An old town house is a time machine.
Every doorstep is the beginning of a journey
to an unknown destination.
The stairway is the transit hall
between time and space.
It’s the meeting place for people,
generations and cultures.
People live close, but also far apart.
Some know each other well,
some just nod as they pass by.
Some have committed their lives to this house,
some are just passing through.
There are still hundreds of
old brick houses in Oslo.
They were built between 1860 and 1900.
Build by bricklayers and carpenters
that left a long time ago.
Built in an other time,
built in an other town.
Built for another life.
This is the tale of one of these houses.
It was a cold and windy winter’s day in 1998,
when we stood on a corner and watched
an old worn out building
It was a sad sight..
The windows had no curtains
On the ground floor
they were covered with shutters
Dark and gloomy it seemed
to stare with empty eyes
at the world outside.
The house had been there for 130 years.
People had moved in,
people had moved out.
Some were born here,
some came from far away,
Some from streets and houses
just like this one.
Now all were gone and
the house was to be torn down.
But this house had a different fate
from the others like it.
It was chosen for a new life.
It was going to a museum.
MORTEN BING 2008