{"id":78668,"date":"2024-08-29T15:09:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T08:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/?p=78668"},"modified":"2024-08-29T15:09:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T08:09:43","slug":"what-are-these-mysterious-tiny-doors-found-in-some-old-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/what-are-these-mysterious-tiny-doors-found-in-some-old-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are These Mysterious Tiny Doors Found in Some Old Homes?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Earlier this year, someone shared an interesting photo on Reddit, asking for information regarding a tiny door. Many people offered insight, with some jokingly speculating it might be for fairies or mice. However, others helpfully explained the real reason for this unique and adorable design.\n
Colonel424 shared that their mother-in-law purchased a home in Denver, Colorado. The charming old house had a few tiny doors leading to various places, \u201cabout the height of a soda can.\u201d While many old homes have a certain charm and rustic feel, some may find unique features, or features that they can\u2019t quite identify. However, this tiny door is unique and serves an interesting and useful purpose. Purportedly, the tiny door was designed as a pet door. \u201cIf it\u2019s actually the height of a soda can, then it\u2019s a cat door,\u201d one person commented.\n
Another person agreed, stating: \u201cIn the early 1900s 4\u2033x 4\u2033 holes called \u2018Cat Flaps\u2019 were cut out indoors for the sole purpose of allowing cats to go room to room in order to keep the mice population under control. My grandmother grew up in one of these homes and told me stories of this.\u201d\n
People are often deeply connected with their furry friends, so much so that they designate special places in their homes for them. In contrast, homeowners had a different relationship with their furry friends in the past. While they loved them enough to give them a tiny door and access to the home, they also respected the animals\u2019 needs and wished to roam freely.\n
Interestingly, tiny doors are still very much a part of homes today. However, they are designed differently, some having the option of syncing with a collar to lock and unlock as pets see fit to come and go. Its charming and rustic feel separates the tiny door from other pet doors. Not only is it a cute piece of history, it also fits well with many homes including those with a more modern feel. The tiny door offers insight into the evolution of cat-ownership as it shows the change between letting cats roam freely, versus keeping them indoors and safe from cars, or predators.\n
The tiny door explanation makes sense, but others have made other possible suggestions. While many jokingly suggested fairy doors, others thought they might be \u201cfairy doors\u201d for children, nurturing imaginative play and adventure. However, some were leaning toward a more logical explanation, such as being used as a drainage system or for heating and cooling. Meanwhile, another believed it was to help facilitate a clean home. \u201cI wonder if it leads to outside [and] it was actually used for sweeping, and in lieu of a dust pan, tidbits go outside?\u201d They questioned.\n
Another possible explanation: \u201cIt is not for cats, fairies or the borrowers. It is for the exhaust from a Maytag washing machine equipped with a gasoline engine.\u201d They explained, adding: \u201cMany houses didn\u2019t have reliable electricity at this time so a gasoline engine would have been utilized to run the washing machine.\u201c\n
Another unique detail about the tiny door is that it may only be found in homes in the U.S. For example, according to Scott Lucas, an Australian heritage expert, it\u2019s highly unlikely that the tiny door would be found in Australian homes. \u201cI\u2019ve renovated several properties from the early Victorian period through to the 1920s, inspected approximately 200-300 period properties in rural and city areas across Australia, and have never seen anything remotely similar,\u201d he said.\n
Lucas also offered another explanation for the tiny door. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to know for sure the purpose of these doors, but I suspect they are utilitarian in nature. The key difference between old houses in the US and Australia is the inclusion of full basements,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey almost always had them in the US, whilst in Australia, they sometimes included a cellar instead, which are not really usable spaces like the US basements.\u201d\n
Unsurprisingly, older homes are built with numerous mystery items and features that seemingly made sense given the time. However, many are outdated but still offer a cute or unique feature to be incorporated or restored during a renovation.\n
Source: secretlifeofmom\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this year, someone shared an interesting photo on Reddit, asking for information regarding a tiny door. Many people offered insight, with some jokingly speculating it might be for fairies or mice. However, others helpfully explained the real reason for this unique and adorable design. Tiny Door Serves a Big Function Colonel424 shared that their …\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":78669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1405,413,143],"class_list":["post-78668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-life-style","tag-design","tag-home","tag-home-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78670,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78668\/revisions\/78670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}