Open House London 2023
Mon 04/09/2023
Open House London 2023
Open House London is a celebration of London's homes, architecture and neighbourhoods. Sutton’s most unique and best known heritage buildings are opening themselves to the public as part of this year’s event, but we also have a whole host of additional walks, tours and exhibitions exploring Sutton’s history, communities and neighbourhoods. This year our activities focus on our wider Sutton STEAMs Ahead programme, celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths in Sutton, and part funded by the Mayor of London and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Things to do during Open House London 2023 in Sutton
Stories from...The Welsh Chapel
Visit this unique building whilst discovering how the technological changes in transport of the 19th & 20th century make a difference to Sutton today.
Time: Saturday 9 September, 10am-4pm. Sunday 10 September, 10am-3pm.
Location: The Welsh Chapel, Lind Road, Sutton, SM1 4PJ
Guided walk: Edward Harris Rabbits and the development of later Victorian Sutton
This walk looks at a number of the buildings associated with Victorian businessman, E.H. Rabbits (1818-74), a major contributor to the development of suburban Sutton.
Time: Saturday 9 September, 11am-12:30pm.
Location: Meet outside Sutton Railway Station, SM1 1JA
Public art trail: Portraits of the South by Abi Partington-Moran
This new public art trail in Sutton Town Centre, showcases double exposure photographic portraits of local people and places. Part of the Then, Now, Next commission series.
Time: Saturday 9 September - 7 October (available to view at all times)
Location: Sutton High Street and St Nicholas Way underpass, SM1
Little Holland House Open Day
A modest detached Arts and Crafts style house self-built by Frank Dickinson, with a collection of decorative details and furnishings. Volunteer guides offer tours throughout the day.
Time: Sunday 10 September, 11am-5pm.
Location: 40 Beeches Avenue, Carshalton Beeches SM5 3LW
The Wandle Wardrobe: Getting Dressed with STEAM exhibition
Take a time-travelling textile tour of the River Wandle (and beyond!) through a series of garments.
Time: 3 August - 7 October, 10am-5pm.
Location: Honeywood Museum, SM5 3NX
From Oranges to Watercress Exhibition
A look at specialist plant growing in the local area from 1500 to 1950 including the innovative plants in two major Elizabethan gardens
Time: 28 April - 11 January, 10am-5pm.
Location: Honeywood Museum, SM5 3NX
Lumley Chapel Opening
Lumley Chapel is the remaining part of the mediaeval parish church of St Dunstan's, home to many village tales. A volunteer guide will be present.
Time: Saturday 9 September, 1:30pm - 4pm.
Location: Church Rd, Cheam, Sutton SM3 8QH
The Shed Loads of Happiness exhibition
Share the Joyful Moment of Sutton’s Hong Kong community which features as part of the Shed Loads of Happiness project, which saw eight community groups exploring wellbeing and happiness in Sutton.
Time: 27 July - 11 November, 10am-5pm.
Location: Whitehall Historic House, SM3 8QD
Places to go during Open House London 2023 in Sutton
Central Sutton & New Town Neighbourhood
Sutton High Street
Visit the bustling Sutton High Street featuring the following activity:
Guided walk: Edward Harris Rabbits, and the development of Later Victorian Sutton
E H Rabbits (1818-74) was a major contributor to the development of suburban Sutton. This linear walk will look at a number of the buildings he is associated with, starting at his own house and ending with his business premises, while looking at other sites on the way to illustrate the Victorian development of Sutton.
The walk will start in front of Sutton Railway Station, and end at the Corner of High Street with Marshalls Road, Sutton. Saturday 9 September, 11am-12:30pm.
Public art trail: Portraits of the South by Abi Partington-Moran
This innovative artist-created trail in Sutton Town Centre is the first of four Sutton STEAMS Ahead Then, Now, Next photographic commissions to be unveiled this Autumn/Winter. The installation showcases double exposure photographic portraits of local people on 15 benches along the length of the HIgh Street, as well as in the St Nicholas Way underpass between All Bar One and Wetherspoons. The photographs link via QR codes to recorded interviews which focus on themes of the past, present and future of Sutton. Saturday 9 September - 7 October (24hrs)
The Welsh Chapel
Lind Road, Sutton, SM1 4PJ
A unique chapel featuring the following activity:
Stories from…The Welsh Chapel
Come and visit this unique building in Sutton New Town whilst exploring a new exhibition produced by Sutton New Town Community Festival. ‘Where are you going?’ looks at the history of how rapid technological changes in transport in the late 19th and early 20th century changed the area, and how that affects the way people travel around Sutton today. Artwork created by local school children inspired by the theme of transport will also be incorporated into the displays. Saturday 9 September, 10am-4pm. Sunday 10 September, 10am-3pm.
