Six Chiswick locations take part in the Open House Festival 12 – 20 September 2026

Open House Festival Neighbourhoods page for Chiswick

Chiswick – ‘A Neighbourhood of Contrasts’

There are several buildings in Chiswick which will be opened to the public for the Open House Festival in September, and other architectural jewels in the surrounding areas of west London available to visit.

Open House Festival, which runs from 12 – 20 September, is a London-wide festival that opens up and celebrates the city’s architecture, special sites and neighbourhoods, with open days and events taking place across all 33 London boroughs.

Run by the Open City charity, the organisers say:

“We are on a mission to make the built environment more open, accessible, and equitable”.

They run a programme of events around the festival, including walks, talks and workshops. In Chiswick they list six locations, with guided tours and walks.

Chiswick Town Hall

Chiswick Town Hall

There are two guided tours of Chiswick Town Hall on Tuesday 15 September, at 11.30am and 1.30pm.

‘In the mid-19th century St Nicholas Parish Council had met in a variety of different locations including, latterly, the Boys’ National School at Turnham Green.

‘After parish leaders found that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs, they elected to construct a purpose-built vestry hall: a site on Turnham Green, which had previously been open land, was purchased for the benefit of the parish in 1874.

‘The new building was designed by William Joshua Trehearne in the Italianate style and opened in 1876’.

Book tickets: Chiswick Town Hall

Photograph of the day by Jennifer Griffiths – @jengriffiths49

Chiswick Business Park; photograph Jennifer Griffiths

‘A Ruskinian Walk Through Shared Heritage’

Three walks are planned on Saturday 12, Sunday 13 and Saturday 19 September, starting from Chiswick Business Park, taking in different periods and styles of architecture:

‘A history focused community trail across four centuries and a mixture of architectural styles: the walk takes its cue from John Ruskin’s holistic vision of citizens’ duty to posterity (‘… when we build, let us think that we build forever’).

‘It starts at Building 3, Chiswick Business Park — RIBA Award >>> Richard Rogers Partnership 2000. Other focal features are Gunnersbury Triangle ; the heritage rich and polyglot South Acton Estate: resident-governed, self reliant birthplace of Royal Academician Patrick Caulfield … through the community owned recreation ground; past the prized South Acton Children’s Centre; crossing the ‘Stamford Brook’ to view Woodlands Park Ice House; the homes of William Willett (builder / originator of Daylight Saving Time) and Richard White, co-founder of The Law Society in the Mill Hill Park Conservation Area’.

Book tickets: A Ruskinian walk through a shared heritage

View across Stamford Brook Common; painting by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

Stamford Brook walk

There is a walking tour following the course of the Stamford Brook – one of London’s hidden rivers – on Monday 14 September at 10.30am.

‘The walk takes you through a culturally rich and diverse area. The architecture is also diverse, ranging from a plantation owner’s house, the home and studio of an impressionist painter, Victorian mansion blocks, the home of a woman writer, a hospital and the site of a medieval manor house, home to a king’s mistress.

‘Also, ordinary homes and businesses’.

Book tickets: Stamford Brook walk

Chiswick House

Chiswick House & Gardens

Chiswick House will be open and there will be drop in activities in the Artists’ Studios, the new Learning Hub and the Kitchen Garden on Sunday 20 September. Tours of Chiswick House are self-guided, with space limited free tours of either the House or the Gardens from 12.00-1.00pm.

The Neo-Palladian house was designed by two Georgian trendsetters, William Kent and the Earl of Burlington, the interior is ornate and filled with striking works of art. Access on 20 September will be free, but booking is required.

READ ALSO: 300 years of Chiswick House Gardens

The Artists’ Studios at Chiswick House & Gardens were created in 2025 from historic outbuildings and stables around the Kitchen Garden. Home to 23 artists from a wide variety of disciplines, they are open to the public twice a year. Visitors are invited to drop in to discover the artists’ private workspaces, meet the makers, learn about their work, take part in drop-in workshops and enjoy a little shopping.

READ ALSO: New artists studios opened at Chiswick House Gardens

The 17th century walled Kitchen Garden is a beautiful space where visitors can wander, buy fresh flowers and produce and take part in drop-in workshops.

READ ALSO: Access to Kitchen Garden in Chiswick House to be made free

The ‘Learning Hub’ is the latest development – a new space available for community activities built beside an open courtyard adjacent to the artists’ studios and the Kitchen Garden.

READ ALSO: Chiswick House & Gardens smash their crowdfunding target for new Learning Hub

Book tickets: Chiswick House & Gardens

Hogarth’s house

Hogarth’s house

There are guided tours of the garden of the artist William Hogarth’s house on Sunday 13 September at 2.30 and 3.30pm, and on Saturday 19 September at 2.30 and 3.30pm.

‘Early 18th century red brick country home of artist William Hogarth, extended significantly c. 1749-1764.

‘The 2020 extension, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, added the new Weston Studio for learning and activities, and a curved glass wall in the shape of Hogarth’s Line of Beauty.

‘Delightful re-landscaped and reinterpreted walled garden containing famous ancient mulberry tree’.

READ ALSO: Hogarth’s house

READ ALSO: ‘How We Lost America’ – Exhibition at Hogarth’s House from 22 September – 1 November 2026

Book tickets: Hogarth’s house

Victorian Society headquarters in Bedford Park

Victorian Society headquarters, Bedford Park

The Victorian Society headquarters at 1 Priory Gardens in Bedford Park will be holding an open day on Saturday 12 September from 11.00 am – 4.15 pm.

‘Part of the original pioneering Bedford Park development, latterly restored by the Victorian Society and serving as its headquarters since 1973. The house itself is in a picturesque style, of three storeys, in red and yellow brick, with a Dutch gable and oriel windows. It is dated 1880, and was designed by E. J. May’.

READ ALSO: Victorian Society opens listed Bedford Park HQ for Open House Festival

There is also a walking tour of Bedford Park planned, led by John Scott, a leading expert on the history and development of Bedford Park, around the area’s architectural highlights, from 2 – 3.30pm.

Book tickets: The Victorian Society

Open House Festival map showing venues in and around Chiswick taking part 

Other west London venues taking part in the Open House Festival

Other west London venues around Chiswick taking part in the Open House Festival include Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, St John’s Church and the University of West London in Ealing, and a private house at 31 Milton Rd in Acton, which owner David Buckingham has restored from three separate flats back to its original state as a three storey Victorian home.

As Juliet McDonald reports for The Chiswick Calendar, South Ealing Cemetery – formerly known as Ealing and Old Brentford Cemetery – will also be taking part.

READ ALSO: South Ealing Cemetery’s buried secrets are brought to life

There is a tour of what remains of BBC Television Centre at White City:

‘following in the footsteps of  the Beatles, Coldplay, Alfred Hitchcock and countless others….See what remains of the iconic 1960’s BBC Television Centre and the Gaumont Film Studios ….plus discover Charles Dickens’ controversial connection to Shepherd’s Bush’.

Culture House, in Shepherd’s Bush, the first permanent exhibition space for Somali artefacts curated by the Somali community, will be open to the public, as will the Quaker Meeting House in Hammersmith.

openhouse.org.uk