My upstairs hallway has an opening that overlooks the downstairs living area. It’s window-like in that it’s rectangular and has a sill, but surely there is some more appropriate word for this opening. Anyone know?
Light well, maybe? That generally refers to when the opening is meant to let natural light in somewhere it otherwise wouldn’t go
I don’t think “light well” works; the intent seems to be just to provide a view of the 1st floor. There must be a term architects or real-estate agents use for this.
Loft window looks like the answer. Now I have something better than, “Don’t let the cat jump through the…hole…gap…opening…portal…” Thank you.
Does it provide privacy when it is down? Like a stained glass with a viewing pane in the center?
I believe it’s called a bay if it’s in a wall. If it’s in a ceiling or roof, it’s called a scuttle.
It’s pretty much like the pictures in burpo’s link: just an open hole with a sill - no pane, no curtains.
If it was downstairs, say between your kitchen and living room, This Old House calls it a pass-through.
“Don’t let the cat pass through the pass-through.”
BTW, EdwardFound, welcome to the SDMB.
I’d call that a serving hatch.
As always in the finer arts, the French use “trou dans le mur”
I don’t think it’s quite the same thing, but in my mom’s house, there’s an opening next to the stairwell that looks out over part of the living room and the front door. We call it the “doggie watchtower”, because every dog we’ve had has used it as a vantage point to better see who’s coming (I’m not sure it actually is a better vantage point, because the view will mostly be blocked by walls regardless, but the dogs all seem to instinctively treat it as such).
Interesting. I have an actual office next to our open plan living room area. One wall is exterior with an actual outside facing window, one is just a solid wall, one has a built in desk with a frame “window” looking out into the living room, and the other has a pocket door and another frame “window” looking into the dining area of the open plan space.
So what do you call these? They’re open frames (no glass or permanent barrier). They do have blinds installed that I mostly keep open but can be closed for some pseudo-privacy or noise cancellation.
But there is no loft 
And they’re certainly not for serving food. They’re essentially the compromise solution for having an actual dedicated office space without enclosing it such that it would be a claustrophobic relatively small room.
Cased opening?