Let's round off Open House with yesterday's final four visits.
Open House: Richmond Lock Building (Surrey Side) (Richmond)
The Weired One
Open House: The Lock House, Richmond Lock & Weir (Twickenham) The Thin One
Sometimes spaces on heavily booked tours suddenly appear overnight, even on the day of the opening, thus I grabbed this one and changed my plans for the day. Richmond is the last lock on the Thames if heading downstream, and the only one owned and operated by the Port of London Authority. It was opened in 1894 to solve a problem created 60 years earlier when the old London Bridge was demolished, speeding up the flow of the river. This meant the upper tidal reaches between Teddington and Richmond became unnavigable for hours either side of low tide, hence an elaborate iron span was constructed with five arches and three rising sluice gates. An Act of Parliament requires river levels to be maintained at or above half-tide level, which is 1.72m, hence government permission has to be sought annually when they open the weir for autumn maintenance.
The footbridge across the top opens daily but you can't walk underneath, not unless you're a PLA employee. For Open House it was possible to do this on both banks because each end of the structure is supported atop a sturdy lockkeepers cottage and both of these were open. One is still in operational use, complete with big screens, tide tables and a kettle, while the other has been leased to an architectural practice called Astronaut Kawada. The long thin space has been beautifully kitted-out in white with drawings and models on display, plus a well placed mirror to make it look longer. Dean's desk is perfectly placed to have the lock span over his right shoulder, far better than any screensaver, while the view from the entrance is of the weir side-on in perfect symmetry. If you have a small boat you can lug it over the rollers here for free.
The actual lock itself is adjacent to the Surrey bank and is 76m long and 8m wide so can take much larger craft. It's needed when the weir gates are raised, a mechanism you can watch up close from the footbridge roughly two hours before and two hours after high tide. We were instead fortunate enough to be able to watch a boat pass through, admittedly a small one but it wasted the same amount of upstream water all the same. To admit them Mason the lockkeeper pressed a button to open the lock gates, then closed them, then wandered round to the mooring chains carrying a big fishing net. What on earth does he need that for, we thought, and were both amused and surprised when he lowered down a white plastic card reader so the boatowner could pay his contactless toll charge. It costs £5 for non-commercial craft to pass through the lock, down from £12 last year, which also covers a return journey on the same day. I presume the same net method is used to collect notes.
They've had a tough year at Richmond Lock, first with too much water passing through thanks to high winter rainfall, then insufficient water thanks to summer drought. They're still suffering from low flow so the weir's currently raised for longer than normal, also they try to double up boats through the lock which helps maintain the statutory minimum level at all times. Climate change is expected to bring additional challenges, thus managing the lock/weir combo is a lot to keep on top of and not just an open and shut case. I had been hoping the tour would go further than just the dockside (we didn't even get to cross the lock gates), also a lot of what was said was drowned out by regular planes on the Heathrow flightpath directly overhead. But always keep an eye on the Open House listings because sometimes some proper last minute treats pop up.
Open House: Central Hill Estate (Crystal Palace)
The Stepped One
It's always good to walk round a postwar council estate on a tour led by a resident, so this year I headed to the Central Hill Estate which hugs 17 acres of sloping land near Crystal Palace. It's lovely and woody at the top, rather less so at the bottom, and considered an acclaimed high-density low-rise estate. It is however in the London borough of Lambeth and they've historically had a feral bloodlust for redeveloping their older council estates, which must be why the introductory talk didn't start with a potted history but instead a lengthy gripe about the sneaky tactics that had been used to vacate tenants and let the fabric of the estate decline. And yet despite a demolition order passed in 2017 no flats have yet been pulled down, mostly thanks to the dogged stubbornness of the residents, which echoed everything I'd heard on an Open House tour of Cressingham Gardens a few years ago.
The tour of the site lasted almost two hours, much of it pointing out lovely things, pointing out bad things and responding to questions. Look at these gorgeous mature trees, there's no reason for these boarded-up homes to be empty, we had a decent basketball court here but then they built a playground in the middle of it, I had to push to get these bricks replaced, we used to have a community centre but they closed it, this neighbourhood was low-traffic even in the 1960s, imagine what you could use this nuclear bunker for, these modern flats in the corner are pretty shoddy, we first guessed something was up when they chopped down all the trailing ivy, etc etc. Near the end we also got to look inside one of the maisonettes which was fairly spacious for a 3-bedder, even if it didn't have the stunning views across London the upstairs neighbour enjoyed.
Only a miracle it seemed could turn around Lambeth's blinkered purge, and unbelievably that may have happened earlier this year and be consolidated at a council meeting next month. The Green Party took control of Lambeth council in May, ousting a 20-year Labour administration. One of their new councillors was Pete Elliott, a former Central Hill resident who's been running the Open House tour for years and been highly outspoken on the subject. He's now the Cabinet member responsible for Housing and suddenly in charge of the process that previously evicted him from his home. Making changes is difficult when you've a restricted budget and inherited debt, but the council is now working with residents rather than against them and it's anticipated demolition status will be reversed. Miracles do happen, but you have to vote for them.
Open House: Kingswood House (Sydenham)
The Bovril One
I've been meaning to look inside this utter anomaly for years and it didn't disappoint. First there was Kingswood Lodge, owned by the solicitor who foiled George IV's plan to divorce his wife Caroline of Brunswick. In 1891 John Lawson Johnston moved in, the inventor of Bovril, having spotted that cubes of beef extract were easier to send to market than the cattle themselves. He extended the house and added chunky battlements, also Scottishifying the interior. In 1921 another meat baron took up residence, namely Sir William Vestey (who was responsible for the Dewhurst chain and a massive shipping empire). After WW2 the building's importance slumped when 'Bovril Castle' was turned into a council library, and since 2020 it's become a bookless arts venue with cashflow issues. They told this amazing backstory in far more detail on the tour.
About 50 of us were led jovially round the building, starting in the entrance hall where the house's surviving tapestries haven't quite faded. The Great Hall has true Scottish baronial style, including full wood panelling and an anachronistic minstrels gallery, thus must have been an amazing space to seek out the latest library books. Children instead renewed their Julia Donaldsons in the billiard room. The Jacobean Room is named for its decorative plaster ceiling inlaid with noble symbolism, while the Palm Court is no longer frond-filled but retains a classic airiness. We didn't get upstairs because they were hosting a children's party up there, but that's a working venue for you.
When Camberwell council took control of Kingswood House in the 1950s they surrounded it with a fairly basic council estate, much to the horror of nearby Dulwich residents. It thus remains a shock to see this battlemented castle sitting incongruously amid municipal blocks opposite a very lowly shopping parade, especially if climbing up out of Sydenham Hill station. Thankfully the arts centre has established itself at the heart of its community with a cafe, classes and wedding availability, also a free meal served every Tuesday evening from 6.30pm should you be feeling lonely and/or hungry. I don't think they serve beef very often, nor is yeast extract on tap, but a fine bunch of volunteers continue to keep Johnston's Bovril-funded creation alive.
» 40 Open House 2026 photos
(across 24 properties, another year finally complete)
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