The House of Young Talents

A baroque town palace on a quiet street in East Berlin on a wet evening in late autumn, a three-storey facade in ochre yellow with grey pilasters and cornices under a tall red tiled hipped roof with three dormers, in its centre a shallow triangular pediment above four pilasters, beneath it a round-arched window and a small stone balcony over a round-arched doorway reached by a short flight of steps between two glowing wall lanterns, rows of tall many-paned windows, two first-floor windows flickering pale blue and green, a figure in a dark parka seen from directly behind, face turned fully away, walking toward the steps, wet cobbles reflecting street lamps.