Funny box on the wall, what is it? - Berlin

Hi all! Would you like to try and solve a mystery? What on earth is the purpose of this box on the wall of our sublet? Note: the address on the box is not ours. :0 Sara

No idea, but there seems to be a some kind of a catch on the right hand side. Open it and take a look - and report back please

I'd tip on an old fuse box

how big is the apartment and where is the box? It looks kind of like a servants bell box. We used to have one of these in our kitchen in an old house in Scotland. There were buttons mounted on the walls of all the principle rooms and if you pressed one of those a light and buzzer would come on in the bell box. Used to drive my mum batty as being small kids we ran round pressing them all day . . . . until she disconnected it.

That's exactly what it is. We used to have one in our old house in Reading.

is that a dumb waiter in the corner of the picture?

D'you think she lives in a restaurant catering for the hard of hearing?

I suppose if it used to be a ground floor flat and there are three other flats in the building it could have been the Hausverwalter's apartment and the bells could have been from each of the three other appartments.

why would you have a bell for each apartment? its like saying when i call you there is a special wire from my phone directly to your phone. You schmuck

So, to address some of your queries/points...

We cannot open the box. We can pull the metal pin in and out. Nothing happens. ... that we know of. On the other side of the world, perhaps, the wings of a butterfly flap. We live on the second floor. The apartment is your typical Berlin altbau with the long hallway. It is old enough that many electrical wires and pipes are not hidden within the walls. And the bathroom was obviously an addition. In fact, the sounds of our flushing or the upstairs neighbor flushing is reminiscent of a submarine launching torpedoes. Woooooosh! Clank. Plop. [Sound of poop launched at rocket speeds off of the viewing shelf.] Nothing happens when we push the doorbell next to the bedroom closet; as much as we hope, a cute girl in a French maid's outfit with a feather duster does not appear. We don't even get a Russian granny with a shovel for coal. You now should know everything. And more!

I just wonder what the red & green indicator strips (if that's what they are) are for? Presumably when you push / pull the pin the strips go from red to green (or vice versa) indicating a state change somewhere...

An unused old 3-phase electrical mains switch perhaps?

Hmmm. That must be the fault of the photograph: there are no red & green indicator strips. The box is empty, even behind the three little windows. Next guess?

so there is a bellpush in your bedroom? Looks like my suggestion that this is a servants bell box is correct then.

ask your hausmeister, we are all very intrigued by this. can you record the toilet of your neighbours please?

IT IS A LISTENING DEVICE YOU THINK THE STASI ARE GONE BUT THEY ARE NOT THEY USE IT TO LISTEN TO YOUR THOUGHTS TO WORK OUT IF YOU NEED TO BE ...

Oh wait ...

Wrong forum. Sorry.