal
• Lite Brite Neon Studios in Gowanus
• Edgar Allen Poe Cottage in The Bronx
A handful of people will also get 7 a.m. access to Ellis Island on Saturday, Oct. 15 before tourists arrive for the day. To enter the free lottery for that trek, sign up by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Several museums that normally charge admission will open for free during the event, including the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Louis Armstrong House Museum and the Rubin Museum of Art.
Check the Open House New York weekend guide to find the opening times for each location. And before you head out, check the OHNY online updates page for last-minute changes.
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