[ The basement, sort of. ]

Through the door and down some steps, you come into the basement. Except it's not. It's the original ground floor. These windows and doors were once facing out onto the street.


[ The building ]

The poor lighting made this picture a little blurry, but you should be able to make out the fact that the guide is pointing to a '1st floor' window on an original drawing of the building - which is where we walked in through what is now a street-level door.


[ Makeshift walkways ]

Little to no work has been done to make these underground areas habitable; all they've done is the minimum to make the tours safe such as lighting and a wooden walkway with railing.

Why not use the space? The main reason they filled in the ground level was not the fire - that just provided a good excuse. The real problem was that the "ground" was sawdust from a mill used as infill on a swampy area. It kept sinking in and it was barely above sea level, which caused huge problems for sewage. This floor is still sinking.


[ Back out in daylight ]

Back out in daylight, temporarily. (The tour involves a lot of back alleys.)






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