Mission

openhousenewyork® (OHNY) promotes a greater appreciation of the city’s built environment; broadens public awareness by exposing diverse audiences to distinctive examples of architecture, engineering and design; educates and inspires discussion of issues of excellence in design, planning and preservation; and showcases outstanding new work as well as structures of historic merit.

History

Inspired by his volunteer experiences with Open House London, Scott Lauer founded openhousenewyork in 2001. The organization began as a small grassroots non-profit dedicated to educating the public about New York City’s architecture and design. It is now known locally, nationally and internationally for its free Annual OHNY Weekend—an unparalleled citywide cultural event in October that showcases hundreds of NYC’s most architecturally and culturally significant spaces and places, many not usually open to the public, in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs—and its ability to open doors, providing unique opportunities to learn about, explore and experience NYC’s built environment.

The Annual OHNY Weekend was launched in 2003 as part of New York City's first Architecture Week which was co-founded by OHNY. With the help of 300 volunteers, the first Annual OHNY Weekend included 84 sites throughout New York City’s five boroughs, and was attended by 45,000 visitors. Since the inaugural year, the event has grown exponentially, increasing its outreach and audience participation; the number of sites, talks and tours; and developing additional thematic and interpretive programming such as sustainablenewyork which focuses on green sustainable building and active design, promoting physical activity and health through design.

Building on the enormous critical and popular success of the Weekend, OHNY added podcasts, in-school workshops and year-round programs in 2006, launched its first OHNY Weekend Family Festival in 2008 and later formed openhouseamerica™, a national initiative to dedicated to inspiring, engaging and educating the public about architecture, design and cultural heritage. 

OHNY is a member of the Open House Worldwide, a global network of Open House events. The 12 official members include Open House London, openhousenewyork®, Open House Dublin, Open House Tel Aviv, Open House Jerusalem, Open House Melbourne, Open House Galway, Open House Barcelona, Open House Slovenia, Open House Chicago, Open House Rome, and Open House Helsinki.

Other related Open House events and cities include:

Denver, Colorado, Doors Open Denver
Lowell, Massachusetts, Doors Open Lowell
Niagara, Ontario/USA, Doors Open Niagara
Ontario, Canada, Doors Open Ontario
Scotland, Doors Open Days
Swansea, Wales, Swansea Open House
Toronto, Canada, Doors Open Toronto
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Doors Open Milwaukee
United Kingdom & Ireland, European Heritage Days