[Nancy, August 17, 1949. Click for a larger view.]
Today’s yesterday’s Nancy features what’s usually called a telephone alcove or nook. Or, as I now know, niche.
A catalogue speaks: “The telephone nook is a convenience and an item of millwork well worth considering.”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in an apartment or house that has one.
[Raises hand.]
Thursday, October 9, 2025
A telephone alcove or nook
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comments: 12
Our house, built in 1950, has a phone nook--and for a long time, there was a phone in the nook. We still have a landline, but it is no longer in the nook.
illll^
👋
here's a photo
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.ca2291.photos.315207p/
raises hand.
kirsten
Thanks, everyone, for sharing in this brief flight from postmodern times.
also a niche
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.ca2699.photos.327255p/
Aha — I saw niche in some contemporary pages and thought it must be a recent application, since I think of a niche in more metaphorical terms — “finding your niche.” But no, so thanks.
"hold the phone" - one more
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82006551/1942-07-16/ed-1/?sp=7&q=telephone+niche&r=0.005,0.041,0.973,0.609,0
Thanks, Anon.
Telephone alcoves/nooks are somewhat common in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Craftsman-inspired architecture flourished in the mid-20th century. I've rented multiple apartments that had them.
Thanks for that info, Herschel. I’ve been in exactly one apartment (Los Angeles) in which I’ve seen one, which is why this Nancy was of more than usual interest to me.
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