Melbourne’s jam-packed Open House Weekend is back — and with an incredible lineup of over 170 unique buildings! Every year, the two-day festival celebrates some of the best architecture and building designs across the city as some of its most impressive homes open their doors to the public.

While there are some returning favourites, an unprecedented highlight of this year’s show is a private mid-century house in Melbourne’s east, designed by renowned architect Robin Boyd in 1964. In its 60 years of existence, Wildwood House has never been open to the public — until now!

It features classic architectural features of the 1960s, including an irregular skillion roof bagged with painted brickwork that was quintessential to Robin’s work at the time. Current owner Veeral Patel, an architectural photographer and filmmaker, will be taking groups on a historical tour of his home across the Open House Weekend.

Other new additions to check out in this year’s program include a display of forest land art by conceptual artist Agnes Denes at a private water treatment facility, plus behind-the-scenes tours of Melbourne’s foremost medical research facilities; Australia’s oldest continuously operating artist collective; historic cemeteries; two former explosive storage facilities; and a series of both modern and historical residential homes.

In celebration of the Victorian Heritage Register’s 50th anniversary, the theme of this year’s festival is ‘re/discover your city’, encouraging viewers to engage with and re-examine some of the fabulous designs they may have previously overlooked.

For art enthusiasts, Collingwood’s ArtBank collection space will also be opening its doors to the public who can view the over 14,000 artworks housed inside.

Open House Melbourne
Saturday July 27 – Sunday July 28

Check out the full weekend program here.