The Most Important Buildings in Lai Street in Tallinn
higher ceiling than the adjacent rooms, as
well as a staircase leading to the upstairs
rooms. Goods were usually hoisted to the
upper floors directly from the street with the
help of winches that would raise them to
hatches visible on the front of the house.
The entrance hallway served as the
merchant's workroom and front office,
which he would decorate with ashlars' stones as fine as his wealth would allow. The doors
leading to the interior rooms were also decorated as grandly as possible.
Heat rose into the living room from a stove in the basement. Making a fire in the stove would
cause the stones that covered it to become hot; the smoke was vented out through the
chimney. Once the heating of the stove was completed, the chimney register was closed, and
the warm air was let into the living room through openings in the floor. This peculiarly
medieval heating system remained in use in homes as well as public buildings until the 16th
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