Apartment, completely unused since 1942, discovered in Paris | Hacker News Reader

Apartment, completely unused since 1942, discovered in Paris

belloblog.com

90 pointsshawndumas21 comments

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/8042...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The wooden things that cover the windows are normally called shutters in English

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.

"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.

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.

Right. I've heard that a lot of it is actually dead skin.

That and lint from clothing and upholstery, pet dander, etc. All things that are associated with people living in the place.

Landlords in France do not have the right to enter an apartment they rent (with a few exceptions that were not applicable here).

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.

Well...

1) If the landlord has kept a set of keys, this possession would be illegal, and if he has not then he would have to break in the apartment, which would also be illegal. Sure they might have done it anyway, like any burglar could, but why?

2) In no case whatsoever the landlord has a right to enter without the permission of the renter or a court order (which could happen given reasonable suspicion that the place might be deteriorated).

Since the rent was paid, I fail to see why the landlord would have gone to such lengths to visit this place. He was most probably just happy to receive rent from someone who never had problems or complaints.

Interesting with respect to France (which I know nothing about so I will go with what you are saying).

But I am a landlord in the US and there is no such restriction and in fact it's written into the lease that I can enter. (Can this be written into the lease in France or it can't no matter what?) Actually by what you are saying "permission of the renter" it would seem that a lease could be written with this in advance, correct?

Anyway, it seems, from what you are saying, that the landlord in France is same as the police here. They can't enter without a court order but they can enter if, for example, a crime is being committed or if they suspect someone is in distress inside.

Separately (as far as France) I wonder what the distinction is between things that are illegal and things that are actually prosecuted. After all there are many things that are illegal in the US that are de minimis such that nothing will ever happen if it is "small potatoes".

I guess the simple answer is:

* Taxes were not paid

* Utilities were not upgraded

* Pipes did not break

* Windows did not break.

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.

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

The discussion here is covering much of the same ground as one of the earlier submissions:

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.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com