It was a 3 level home on a slope so the entrance was pretty much the "basement."
You walk in the main entrance and on the right was a door that led to a long hall with an extra room and kitchen (that also had another side door to the outside).
The furnace and boiler was behind a wall to wall door in the extra room. This is the level most of my neighbors at the time rented out to other people.

and it haunted me homeowners would do that because there were a few cases of fires starting in the basement area including on our block.