Open House NY Tours in Brooklyn: An October Weekend Full of Surprises

What a treat! The OHNY Weekend, an annual architectural festival that takes visitors behind the scenes into interesting nooks and crannies of New York City, is one of Brooklyn's best tour opportunities.

You can explore historic sites, new environmentally green experimental buildings, places of architectural interest. Visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Take a canoe ride on the Gowanus Canal. Go see the urban agricultural future with a visit to Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, a 6,000 square foot organic vegetable rooftop farm.

The Open House NY event runs in mid-October, staring with a Friday night launch party.

Some venues are free, others require advance payment. If there's something you really want to see, get the schedule when it's released (a few weeks in advance) and book immediately.

OHNY Weekend includes tours, lectures, symposia, and also family friendly activities.

The schedule of Open House NY activities is available online, and in print at locations in every borough of New York City.

Brooklyn Locations for October openhousenewyork (OHNY) Visits

Because Brooklyn boasts many stories and secret locations that the public often don't have access to, the annual October Open House NY event is a wonderful opportunity to explore hidden corners of the borough.

Here's just a smattering of the dozens of interesting Brooklyn locations included on past OHNY tours:

1. Brooklyn Navy Yard (in Fort Greene)
2. Nitehawk Cinema (Caliper Studio) Brooklyn’s indie film triplex that features vintage interiors and a sculptural LED facade (in Williamsburg)
3. Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, a 6,000 square foot organic vegetable rooftop farm (in Greenpoint)
4. Passive House (Loadingdock5 Architecture), a private residence that has adopted the strict energy efficiency standard set by German-based Passivhaus (in Williamsburg)
5. Visitor Center at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (in Greenpoint)
6. Gowanus Canal Canoe Tour (in Gowanus)
7. Kentler Gallery (in Red Hook)
8. Myrtle Hall (WASA/StudioA), a new LEED Gold certified building at Pratt Institute. (in Clinton Hill/Fort Greene)
9. Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge (in Red Hook)

About Open House NY

Founded in 2001, the non-profit, known as "openhousenewyork" (OHNY) has a broad mission: to enhance public understanding of New York City’s built environment; to expose the public to distinctive examples of architecture, engineering and design, including historic and new structures, and to create a forum for public discussion of issues of excellence in design, planning and preservation.