For the Multimedia Collectible, see The Oldest House (Collectible).

The Oldest House is a Place of Power based in New York, United States. Appearing as a featureless skyscraper of the Brutalist architectural style, the interior of the Oldest House is a space-defying, constantly shifting labyrinth connected to various alternate dimensions through spontaneously occurring Thresholds. The Board and the Astral Plane both appear to possess intrinsic connections to the Oldest House.

The Oldest House acts as the global headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, where the Bureau carries out research on paranatural phenomena, and contains hundreds of Altered Items and Objects of Power. On October 29, 2019, the Oldest House was invaded by a hostile paranatural force, the Hiss, which was unleashed by Bureau Director Zachariah Trench.

History

The origins of the Oldest House are unknown, but based on dialogue from the Board, it is possible it first emerged from the Foundation. On August 4, 1964, the Federal Bureau of Control investigated a suspected Altered World Event (AWE) case in the New York City subway tunnels, accidentally finding an entrance to the Oldest House. At this point, the skyscraper as a whole, due to its nature, became perceptible to the Bureau. After several years investigating the site, the Bureau eventually decided to make it their official headquarters on November 13, 1968, utilizing Control Points as synchronistic rituals to control the House's ever-shifting nature and establish relatively stable areas for research, containment, and bureaucracy.

The Oldest House has acted as the Bureau's headquarters for more than 50 years, during which time hundreds of Altered Items and Objects of Power were contained there for study. Due to the Oldest House's nature to evade perception by ordinary humans, the Bureau itself began to assume this paranatural property, protecting it from detection by the general populace. Under the tenure of Director Zachariah Trench, many significant additions were made to the Oldest House, including the construction of the Panopticon for Altered Item/Object of Power containment and the establishment of the Northmoor Sarcophagus Container (NSC) Power Plant, to power the entire building through the rampant paranatural abilities of former Director Broderick Northmoor. By 2019, the Oldest House consisted of five sectors: Executive, Maintenance, Containment, Research, and Investigations.

Despite the numerous scientific innovations made within the Oldest House like Black Rock material, Power Cores, and the discovery of other dimensions, the use of 21st-century technology (such as smart phones, laptops, the internet, Wi-Fi, and video games) is highly restricted within the building and is largely absent. This is due to the fact that such devices tend to break down, disappear from sight, or explode when placed in the Oldest House, with even radio signals becoming unreliable. It has been theorized that such limitations are the result of modern technology being too "new" for the Collective Unconscious to absorb them. Because of this, most FBC agents and researchers are still reliant on pre-digital means of communication (celluloid film, VHS tapes, pneumatic mail tubes, analog computers, magnetic tape recorders, etc...). This is also reflected in the décor and furniture in the Oldest House, which is based on Mid-Century interior design styles popular in the 1960s (the same time period which the Oldest House was discovered).

In 2002, Bureau agents recovered the Slide Projector Objects of Power from an AWE in Ordinary (see Ordinary AWE). Through the OoP, the Bureau discovered Hedron, a powerful resonance conduit, which Trench came to view as a threat to the Bureau. As a result, he unleashed the Hiss, a hostile resonance-based entity, through the Slide Projector, resulting in a total invasion of the Oldest House which was repelled largely due to the appointment of Jesse Faden as the Bureau's new Director in the wake of Trench's suicide.

Structure & Nature

The Oldest House is a Place of Power, a type of paranatural location possessing a deep and intrinsic connection to various alternate dimensions, particularly the Astral Plane. As a result, it exists outside of the ordinary laws of spacetime, and experiences constant shifts in its internal topography. The Oldest House is believed to be infinite in scale, with the area controlled by the FBC only representing an infinitesimal fraction of the Oldest House's true extent. From the outside, however, the Oldest House is a stoic Brutalist skyscraper of defined size, meaning the building is larger on the inside than on the outside.

The Oldest House possesses a property which makes it imperceptible to anyone except those who are specifically looking for it. As a result, it remained undiscovered until the Bureau found it by accident during an AWE investigation in New York City in 1964. The Bureau itself later seemingly acquired this same property, making it difficult for the general populace to find. It is unknown when the Oldest House first appeared or was created, or whether its name has any bearing to its actual age.

The Board implies that it and the Oldest House share a connection through the Astral Plane, and that both originated in the Foundation, a mysterious location within the House. Because of its paranatural nature, the Oldest House - much like the Oceanview Motel - possesses connections to other dimensions in the form of Thresholds, which appear spontaneously in the building. Known Oldest House Thresholds include the Black Rock Quarry, Mold Threshold, and Clock Threshold. The Oldest House is connected to the Oceanview Motel as well as a result of the events of an AWE in Butte, Montana.

