Echoes of Anne Frank

263 Prinsengracht Street, a narrow four-story building built in 1635, is typical of the homes seventeenth-century merchants built for themselves facing the canals of Amsterdam. The building’s wide double doors at one time opened onto a horse stable. Later, in the twentieth century, it was converted into a warehouse. The left door of the double doors opened directly onto a staircase that led to the main floor, elevated above the street level to protect the place from frequent flooding. Behind each canal house is often a second building, separated by a garden or courtyard and connected by interior passageways. At,