Closets in old houses. Probably a question for Launderess

[rpms]

I am painting an old house and find the closets fascinating.
I always thought old house had little to none in the way of built in closets.
This place has closets all over the place.

I can understand having a window in a closets for light, but would your clothes not fade? Putting on curtains and blinds seems to defeat the purpose.
I can understand opening the windows for ventilation but I thought everyone was terrified of moth damage back then?

The one closet in the hall is a narrow linen closet that goes up 12 feet. It has a little window in it that opens into the bedroom's closet.
The last closet is really a passageway that opens to the sun room. If you were small enough, you could crawl through all three windows inside the walls.

Question for Launderess. Would these windows have other uses? Was wet laundry hung up in them like an airing closet on rainy days? Would it have been a way for maids to communicate to each other or keep an eye on sleeping babies or something?
The laundry chute is still being used.
The last door was a set of back stairs turned into a closet.

 

[rpms]

The linen closet door in the hall that opens into two more closets.

 

[launderess]

Could be all sorts of reasons

Maybe the house was renovated over the years and some of the closets once something else.

Can see having windows in a closet for ventilation. Moths could be controlled with various means such as chemical balls, herbs, etc... Or simply not keeping those windows open wide or even at all.

When looking at old homes it can be fun to see the original floor plans versus what the place looks like now. That would tell if these closets and or those windows were built original and or added on later. Those back stairs that turn into a closet tell me something was "done".

Picture #8 especially looks as if it was a small door that once opened into or onto something else.

Laundry would have been hung to dry someplace with good cross ventilation. That and or a source of heat such as either a stove or perhaps a heating pipe that ran through. In Europe attics were commonly used for drying laundry during bad weather. Heat naturally rises so it would have been warm up there, and or you could add a small source of heat.

It was fairly common in older homes to have walls put up and or rooms/closets carved out. Places went through changes as owners, their lives and or the structure went through changes. Grand big houses once in an affluent area became boarding houses either as the area declined and or owner went through hard times. Places became small hospitals or some other type of facility and so forth.

If you can ask the owners without sounding too nosey I'd ask them about the layout of the home.

Have always found one of the best ways to get an idea of what is added versus original is to look at the outside of the place. Often it is easy to tell when windows have been added and or where they once existed but since have been sealed.

 

[davey7]

I wonder if the windows in closets were partially for "airing out" clothes when laundering was less frequent. In some places clothes are hung outside overnight to air them out.

I was just in a fabulous 20's apartment that had all the built in closet cabinetry intact including linen shoe straps in the shoe racks! And a cedar closet of course.

 

[rp2813]

Is that a connection for a radiator in shot #7 or just access to piping? 

 

#8 looks to be a shot of the laundry chute door.  It's a narrow chute compared to others I've seen in neighboring homes around here.

 

[sudsmaster]

I suppose it depends on the age of the home.

 

I toured some for sale homes in town on Sunday. The build dates ranged from 1930 to 1938. They all had ample closet space, and most with little windows in some of the closets. A light lace or sheer white curtain likely would block most of the UV that might fade fabrics, especially if the window is on the north side of the home. I've always likes the window in closet idea, as well as the small plumbed wash basin you some old home closets. And yes, I think it's mainly for ventilation and light purposes. One could always screen the window if moths are a concern.

 

In any case, it's nice to see the original stained woodwork retained in that house. Some of the houses I viewed had the original woodwork painted over white. An atrocity, IMHO.

 

Some of the upstairs closets in Tudor style homes had little doors in them as well, so one could access the adjacent attic space. I suppose a skinny person might be able to squeeze through these portals, but they are very small, on the order of doors for utility men to view gas meters etc.

 

 

[circlew]

I can think of only one house I've been in that had a window in a closet. It was the home of one of my friends when we were kids. The house was built in 1895, and is one of the larger and fancier houses in town. One of the upstairs closets has an oval window (operable) that is a major design element on the front of the house. All the bedrooms have closets of reasonable size, as does the downstairs stair hall. All are from the time of the home's construction.

According to one of the members of our historical society, many older homes didn't have closets because they were taxed. Therefore, they were usually found only in the homes of the wealthy. The house I mentioned above was built by the owner of a lumber company.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Another way to tell if closets have been added/rooms rearranged is to look closely at the moldings and windows to see if there are any differences. Although sometimes the moldings in closets and other private rooms would be less ornate than more public areas.

I have noticed the typical older homes around here from the 1920s to 1940s do have closets although they are usually quite small compared to those in newer houses. Usually what you see in newer homes as a coat closet near the front door is what the closet size in bedrooms of old houses are like.

 

[lordkenmore]

>According to one of the members of our historical society, many older homes didn't have closets because they were taxed. Therefore, they were usually found only in the homes of the wealthy.

That may even still be an issue today. Someone I know had a house constructed with at least one room that normally would be a bedroom. However, it has no closet. Motive: no closet means that apparently the room is not considered a bedroom by the property tax people in this area, and thus the taxes should be lower.

