The Reason Some Houses Have Small Shelves Built Into Hallways

If you live in an old home, or really any home built during the early to mid-1900s, there may be a little shelf built into the wall in your kitchen or hallway. You may have thought nothing of this, or you may have wondered what this was put there for. And yes – it was put there for a reason!

That little shelf is called a phone niche. Before cellphones, people used landlines to communicate. Doesn’t that just seem like so long ago now? Many homes were built with one phone niche which would house the telephone. Many even had a tiny ledge or drawer above or below the phone to hold address books or phone books. Even the concept of an address book seems so ancient now!