13th Annual Open House New York Weekend Dates Announced

Open House New York Weekend October 17-18, 2015

111 8th Ave | This was a tough shot to get, the way I wanted. This building is enormous, with very short setbacks, and I do not have a tilt/shift or PC lens. Instead I used an extreme ultrawide lens (7mm m4/3, 14mm equivalent) pointed at an upward angle to get the entire façade in while standing on the other side of the street in front of Chelsea Market. I was standing at the edge of the sidewalk, and even so the awning above me was just out of frame at the top, and I had to be very careful about lens flare. I was careful to center the building in the center of the frame and keep the horizon precisely level to make the post-processing corrections easier.

I partially corrected the extreme converging lines in Lightroom, using a -100 Vertical setting in the Lens Corrections tool. Due to the extreme distortion, this still left a significant amount of perspective convergence, but I think it still looks good. There are artifacts in the button corners, but I chose to leave them rather than slice off even more of the button or sides of the building than I already had. — 111 8th Ave | This was a tough shot to get, the way I wanted. This building is enormous, with very short setbacks, and I do not have a tilt/shift or PC lens. Instead I used an extreme ultrawide lens (7mm m4/3, 14mm equivalent) pointed at an upward angle to get the entire façade in while standing on the other side of the street in front of Chelsea Market. I was standing at the edge of the sidewalk, and even so the awning above me was just out of frame at the top, and I had to be very careful about lens flare. I was careful to center the building in the center of the frame and keep the horizon precisely level to make the post-processing corrections easier. I partially corrected the extreme converging lines in Lightroom, using a -100 Vertical setting in the Lens Corrections tool. Due to the extreme distortion, this still left a significant amount of perspective convergence, but I think it still looks good. There are artifacts in the button corners, but I chose to leave them rather than slice off even more of the button or sides of the building than I already had.

New York City has some amazing architectural wonders that are open to the public every day of the year, but the City has many, many more that are not.

The Open House New York Weekend, now in it's 13th year, hopes to bridge this gap and allow the public a rare glimpse into the privately owned and operated buildings of architectural significance.

For two days each October, the Annual Open House New York Weekend unlocks the doors of New York’s most important buildings, offering an extraordinary opportunity to experience the city and meet the people who design, build, and preserve New York.

The dates for this years weekend are October 17th and 18th, at locations in all 5 boroughs. The full list of participating buildings won't be announced until early October, but Forbes reports:

Google’s New York City headquarters in Chelsea, the Beaux-Arts library on CUNY’s Bronx Community College campus designed by McKim, Mead, & White in 1912, one of the city’s largest rooftop soil farms, located on top of the historic Standard Motors Building in Long Island City, and the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island, with its collection of foghorns and lighthouse models, are among the featured sites this year during the 2015 Open House New York Weekend.

The tours are free, but most require registration beforehand to keep things orderly.

via Forbes

Matt Coneybeare

Editor in Chief

Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.

Posts by Matt Coneybeare

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