5 ms·

Apartment, completely unused since 1942, discovered in Paris

90 points by shawndumas 13y ago

ilamont 13y ago
This story has been floating around since 2010 (1). Seems too good to be true. Details such as how taxes were paid, utilities were upgraded, and broken pipes and windows were mended are conveniently missing, and the story does much to pump up the value of an unknown painting by a famous artist. 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042281/Parisian-flat-containing-2.1-million-painting-lay-untouched-for-70-years.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042...
- nakedrobot2 13y ago
  Damn! I was hoping that this apartment had just been opened... Although the type of website this article is on did not give me hope about that. There is no other source for this information? Has anything happened to the place since then? I'd love to shoot some 360 photos in there...
- seszett 13y ago
  Well, they do say that she kept on paying her rent, so she probably also paid residence tax (or maybe she didn't have to, since she didn't live there) as well as utilities, which probably just never got upgraded. Maybe they were just turned off, if she cancelled her contracts after leaving Paris. The landlord paid ownership tax. I'm not sure why the pipes or windows should have broken during this time.
  - pmiller2 13y ago
    The pipes bit is actually the thing that seems most improbable to me. Pipes break when the water in them freezes, which occurs when it gets cold and the water isn't flowing.
    - sliverstorm 13y ago
      It's an apartment building; she shared 5 of her 6 walls with occupied residences. Unoccupied cottage in the woods? Pipes will freeze. Unoccupied apartment sharing 5/6 walls? Plenty of heat from neighbors, pipes do not necessarily freeze.
      - Turing_Machine 13y ago
        Yep. When I lived in a condo surrounded on 5/6 sides by other units, I never turned my heat on. Ever. My gas bill was about $8/month, as I recall, $5.00 of which was the service charge for generating the bill. I assume the other $3.00 was what it cost to keep the pilot light burning.
    - seszett 13y ago
      Pipes freezing in an apartment in Paris? That is what sounds highly improbable. And about the windows, well she probably shut the windows when she left (not sure how it's called in English actually? closing the wooden things that cover the windows). Accidents do happen, but an unoccupied apartment that has not had a water problem or a broken window in 70 years? I don't see a problem, especially in such a non-hostile environment.
      - anu_gupta 13y ago
        The wooden things that cover the windows are normally called shutters in English
  - ilamont 13y ago
    Pipes freeze, solder cracks, valves deteriorate. And then there's rust. Adjoining apartments may have plumbing issues or leaks too, and at some point the plumber or landlord will need to get into the flat. This happens in new condos all of the time; why would a pre-war Paris apartment be any different? Windows: War, wind, birds, vandals, thieves, kids, 1968, rotting sills and frames, dried out putty, etc. It's an entertaining story, but certain elements are unlikely, the information presented has not been fact-checked, and other details are missing. And someone profited greatly from such a story being released. Until more facts are presented, I'm going to remain skeptical.
- larrys 13y ago
  "Seems too good to be true" Well for one thing there is nowhere near enough dust in that place to have been untouched and not cleaned for all of those years. Particularly also this: "left unoccupied since 1942 was discovered." Seems to indicate that not even the landlord ever had a reason to enter the apartment in all of those years.
  - pmiller2 13y ago
    You'd be amazed how little dust accumulates in a place when people don't go there. That's because people are actually the source of most house dust.
    - Turing_Machine 13y ago
      Right. I've heard that a lot of it is actually dead skin.
      - ams6110 13y ago
        That and lint from clothing and upholstery, pet dander, etc. All things that are associated with people living in the place.
  - seszett 13y ago
    Landlords in France do not have the right to enter an apartment they rent (with a few exceptions that were not applicable here).
    - larrys 13y ago
      Well two things come to mind. 1) Who is going to complain and know that they entered if the reason they are entering is that they can tell that nobody ever entered (say by placing something type of tell tale sign on the door showing no activity as is done in nursing homes? 2) They almost certainly have a right to enter for some exigent circumstances (that of course could be fabricated) fairly easily should they decide they want to enter the unit.
- shalmanese 13y ago
  I guess the simple answer is: * Taxes were not paid * Utilities were not upgraded * Pipes did not break * Windows did not break.
- SimHacker 13y ago
  That is an incredibly beautiful painting, and I don't think it needs a story to pump up its value, beyond the facts that are true.
jeroen 13y ago
The article makes a mess of some basic facts. The painting is from 1898, when the woman in it was 24. [1] Not she, but her granddaughter left the apartment in 1942. The apartment was opened in 2010, which is 68 years later, not "over 70". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini
ColinWright 13y ago
The discussion here is covering much of the same ground as one of the earlier submissions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5622993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5622993 Discussion there is closed and hence can't be further extended, so it's worth commenting here if you have something to say.

