Welcome to OHNY Weekend (aka New York’s giant backstage pass)
Every fall the city throws open doors it usually keeps shut, and the 2025 Open House New York Weekend runs Friday, Oct. 17 through Sunday, Oct. 19. Think of it as an architecture scavenger hunt: towers, tunnels, rooftops and weird infrastructure you didn’t know you wanted to visit. This year’s lineup is huge — hundreds of sites and more than a thousand hours of programming — so plan ahead, set reminders and bring comfy shoes.
Pro tip: many of the buzzy spots charge a small fee (often around $7), have timed entry, or require a light background check. Tickets go on sale at noon Eastern on Friday, Oct. 3, and the popular tours disappear faster than a downtown pizza slice on a Saturday night.
Triumphant arch — Grand Army Plaza
That grand arch at the top of Grand Army Plaza hides a trophy room most Brooklyn strollers never see. Rangers lead you up into the interior to admire preservation work and hear Civil War-era stories — yes, stairs are involved, but the view and the history are worth it.
Con Edison East River Generating Station (East Village)
This 1920s power plant is part machine room, part industrial theater: turbines, catwalks and steam pipes that keep pockets of the city humming. It’s especially eerie-cool if you remember the days of Hurricane Sandy — a reminder that boring infrastructure quietly saves the day.
The last Ellis Island ferry — now a private boat home (Staten Island)
The final surviving Ellis Island ferry has been transformed into a private residence and art project. It’s docked at a Staten Island boatyard and, for the first time in years, you might get a peek inside the quirky, creative space its owners have shaped.
3 World Trade Center — Floors 79 and 80
Want skyline views with an art-meets-architecture twist? Floor 79 hosts an artist-in-residence program with stunning panoramas, while Floor 80 traces the rebuilding of the World Trade Center through models and images — equal parts uplifting and vertigo-inducing.
World Trade Center campus — subterranean systems and One World private deck
Go beneath the plaza to walk the hidden road network and peek into the Central Chiller Plant that keeps the whole campus climate-controlled. The grand finale: a rarely open observation deck on the 64th floor of One World Trade — not your average public view.
MTA behind-the-scenes: 207th Street Yard
Public transit nerds rejoice. The 207th Street Yard tour showcases a new flood wall designed to stand up to extreme storms — an engineering flex that also speaks to how the city preps for climate surprises.
MTA behind-the-scenes: Coney Island Yard
The largest yard in the subway system is a sprawling train spa: storage, repairs and upgrades for multiple lines all in one place. Expect to see how hundreds of train cars are kept in motion, plus the odd mechanical drama.
MTA behind-the-scenes: Livonia Maintenance Shop
Get close to brake inspections, wheel work and the inventory systems that keep your 3 train on track. It’s less glamorous perfume ad and more grease-and-grit reality — but fascinating if you like gears and logistics.
Owls Head Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility (Bay Ridge)
Sewage might not sound sexy, but this plant turns millions of gallons of gross into clean water and offers surprisingly pretty harbor views from the bluff. If you can get excited about engineering and water chemistry, this one’s a hidden gem.
91st Street Marine Transfer Station (Upper East Side)
Ever wonder how Manhattan’s trash leaves the island? This facility shows you the barging process — efficient, a bit futuristic, and oddly satisfying if you like things that move on conveyor belts and off to sea.
Staten Island Compost Facility
Food scraps and yard waste become tons of nutrient-rich compost at this high-tech operation. It’s smelly in a good, productive way and surprisingly impressive to watch the city’s organic waste get recycled at scale.
Spring Street Salt Shed
The sculptural concrete bunker you’ve seen from the street is more than an odd landmark — it’s part of the winter snow-ops that help keep 19,000 miles of roads passable. The tour explains the logistics behind New York’s snow season hustle.
The Players Club (Gramercy Park)
Step into old-New-York theatrics at The Players Club, founded by a famous Shakespearean actor and designed with those portrait-and-paneled-woodroom vibes. For lovers of stories, stained wood, and a touch of aristocratic dust, this is peak private-club drama.
National Arts Club — Samuel Tilden Mansion
This Victorian Gothic spot opens its stained-glass-domed parlors for a rare look. It’s decorative, ornate, and perfect for people who love velvet, carved banisters, and imagining elaborate 19th-century dinner parties.
Douglaston Club (Queens)
Visit a Federal-style mansion with antique billiard tables, oil portraits, and old-school charm. The tour usually includes a chunk of history and, if you’re lucky, cider on the porch — cozy in a very dignified way.
610 & 620 Fifth Avenue lofts and gardens
These Midtown lofts open onto landscaped rooftop gardens with rare views of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Rockefeller Plaza. They’re modern interiors sliding into elevated green space — a nice reminder that you can have plants and skyline at once.
Radio Park rooftop garden
A tenants-only green tucked over Radio City, Radio Park shows how a lush oasis can thrive above a busy avenue. If you’re into secret garden energy with a Broadway soundtrack, this rooftop is delightfully smug.
Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Yes, those chandeliers are real and yes, you can stand beneath them. The Rainbow Room tour is pure Art Deco glamour and skyline eye candy — the kind of place that makes you whisper like you’re in a movie scene.
