Original State

The basement/cellar when we bought the house had the following layout. It only covered about one-third of the depth of the house (on the angled Rue Gambetta side) and was only about three-quarters of the width of the house.

Essentially, the only existing purposes of the cellar (it had originally been used for coal deliveries for the coal-fired furnace) were to contain the gas furnace to power the hot water and the heating system, and to house a wine cellar (with all the bottles in the rack left as part of the purchase agreement). The wine rack contained some interesting vintages. The first bottle I examined was from my year of birth - 1949. Further examination found another half-dozen bottles from about 1899. Whether any are still drinkable is another matter!