90 points by shawndumas 13y ago

This story has been floating around since 2010 (1). Seems too good to be true. Details such as how taxes were paid, utilities were upgraded, and broken pipes and windows were mended are conveniently missing, and the story does much to pump up the value of an unknown painting by a famous artist. 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042281/Parisian-flat-containing-2.1-million-painting-lay-untouched-for-70-years.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042...

nakedrobot2 13y ago
Damn! I was hoping that this apartment had just been opened... Although the type of website this article is on did not give me hope about that. There is no other source for this information? Has anything happened to the place since then? I'd love to shoot some 360 photos in there...
seszett 13y ago
Well, they do say that she kept on paying her rent, so she probably also paid residence tax (or maybe she didn't have to, since she didn't live there) as well as utilities, which probably just never got upgraded. Maybe they were just turned off, if she cancelled her contracts after leaving Paris. The landlord paid ownership tax. I'm not sure why the pipes or windows should have broken during this time.
- pmiller2 13y ago
  The pipes bit is actually the thing that seems most improbable to me. Pipes break when the water in them freezes, which occurs when it gets cold and the water isn't flowing.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    It's an apartment building; she shared 5 of her 6 walls with occupied residences. Unoccupied cottage in the woods? Pipes will freeze. Unoccupied apartment sharing 5/6 walls? Plenty of heat from neighbors, pipes do not necessarily freeze.
    - Turing_Machine 13y ago
      Yep. When I lived in a condo surrounded on 5/6 sides by other units, I never turned my heat on. Ever. My gas bill was about $8/month, as I recall, $5.00 of which was the service charge for generating the bill. I assume the other $3.00 was what it cost to keep the pilot light burning.
  - seszett 13y ago
    Pipes freezing in an apartment in Paris? That is what sounds highly improbable. And about the windows, well she probably shut the windows when she left (not sure how it's called in English actually? closing the wooden things that cover the windows). Accidents do happen, but an unoccupied apartment that has not had a water problem or a broken window in 70 years? I don't see a problem, especially in such a non-hostile environment.
    - anu_gupta 13y ago
      The wooden things that cover the windows are normally called shutters in English
- ilamont 13y ago
  Pipes freeze, solder cracks, valves deteriorate. And then there's rust. Adjoining apartments may have plumbing issues or leaks too, and at some point the plumber or landlord will need to get into the flat. This happens in new condos all of the time; why would a pre-war Paris apartment be any different? Windows: War, wind, birds, vandals, thieves, kids, 1968, rotting sills and frames, dried out putty, etc. It's an entertaining story, but certain elements are unlikely, the information presented has not been fact-checked, and other details are missing. And someone profited greatly from such a story being released. Until more facts are presented, I'm going to remain skeptical.
larrys 13y ago
"Seems too good to be true" Well for one thing there is nowhere near enough dust in that place to have been untouched and not cleaned for all of those years. Particularly also this: "left unoccupied since 1942 was discovered." Seems to indicate that not even the landlord ever had a reason to enter the apartment in all of those years.
- pmiller2 13y ago
  You'd be amazed how little dust accumulates in a place when people don't go there. That's because people are actually the source of most house dust.
  - Turing_Machine 13y ago
    Right. I've heard that a lot of it is actually dead skin.
    - ams6110 13y ago
      That and lint from clothing and upholstery, pet dander, etc. All things that are associated with people living in the place.
- seszett 13y ago
  Landlords in France do not have the right to enter an apartment they rent (with a few exceptions that were not applicable here).
  - larrys 13y ago
    Well two things come to mind. 1) Who is going to complain and know that they entered if the reason they are entering is that they can tell that nobody ever entered (say by placing something type of tell tale sign on the door showing no activity as is done in nursing homes? 2) They almost certainly have a right to enter for some exigent circumstances (that of course could be fabricated) fairly easily should they decide they want to enter the unit.
shalmanese 13y ago
I guess the simple answer is: * Taxes were not paid * Utilities were not upgraded * Pipes did not break * Windows did not break.
SimHacker 13y ago
That is an incredibly beautiful painting, and I don't think it needs a story to pump up its value, beyond the facts that are true.

jeroen 13y ago

The article makes a mess of some basic facts. The painting is from 1898, when the woman in it was 24. [1] Not she, but her granddaughter left the apartment in 1942. The apartment was opened in 2010, which is 68 years later, not "over 70". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini

ColinWright 13y ago

The discussion here is covering much of the same ground as one of the earlier submissions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5622993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5622993 Discussion there is closed and hence can't be further extended, so it's worth commenting here if you have something to say.