I bought this older home 4 years ago and have an odd nook in the hallway. I’m not sure what it was used for and I cannot find anything to put in it. It’s about 3ft tall. FYI I tried a tall vase and it just looked awkward🤷♀”

The Mystery Nook

When I moved into my 1940s-era home a couple years ago, I noticed this strange little nook in the hallway. It wasn’t very deep, maybe about three feet high, and it had a peaked top. I stared at it for a full five minutes thinking:

What in the world is this for?

It was too small for a bookshelf, too awkward for a  vase (believe me, I tried), and for months it just sat there — empty, unused, taunting me.

🧠 The Lightbulb Moment

One day, by pure accident, I stumbled across an old post in a vintage home forum. There it was — a photo of a nearly identical niche… with a rotary phone sitting in it.

💡 It hit me like lightning: This was a vintage telephone niche!

Back before phones fit in your pocket, most homes had one single telephone — usually mounted in a central hallway. And guess where it lived? Yep, in a built-in nook just like this one.

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