Russettings
25 Worcester Rd, Sutton SM2 6PR
Delivering a range of Registration Services, Russettings is a large Victorian villa, offering contemporary and traditional ceremonies. For Open House London 2023, a small display looking at the history of Civil Registration and the changing fashions of weddings in the early part of the twentieth century will also be on show.
St Nicholas Church
St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1ST
St Nicholas strives to be a welcoming safe place where people can know warmth and love, committed to serving the community of Central Sutton in a wide variety of ways.
Christ Church
Christchurch Park, Sutton SM2 5TN
Christ Church is welcoming to all people of lots of different nationalities, backgrounds, income brackets, and different ways of looking at the world.
Carshalton Neighbourhood
Honeywood Museum
Honeywood Walk, Carshalton SM5 3N
Honeywood stands in a distinctive location on the Carshalton Ponds. Current exhibitions include:
The Wandle Wardrobe: Getting Dressed with STEAM
Take a time-travelling textile tour of the River Wandle (and beyond!) through a series of garments created for Stories From The Sheds, part of Sutton STEAMS ahead. Discover the science behind the Wandle’s calico bleaching grounds and the wonders and dangers of natural and chemical dyes, and find out why dressmakers need a good eye for style and a good head for numbers as they create fabulous frocks!
From Oranges to Watercress Exhibition
A look at specialist plants growing in the local area from 1500 to 1950 including innovations in two major Elizabethan gardens (one with oranges), and the later farming of lavender, mint and watercress.
Little Holland House
40 Beeches Avenue, Carshalton Beeches SM5 3LW
Little Holland House is a modest detached Arts and Crafts style house self-built by Frank Dickinson in 1902-4. He and his wife Florence then made almost all the furniture, paintings, metalwork and other decorations giving the house a unique and very personal character. This was not the Arts and Crafts lifestyle bought from fashionable shops or expensively commissioned from designers: it is the work of an artist living the Arts and Crafts ideals and creating a unique home for him and his family.
With the collection of decorative detail and furnishings remaining in the house today, Little Holland House is a hidden gem within the Carshalton Beeches neighbourhood of the London Borough of Sutton. The opening of the house is supported by passionate and knowledgeable volunteers, who also support the upkeep of the garden. Visit and be inspired.
Carshalton Water Tower
Pound St, Carshalton SM5 3PN
The Water Tower is a unique Grade II listed early 18th century garden building sited in the grounds of Carshalton House in Surrey.
All Saints Carshalton
High Street, Carshalton, SM5 3AG
Domesday Book records the presence of a church at Carshalton. How long it had been there we don’t really know. The church is open with exhibitions of art, photographs and artefacts, craft stalls, tours, live music, family events and refreshments.
Cheam Neighbourhood
Whitehall Historic House
1 Malden Rd, Cheam, Sutton SM3 8QD
Whitehall Historic House displays about the history of Whitehall, Cheam, Nonsuch Palace and the surrounding area, featuring the following current exhibition.
The Shed Loads of Happiness Exhibition
This exhibition reflects on the work of eight local community groups who took part in a Sutton STEAMs Ahead project, exploring the wellbeing and happiness of Sutton’s residents. Each group will be highlighted in turn. During the London Open House Festival we are highlighting the work of Sutton’s Hong Kong community with their Joyful Moment project (7-16 September 2023). After this group, displays will incorporate work by: Sutton Men in Sheds; Sutton Mental Health Foundation; Advocacy for All; Malayalee Association Sutton Surrey (MASS)
Lumley Chapel
Church Rd, Cheam, Sutton SM3 8QH
An historic chapel featuring the following activity.
Lumley Chapel Opening
Managed by the Churches Conservation Trust, the Lumley Chapel is the remaining part of the mediaeval parish church of St Dunstan's. First built before the Norman Conquest, it contains many monuments to the villagers of Cheam including to John, Lord Lumley and his two wives, which dominate the chapel. The monuments hold many village tales, of schoolmasters and schoolboys, priests and lawyers, doctors and farmers, and businessmen and civil servants. A volunteer guide will be present.
Hackbridge Neighbourhood
Hackbridge Primary School
Hackbridge Road, Hackbridge, Wallington, SM6 7FE
Hackbridge Primary School is the first school in the UK certified to meet the Passivhaus Plus standard, setting the standard for zero carbon educational buildings.