Unique buildings and hidden gems across the borough are opening their doors as part of the annual London-wide event, writes Kinga Plata

Private and public buildings and spaces across Enfield will be opening their doors to visitors during Open House Festival, which kicks off this weekend.

This year’s festival will see 22 different Enfield venues and locations opened to the public, ranging from numerous chapels through estates, neighbourhoods to private residences and factories.

Local residents, architecture enthusiasts, and Londoners simply curious about the area and its buildings, can get to know Enfield borough a bit better during Open House Festival 2024, starting on Saturday 14th and ending on Sunday, 22nd. 

Amongst the 22 venues are seven churches, two gardens, a private residence, and two factories. Visitors are also invited to take part in walking tours, workshops and even a live poetry performance. 

The Dispatch has spoken to two of the local contributors to this year’s festival, both fascinating and unique for different reasons.

Building Bloqs, a veteran of the festival, is “an open-access maker and community space” next to the River Lee Navigation in Edmonton. As described by one of its co-founders, Al Parra, it is a factory for rent and a learning space where big, medium and micro firms can book a spot and work on their projects, ranging from carpentry, metalwork and even sewing, using specialised machinery and without having to buy expensive equipment. 

For this year’s festival, those visiting the Bloqs factory will be able to take part in guided tours, a stool-making workshop with Joni Steiner from Opendesk, and also enjoy some food and refreshments at the venue’s own café.

Parra says the festival is an opportunity to meet new people and possibly new collaborators. “Not many people have permission to ever go to a factory,” he explained. “Most of us don’t go to factories on a regular basis, so it’s always fun to see people who walk in for the first time and, when they see our space from the viewing gallery, most of the time we get the response ‘wow, this is amazing!’ and that’s a real buzz.” 

Another local attraction for the festival is Gordon Hill Station Pillbox and Dragon’s Teeth, which has never been featured by Open House before. It represents a real treasure to modern history and military enthusiasts, with the site having an interesting but not commonly known history as a defence against potential Nazi invaders alongside the railway line.

Joe Robinson is a local historian and one of the facilitators for the drop-in sessions at Gordon Hill Station Pillbox on Sunday 22nd. Apart from spreading knowledge about the site and its importance, he hopes to see how much interest there is in it, as well as to share his knowledge about local architecture and why houses in one part of Gordon Hill neighbourhood look a bit different to those around them.

Joe said: “I find it all to be very worthwhile to show people about local history they may not know about. With the world the way it is at the moment, people don’t realise that Enfield was actually once on the frontline of a possible invasion.

“I think it is very rewarding to let people know things that happened on their own street. People talk about World War 2 but they don’t realise that there were hundreds of people killed in Enfield because of the bombing and that we were on the edge of possible invasion.”

Other Enfield venues include Myddelton House in Bulls Cross, All Saints Church in Edmonton and Old Vestry House in Enfield Town.

For more information about all the Enfield venues taking part in Open House Festival:
Visit programme.openhouse.org.uk/calendar

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