Das Gästezimmer
guest-room
On the water side of the old counting house, one floor above the gate. A high arched window in dark red brick looks onto the canal; stucco on the ceiling, an iron bed with white linen, a washstand, a ...
guest-room
On the water side of the old counting house, one floor above the gate. A high arched window in dark red brick looks onto the canal; stucco on the ceiling, an iron bed with white linen, a washstand, a ...
island
In the river mouth: a long, flat back of salt meadow, nearly a kilometre from end to end and up to two hundred metres wide, with trodden paths through the grass and creeks at its edges; at high water ...
dressing-room
At the end of the Crossing: warm light from the lamps around the tall mirrors, a bench, hooks with uniform jackets, a concrete floor that makes heels audible. Here the change of register takes place. ...
hall
The high, bare room of the concrete wing: fair-faced concrete with the ribs of the skylight, a long floor of dark wood, a row of steel chairs against the wall. Here one stands in line. Customs of thi...
gate
The lodge on the canal on the ground floor of the old building: a stone floor, a heavy door standing open towards the water. Here one stands. Here the Aspirant sees every guest first. Customs of this...
archive
Narrow, a single window, steel shelving to the ceiling, grey file boxes, a desk. Here the Registrar sits, and whoever wants something from her stands beside the desk. Customs of this room: Here one s...
boathouse
Six hundred metres downstream, where the embankment turns into the dyke: timber on a brick plinth, tarred, a door to the water. Inside a slipway and a basin whose water is black and never quite still,...
salon
Dark panelling, a leather armchair under a brass lamp, heavy curtains, and across the ceiling a concrete beam from the conversion that the Director never had clad. Here she sits, all the others stand....
quay
The quay before the gate: granite blocks, iron bollards, rings of green bronze in the embankment wall, cut flood marks, the highest of which bears no year. From here one sees the Ministry on the far b...
chamber
Bare, a polished stone floor, a single cone of light from above, the walls in shadow. Here one kneels. One does not enter this room without the chamber dress. Customs of this room: Here one kneels. L...
conservatory
On the water side: a glass roof on steel ribs, plants in concrete tubs, a gravel path, and behind it the water. Here the bearing is free, and that is why it is the hardest room in the House. Customs ...