When I moved into my 1940s home, I fell in love with the hardwood floors, the crown molding, and the way sunlight poured through the leaded glass windows.
But then I saw it.
A small, oddly shaped nook in the hallway.
Peaked at the top.
About three feet high.
Too shallow for a bookshelf.
Too awkward for decor.
I stared at it like it owed me answers.
“What are you for?”
“Why do you exist?”
“Are you just bad architecture?”
For months, it sat empty — a silent mystery in the flow of daily life.
Then, one night, while scrolling through an old-house renovation forum, I saw a photo that stopped me cold.
There it was — the same little nook.
And inside?
A rotary phone.
Cue the lightbulb moment.
This wasn’t a mistake.
It wasn’t leftover space.
It was a vintage telephone niche — a built-in phone booth from a time when phones weren’t in our pockets…
They were in the wall.
📻 Back When Phones Were a Family Affair
Before cell phones, before cordless handsets, before “Do Not Disturb” mode…
There was one phone in the house.
And it lived in the hallway — the busiest, most central spot in the home.
The telephone niche was its throne.
Often built into the wall, these small recesses were designed to:
