I write about houses/buildings in the Lehigh Valley/Northampton county area for an online newspaper. I write about homes with historical/architectural interest; my last article was about Jayne Mansfield’s childhood home.
The one that’s currently in the hopper is about this house:
(sales price was just reduced by $300K, but stay away because when I when the lottery, it will be mine)
Anyway - it’s a stunner from an architectural/decorative perspective. It was built in 1909 for relatives of the founder of Riegel Paper.
There are 4 floors. The 4th floor has 2 cavernous rooms, one of which contains this built-in:
Does anyone have any clues? Maps? Linens? Clothing? They are not quite floor-to ceiling, appear to be original, and there are two sets (side by side).
It seems unlikely that a servant would climb to the fourth floor to store clothing or linens in the cabinet, and it doesn’t seem to have any ventilation so any linens would get musty and mildewed. I could see some kind of paper (like maps) but they would normally be kept in the library on the second floor according to the RE listing.
“Two cavernous rooms” sounds like it could be ballrooms or nursery/schoolrooms. Are the rooms as finely decorated as the rest of the house? The cabinet looks plainer than the rest of the photos, so maybe a schoolroom and they did store maps and other educational materials there. It looks like they have glass doors and sliding shelves for easy assess.
There is little/no ornamentation in the 4th floor rooms; the hallway is as ornate as the other floors, though. They aren’t ballrooms (not that big), but big enough that if one were to buy the place and turn it into a B&B, one of them would be the one to be the bridal suite. Very high ceilings and just very roomy.
No specific information but one thing to explore. The style of “drawer” with an open front with a single rail to hold things in does not look as though it is meant for anything shorter than the height of the rail - if it was it would just fall out.
Picking up **Sandra’s **suggestion of a nursery/schoolroom how about storage for toys and games?
ETA I like **panache45’s **idea of bolts of fabric. How wide are the drawers?
One other thought-- Could the two rooms have been dorm-style servant’s quarters? If so, then the cabinets could have been communal storage for larger items like winter coats. Smaller items would have been stored in wardrobes or dressers by each bed.
Servants quarters were generally on the highest floor if more than 1 servant was required. I would imagine that a house like that would require several between the inside and outside servants.
Say what you like, I think it’s for linens. Tablecloths, curtains, sheets, things probably changed out with the seasons. Things that had to be ironed and kept uncreased, the cross bar is so it’s not folded.
Just a wild ass guess, but that’s what makes sense to me.
I’d guess the crossbars are simply to give you something to grab when you want to pull the drawers out. And the drawers were probably designed to hold … aahh, I got no idea. They’re beautiful, though.