 

[lordkenmore]

Personally, years back (when I was a teenager), there was a period when I thought I'd rather have no closet, but instead a large wardrobe. My mother and I wandered one antique shop often, and I loved the wardrobes.

Bonus if the wardrobe opens to Narnia!

 

[sudsmaster]

Interestingly, this '41 home has two bedrooms. One has two closets. I puzzled over this until I realized that originally it only had one closet. The other closet used to be for an adjacent bedroom that was turned into a family room in the '60's. At the same time, a master bed/bath was added to the rear of the house, with access through the family room (former main bedroom).

 

None of the closets have windows. The master bed bath has a wide, relatively shallow dual closet with a total of four doors. Naturally I've filled it to the brim...

 

 

[lordkenmore]

Naturally I've filled it to the brim...

No matter how much space one has, it seems to get used up.

Thinking of packed closets, I'm reminded of this:

 

[artcurus]

Dumbwaiter?

 

[davey7]

I have a friend with a 20's house with "dressing closets" - like little built in dressing tables with mirrors in some of them. Very nice feature if I do say so myself.

Some towns restrict bedrooms in multi-family to keep school populations down and not putting a closet in would make it a den/library/study/media room/your name here.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Tenements

like the one I lived in as a boy were very short on closet space. Probably because most tenants didn't have a lot of clothes! We had a 2 br., each with a small closet. Very small, no windows. Kitchen had a pantry closet. Dining room had a closet for storing linens and towels, since the bathroom had no closet at all. No coat closets, they were hung on a coat tree by the front door. We did have access to the attic, where out-of-season clothes were stored in fabric-sided cases. Usually with camphor balls, as they were called then. Basement (hot, due to coal furnaces) was where Xmas stuff, picnic stuff, and other items were stored. No chance of mildew down there. Wooden storm windows/screens were stored here, too.

When we moved to the 'burbs in 1959, my mother was charmed that we had sliding-door closets in all three bedrooms. A linen closet in the hall. Next to it was a closet that we never found a use for, other than to store the Electrolux and a few cleaning supplies. Our kitchen had the actual coat closet, which was always crammed. Years after my sister and I got married and moved away, we used to visit and always looked at the closets. ALWAYS packed full. Not an empty hanger (wire or otherwise) to be found. My sister would remind our parents, "You know, FOUR of us used to live here, once!".

Now that I live in my own home in SoFlo, I keep my closet contents to a minimum. I have those "custom" ones put in by the former owner. Lots of room, but I try to keep them tidy, organized, and devoid of effluvia.

Great thread, BTW!

 

[iheartmaytag]

Here's a theory

Window in the closet is for cheating spouses to hide their lovers, and give them an escape route if caught.

 

I have seen houses, some newly built, with a skylight; so light may have been a reason.

 

[dartman]

The house we rented for 22 years was 864sf with 2 br with medium small closets in each bedroom.
At least they had real particle board shelves above the hanger poles and a coat closet in the living room that was full of coats and stuff.
New house is a manufactured home with 1400 sf and 4 br. It has the cheap closet maid wire shelves in each closet in each room. Very flimsy but I bought some extra better quality shelf brackets to beef up the shelf that was overloaded. Now it stays up fine and I might ad melamine wood shelf later to the ones we use most.
The old houses I see when out working have cool built in book shelfs and coat closets and all kinds of extra storage areas new houses like mine just don't get.
Here they just built square boxes into each smallish room trying to maximize usable bedrooms as it has to have a closet to count as a bedroom.
The master suite has a much bigger closet built into the area for the mechanicals like the water heater and electric furnace hidden behind a access door inside the closet.
Still working on best way to maximize storage without putting trashy stuff all over the walls seeing how there are all kinds of neat solutions that work and look nice cheap now.
Found a pretty nice Suader pantry/storage cabinet for 50 bucks that matches the cabinets in the kitchen nicely enough and looks fine against the wall in the dining room.
Really helps with storing all the extra food cans and stuff that had overflowed the kitchen cabinets.
Might get some armoires type things and book shelf for the extra bedrooms as each closet is pretty full.
Need to downsize some of the stuff we collected over the years but nice closets and storage is king to me even if it isn't completely filled up. It just makes things easier to find and keeps the living areas clean and open.
Had a 12x16 mini barn with a nice loft built and got most of my guy stuff and our extra crap stashed out there which really helps. Been working on shelving all the walls but out of brackets, have everything else including plenty of shelving.

http://closets and storage are king to me.

 

[sudsmaster]

Master bedroom here (built in the '60's, I think) has a 10 foot wide dual closet. Each one has two doors that swing out. The doors look nice (pseudo louvered) but the swing is a PITA. Now that I think of it, would be nice to put in some sliding doors for that dual closet, with one set of doors able to slide all the way over to the adjoining closet. It would save room and probably make closet access easier.

 

 

 

[circlew]

2 closets in bedroom

The house I own (built in '52) has 2 fairly small closets in the master BR. My mom used the larger, and my dad the other.

The rental house (built in '38) I've lived in while working on my own, is a cape cod. The 2 upstairs bedrooms each have small walk-in closets.