The House of the Wooden Partition is one of the most remarkable survivals at Herculaneum. The carbonised wooden screen that divides the atrium from the tablinum — the reception room where the owner conducted business — still stands in place, its hinges and sliding panels intact. In any other Roman city this would have been the first thing to rot away or burn; here, the pyroclastic carbonisation that killed the town preserved it.
The house was originally two separate properties that were merged into a single large dwelling. It is unusually well-preserved even by Herculaneum's standards, with sections of the original upper floor still standing and traces of painted decoration on the walls. The wooden partition, so mundane in its function and so astonishing in its survival, is the single most striking detail on the site.