North London Food & Culture

Top 5: Open House 2013

Always fancied a snoop around a house on Kelly Street? Well, check out what's on around the neighbourhood as part of this year's Open House weekend

Multi coloured Kelly Street. Photograph by Nikolas Montaldi
Pastel-flavoured Kelly Street. Photograph by Nikolas Montaldi

Open House London is a weekend dedicated to architecture-appreciators and nosey parkers. A whopping eight hundred landmarks and private houses fling open their usually closed doors for the public to marvel at the structures and steal interior tips. Even better, it’s all for free.

Don’t fancy schlepping across town? Keep it local with our pick of the top five right on the doorstep.


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Green with envy- Colourful Kelly St is KT's most enviable Road
Green with envy? K-Town’s enviable stretch.

1. Kelly Street – Shadow House

“Kelly Street” is the most common answer when we ask our Ich Bin Kentishtowners where they would most like to live. Why not take the opportunity to have a snoop inside one of the houses on this famous curve? Shadow House, the two-up two-down rubber-backed building, is filled with contemporary mid-century furniture and an art collection worthy of a gallery. It’ll probably make you green with envy.

20 Kelly Street NW1 8PH
Sun 1pm-5pm. First come basis. Talks and exhibition of project. Last entry 4.45pm. Max 20 at one time. Architects: Knott Architects 2013

Playful Kentish Town Health Centre
Playful Kentish Town Health Centre

2. Kentish Town Health Centre

Riba award-winning Kentish Town Health Centre was inspired by a game of jenga, with interlocking sections separating the multi-use building. Wander around its three stories where the kid’s play continues with East London designer Morag Myerscough’s vibrant graphic wall murals. And there’s a new exhibition on this weekend at the Free Space Gallery too. 2 Bartholomew Road NW5 2BX Sat 10am-2pm. Architect-led half-hourly tours, first come basis
Last entry 1.30pm, Max 30 per tour

Canalside Filling Station
Canalside Filling Station

3. King’s Cross area guided walk and The Filling Station

Places will fill up fast for this walk and talk with landscape architect Dominic Cole as he explores the design of King’s Cross’ facelift including the squares, the canal and Central St. Martin’s. All that making you hungry? Lunch at Caravan or splash the cash in Shrimpy’s at The Filling Station, also open to the public for a full-on King’s Cross fix.

King’s Cross landscape Tour: Meet Sat 11.30am outside King’s Cross station entrance, facing St Pancras, York Way N1 9AP, 2 hours Filling Station: Sat/Sun 12pm-10pm First come basis

Eastender's wedding venue: St Martin's Church
Eastenders wedding venue: St Martin’s Church

4. St Martin’s, Gospel Oak

Described by the Pevsner guides as London’s craziest Victorian church, it has also been the set of Ricky and Bianca’s wedding in BBC soap Eastenders. With major restoration works now complete, including a jaw-dropping roof, this building, tucked away just off Queen’s Crescent, is certainly worth a peep. Vicars Road NW5 4NL Sat 10am-4pm/Sun 12pm-2pm

5. 19 North End

Rather than just peer through the gap in the curtains – or, more probably, the remote controlled blinds – of this modernist family private home why not pop in for a guided tour? It was designed by Ventris to house his parent’s extensive collection of furniture by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. Expect lots of minimal clean lines and interior envy. 19 North End NW3 7HR Sat 1.30pm-5pm. Half-hourly tours, first come basis Last tour 4.30pm. Max 4 per tour

Fancy going further afield? See what our sister site Below the River has picked out for South Londoners here.


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The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.