From shit scraper to rain pipe

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Many 19th + early 20 century houses in Brussels have a small space at foot level next to the main entrance. It is where the so called ‘shit-scraper’ used to be installed: a metal bar that you can use to scrape off the soles of your shoes, before entering the house. Having become obsolete, they are either left neglected or at best converted into something else, such as this example that is now housing the exhaust of a rain pipe.