The mystery house (part 3)
We went back to the corridor and tried to open the doors again. There was this big wooden one close to the entrance. This time we pulled hard.
Hurray, the door opened!
On the other side there was a landing, and a staircase. At least we could go down, even if carrying the luggage and the baby down four floors wasn't something we looked forward to.
The staircase went up too. There was a 5th floor after all.
There were doors on the 5th floor landing. All of them had a tag with a person's name on it: they were apartment doors. Unfortunately, none was our friend's. So where did he live?
At the end of the landing, there was yet another metal gate leading to yet another staircase, probably leading to the roof. I didn't have the key.
I went down to the 4th floor. We couldn't still figure out how to get to our friend's place. I left my family on the 4th floor landing and went downstairs to find a solution.
I got in the elevator again, and it dawned on me. There was this weird circular key on the keyring. I put it in the circular keyhole next to the "4" button, where the "5" button should have been.
The circular key was used only to get to the fifth floor! The elevator needed one key to call it when one was on the ground floor, another key to go down when one was on the 4th floor and yet another key to go up to (and down from) the 5th floor.
This time I was able to go to the 5th floor, where I found a little terrace identical to the one on the 4th floor, with a view on a roof covered with nice, varnished tiles.
There was also a dark corridor on the right.
At the end there was a door.
It was lit by a small roof window.
Next to this door was another one.
I had the key! This was our friend's home.
I still had to go back to pick up my family, who were still stranded on the 4th floor. I was going to take the elevator down, when I noticed a door similar to the one we had opened previously and that had led us from the elevator terrace to the 4th floor landing. It was closed, but I had the key this time.
And I found myself on the 5th floor landing, facing the staircase.
Then I realized that the door I had just opened had a tag with people names on it. These doors weren't apartment doors, but allowed passage from the staircase landing to the terrace and corridor on the other side. The names on the tag were the names of the people living in the apartments in the corridor!
So the mystery was solved. I took the elevator down to gather my family and we went up again to go to our friend's studio. Later, we had to struggle with the windows (that were controlled by a not-so-smart automatic system) and the main door of the building failed a couple of times to let us out (the mechanism got stuck at random), but otherwise we had a good week in Lyon.
Hurray, the door opened!
On the other side there was a landing, and a staircase. At least we could go down, even if carrying the luggage and the baby down four floors wasn't something we looked forward to.
The staircase went up too. There was a 5th floor after all.
There were doors on the 5th floor landing. All of them had a tag with a person's name on it: they were apartment doors. Unfortunately, none was our friend's. So where did he live?
At the end of the landing, there was yet another metal gate leading to yet another staircase, probably leading to the roof. I didn't have the key.
I went down to the 4th floor. We couldn't still figure out how to get to our friend's place. I left my family on the 4th floor landing and went downstairs to find a solution.
I got in the elevator again, and it dawned on me. There was this weird circular key on the keyring. I put it in the circular keyhole next to the "4" button, where the "5" button should have been.
The circular key was used only to get to the fifth floor! The elevator needed one key to call it when one was on the ground floor, another key to go down when one was on the 4th floor and yet another key to go up to (and down from) the 5th floor.
This time I was able to go to the 5th floor, where I found a little terrace identical to the one on the 4th floor, with a view on a roof covered with nice, varnished tiles.
There was also a dark corridor on the right.
At the end there was a door.
It was lit by a small roof window.
Next to this door was another one.
I had the key! This was our friend's home.
I still had to go back to pick up my family, who were still stranded on the 4th floor. I was going to take the elevator down, when I noticed a door similar to the one we had opened previously and that had led us from the elevator terrace to the 4th floor landing. It was closed, but I had the key this time.
And I found myself on the 5th floor landing, facing the staircase.
Then I realized that the door I had just opened had a tag with people names on it. These doors weren't apartment doors, but allowed passage from the staircase landing to the terrace and corridor on the other side. The names on the tag were the names of the people living in the apartments in the corridor!
So the mystery was solved. I took the elevator down to gather my family and we went up again to go to our friend's studio. Later, we had to struggle with the windows (that were controlled by a not-so-smart automatic system) and the main door of the building failed a couple of times to let us out (the mechanism got stuck at random), but otherwise we had a good week in Lyon.
Labels: architecture, Lyon
posted by Gilles at
1:37 AM
7 Comments:
What a cool building! Makes you wonder what sort of history it had, what it was originally built for, and what sorts of secrets it holds. What's the deal with the torture room? Did the old lord of the castle keep it handy to wrangle extra pittance from the peasants, or was that for the mother-in-law when she visited? ;) Way too cool...
The building was probably nothing uncommon at the time it was built. It seems to me that architects mostly built for the outside looks (hence the massive front doors, the ornate stone balconies etc.), with little concern about general usability, lighting and useless concepts such as sanitation... Modern additions (like the non-sensical elevator here) don't help of course.
On the other hand, the maze-like structure of Lyon's buildings made them good hiding places for the French Resistance during WW2.
Fascinating... like an episode from an adventure game. I'm sure this house has even more secrets to discover.
Thanks Gilles for this aMAZing photo story.
Salut !
J'ai trouve Oyonale y a quelques temps maintenant & je connais le site par coeur, j'adore c'que tu fais !
J'ai remarque que t'as rien mis en ligne depuis 2009, y a-t-il une raison pour ca ? Pas l'temps ?
J'me demandais aussi si il y aurait 1 autre moyen de te contacter que par commentaire via ton blog ...
Ciao :-) !
This post has been removed by the author.
Bonjour,
je suis désolée de vous joindre par commentaire interposés mais, sans doute en raison d'un aveuglment sélectif, je n'arrive pas à trouver votre email où que ce soit. Or, avec votre autorisation, j'aimerais utiliser une de vos créations, Evasion (1998).
Je fais partie d'une association étudiante, à but non lucratif, qui essaye d'oeuvrer à l'éducation des personnes incarcérées, le GENEPI. Nous souhaitons organiser un concert de sensibilisation et votre création me semble belle et afaptée au propos, par conséquent je désirerais l'utiliser comme support de communication sur ce concert (affiches, flyers...).
Vous pouvez me contacter à cette adresse: notproudofme@ymail.com
J'espère de tout coeur que vous voudrez bien donner suite à cette demande.
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