Only the Foundation of the Oldest House remains structurally static; the only recorded shifts occurred due to outside influences from the Hiss invasion and subsequent collision of the Astral Plane. Former Head of Research Theodore Ash noted that the global leylines run not only through the Oldest House, but seem to converge within the Foundation at the site of the Nail. Emily Pope determined that the Oldest House may predate the existence of the Nail, as the Nail is made of a foreign substance composed "of, from, or [possibly] containing" the Astral Plane itself.

After a period of extended observation, Dr. Ash speculated that the Board has exerted substantial influence over the shape, function, and character of the Oldest House, possibly co-opting and interfering with its inherent organic growth to suit their needs. Dr. Ash and other FBC agents, including Helen Marshall and Frederick Langston, noted that the House itself may exert influence over the FBC agents working within. Ash observed Director Northmoor become more arrogant, egocentric, and preoccupied with asserting control over missions and FBC personnel, while Marshall and Langston saw similar effects in both Zachariah Trench and Casper Darling, who became more secretive, isolated, and concerned with pursuing the Board's agenda over the welfare of the Bureau during their extended tenures.

The Oldest House is sensitive, and can react to the presence of observation devices (for example, only shifting when in a camera's blindspot,) modern technology, paranatural activity or interference, and the will of powerful parautilitarians, such as the FBC's Director. Due to the Hiss invasion, the corrupted influence made some sections of the Oldest House hostile to the FBC; however, many of these areas returned to regular function after being cleansed by Director Jesse Faden.

Sectors

Executive Sector

The Executive Sector is the administrative hub of the Oldest House and for the Bureau as a whole. The Director's Office is also located here.

Maintenance Sector

The Maintenance Sector provides power and essential services to the rest of the building. It is also the location of the Quarry Threshold and the connection to the Foundation.

Containment Sector

The Containment Sector consists primarily of the Panopticon, an enormous chamber where hundreds of Altered Items and Objects of Power are contained and studied by the Bureau. It is also the location of research areas for specific Altered World Events.

Research Sector

The Research Sector houses the Bureau's scientific wing studying paranatural topics such as parapsychology, resonance, and the Astral Plane. It is also the location of the Mold Threshold and the Dimensional Research Department, where expeditions into Slidescape-36 were conducted.

Investigations Sector

The Investigations Sector is where the Bureau carries out close examination of most Altered World Events alongside command of external operations. However, it has been mostly sealed off since 2017.

Trivia

• The street address of the Oldest House is uncertain. Envelopes found throughout the Oldest House give its address as 34 Thomas Street. However, a street sign visible outside of the Oldest House's lobby during the game's opening names the road as Barley Street.^[2]
• The real-life location of the Oldest House, as shown in the FBC photograph, is the corner of 5th Avenue and East 43rd Street, between Bryant Park and Grand Central Terminal; the side of the famous MetLife Building is visible on the left of the photograph.

Behind the scenes

• The Oldest House's interior is based partly on the experimental horror novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, much of which takes place in the featureless, infinite, and shifting interior of a supernatural house. Sam Lake has cited House of Leaves as an influence for both Control and Remedy Entertainment's previous title Alan Wake.
• The Oldest House is heavily inspired by Brutalist architecture. A major inspiration for the building was 33 Thomas Street, a windowless skyscraper in New York built in the Brutalist architectural style which is considered a likely location of an NSA mass surveillance hub; the Oldest House's apparent address of 34 Thomas Street is a direct nod to this. Other inspirations for the Oldest House include Boston City Hall, the Andrews Building at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Met Breuer.
• The stepping and recursion seen throughout the Oldest House was also inspired by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa's work on the Brion Cemetary.^[3]
• The mix of concrete and wood was also inspired by architect Louis Kahn's work on the Yale Center for British Art and the Phillips Exeter Academy Library.^[3]
• The films A Clockwork Orange, The Shape of Water, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy also influenced the internal architecture of the building, alongside the works of real-life architects such as Carlo Scarpa, Tadao Ando, and Kevin Roche.^[4][5]

Gallery

Letter envelopes showing the Oldest House's address

Letter envelopes showing the Oldest House's address

Central Executive circa Welcome to the Oldest House

Mail Room

The Panopticon

Altered Item containment crucible (Arctic Queen)

Logistics

The Black Rock Quarry

Hotline Chamber

The Prime Candidate Program's spiralling hallway

Document from FBC: Firebreak, confirming 1968 as the official headquarters go-live date.

Concept and development art

Outside view concept art by Leonardo Calamati.

Entrance concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Boardroom concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Director's office concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Color palette concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Central mailroom concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Mail room concept by Leonardo Calamati.

Mail station concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Brutalism concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Brutalism concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Research Sector concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Parapsychology concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Dimensional research concept by Stuart Macdonald.

Transport office concept by Leonardo Calamati.

References