An early morning, another tiny village with little to see but the church. And an interesting looking house with boarded windows.
The corner with the blocked entrance is strange. I’ve seen doors like that in old houses, where there have been small businesses located downstairs and the apartment of the shop owner upstairs. I think this is one of them.
Before writing this article, I tried to do exhausting research about the building. It is one of the oldest in the village, but no internet forums, Facebook groups or old aerial photos reveal what it has been. We’ll therefore call it the House of Colors. Perhaps you’ll soon learn why.
It looks a bit like the building would originally have had a two-storey main part made of wood and a one-storey wing behind it made of stone, which would hint at being a store or a factory. The second floor looks like a later addition.
But the back door is open, so let’s go see with my own eyes, what is hiding in the building.
A sauna department. Tile choices suggest that it is from the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. Whatever the building has been, it has at some point been converted.
A messy apartment room. Again the tiles and the boards suggest, that something has been done later on. I strongly suspect the early 1990’s now.
Judging by the damage, the building has been abandoned for quite some time.
The first apartment was small. It led to a small hall with several doors, some even leading outside.
The apartments had toilets, but this one seemed to be from an earlier era than the sauna department. Already realize why I call this the House of Colors?
Next to the entrance seen earlier, were stairs to the upper floor. Again it is very customary for old mixed use business/apartment buildings of this era to have one entrance up front to the business premises and another at the back to the apartments.
Doorways had been blocked by walls at some point. They weren’t very tough, and someone has taken the effort to make all rooms of the building accessible.
Now I’m reaching the area, which I believe has originally been the business premises.
In here the apartments are older. Whatever the business has been, the conversation has been undertaken decades ago. I’m again guessing, but I believe we are talking about the 1970’s or even the 1960’s.
The Nokia 7360 was launched in late 2005, so that’s when there’s still been life here. The VHS cassette was launched some decades earlier.
Another hint at the date of abandonment – a daily newspaper from 2008.
To be continued.