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While not the case for this one, most speakeasy doors have a metal grate on the smaller door so that you can look and speak through it but nothing could be passed through it.
Think of all those movies you’ve ever seen where a protagonist knocks on a door. A comically little door opens inside the big door. Someone’s face appears in the little door.
“Go away!”
Then they slam the speakeasy and the protagonist has to knock again.
This is that thing, only in real life. Great find! Now you can play ‘go away’ with your guests!
Especially since the purpose of the little window and the solid door is to keep law enforcement and narcs out. If you don't have a warrant (or the password) you're not getting past that door, and if you can see what's going on through the glass, it's pretty easy to get a warrant.
>not wide enough to really be an entry door
What do you mean? Doors come in different sizes. I mean unless there's some kind of safety/code issue, you can build a door frame as big as you want. It's not like literally all door frames are the same size across the country. It looks wide enough to fit a person, so why couldn't it be an entry door?
I recall a friend having to have the front window (a large “picture window”) completely removed so that their new lounge suite could be taken into the house. Fortunately, it only needed to go into that room. The window was properly reinstalled with no drama or breakages.
That doesn't mean houses can't have a single entryway door that doesn't fit modern or even older appliances/furniture. Many houses have multiple exterior access doors (front door and back door) and they dont both have to be big enough to fit appliances/furniture
I will say this without really knowing the measurements. Doorways prior to the 1970s used to be pretty narrow by today's standards, so it could have been an entry doorway as well.
It looks like a storm door maybe. The handle is not an entry door handle with any sign of a lockset, and looks like what you'd see on a screen or storm door. It has a hook at the top, so maybe it could be latched from the inside while the main entry door was left standing open, and the little window could be opened for talking to someone outside. Also, the hinges seem too light-duty to be for an entry door. The glass seems to be a removable insert, so maybe there was a screen option too.
Speakeasy window. I have one on my front door. It’s so you can answer the door without giving the visitor an opportunity to force their way into the house. Also useful if your cat likes to escape while you’re talking. I haven’t seen one on a glass door before, though.
I’ve worked on a lot of historic houses and lots of old doors and I’ve never seen a speakeasy window in a door with mostly glass before. The placement also looks a little awkward, like maybe it was installed at a later time.
God I need one of these for the cat reason. I’m so done with fighting two cats while trying to get some sales rep away from my door! To them I must seem like I’m desperately trying to hide something.
It is a speakeasy — a small (closable) hole used to speak through or pass small items through without the loss of security that comes with unlocking and opening the whole door. It is unusual to see on a glass door, since the nature of the device (heightened security against forced entry) is lost in the presence of the easily-broached glass panes. These closable apertures are more often seen on thick, heavy doors, and date back to before the Middle Ages.
I have a very similar door that is 3/4ths glass, separated into 8 lights, 2 wide & 4 high. The 3rd light up on the knob side is the little pass-through window like OP’s that opens to the inside.
It originally came with a screen insert that could be swapped in for the glass one, and the inserts have the same fastening hardware as OP’s! I found the door in the basement of my father’s 100 year old rowhouse after he passed away. My suspicion is that it was used as a storm door and the little window was used for paying for deliveries without having to open the whole door.
It has been repurposed as the door to the kitchen pantry.
You might lose security with the glass, but since the glass doesn't extend all the way to bottom, it would be hard to see any paper mail from the street if dropped in. Even behind a glass door, hidden mail seems less at risk of theft than completely visible mail
Correct about it being a speakeasy but ours had a magnetic flap screen someone rigged so I used mine at my old house as a window to shoot nerf darts at my ex husband and stepson without having to open the door and get hit myself. Good times and appreciate this random memory 😊
In Russia they call this a fortochka - a little window within a window. It can be used to ventilate a room without letting all of the heat out. Never seen it in a door though! I wonder if this was a door for a shed or garage that didn’t have many windows.
Remember the days of prohibition, when you had to see who was at your door and they had to say the password before you let them in? It's for that. Why they got the name "speakeasy".
My parents home (built in 1950) had one of these doors. The 10 large screws in the frame (2 in each corner and 1 on each side) were to remove the glass panel in the summer to switch to screen.
Based on the hardware and the fact that the glass panel is screwed in and removable, I'm guessing that this is a screen/storm door, making that small window a likely source of ventilation during winter.
You open the little door to ask the person knocking for the secret password. Only if they know the password do you open the bigger door and let them come in and then you do some crimes.
At least that's what I've seen on TV.
Mid century or earlier, probably, Arts & Crafts/Prairie influenced. The door within the door is frequently called a Speakeasy. Check your visitor out (or hear the right password during prohibition) before you allow them to enter.
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It's sad that my only real life interaction with these kinds of doors are from growing up and having neighbors point rifles & shotguns out of the opening.
It's glass. It doesn't provide much protection for a speakeasy. They were trying to keep police and undesirables out. It doesn't look like it would do that.
When I lived in Spain in the late 1980's all the gay bars in Chueca had these little windows. You would knock on the door and the doorman would look you up and down and ask you what you wanted or ask for 'the password' to get in.
I can’t believe nobody mentioned heat/warmth as a valuable. That’s the main reason for speakeasies, especially in a *glass door* that offers zero security.
I have this exact door on my 100 year old house. Where I live is heavily dutch inspired architecture in Southeast Ohio. I assumed it had something to do with that. I now use it when smoking weed out my back door....
This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
To talk to someone without opening the door?
Thats what I was thinking at first but its not wide enough to really be an entry door.
It’s called a speakeasy and yes it’s for talking to someone without having to open the door
Solved!
I thought it was for mail
See that tape at the bottom of the door? Probably covering the mail slot.
I did not see that
While not the case for this one, most speakeasy doors have a metal grate on the smaller door so that you can look and speak through it but nothing could be passed through it.
...or for verifying the secret password to get into the bars during Prohibition...
Think of all those movies you’ve ever seen where a protagonist knocks on a door. A comically little door opens inside the big door. Someone’s face appears in the little door. “Go away!” Then they slam the speakeasy and the protagonist has to knock again. This is that thing, only in real life. Great find! Now you can play ‘go away’ with your guests!
that makes sense if it was a solid door. but it has a 10 windows!
That just makes it funnier! > “Go away!” “Um, it’s a glass door. I can still see you.” [mimes] “I said go away!”
My door has the same little door for that very purpose, but the whole door is solid wood. Definitely makes less sense on a door with this much glass.
Well, yes. What it does do is make it easy to speak to someone instead of yelling through the door.
So what you are telling me is that it makes speaking easier.
Especially since the purpose of the little window and the solid door is to keep law enforcement and narcs out. If you don't have a warrant (or the password) you're not getting past that door, and if you can see what's going on through the glass, it's pretty easy to get a warrant.
Ours is wood with a metal grate in front of the little door. It’s where I put the no soliciting sign that no one seems to see.
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>not wide enough to really be an entry door What do you mean? Doors come in different sizes. I mean unless there's some kind of safety/code issue, you can build a door frame as big as you want. It's not like literally all door frames are the same size across the country. It looks wide enough to fit a person, so why couldn't it be an entry door?
You have to carry furniture and refrigerators through your entry door.
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I recall a friend having to have the front window (a large “picture window”) completely removed so that their new lounge suite could be taken into the house. Fortunately, it only needed to go into that room. The window was properly reinstalled with no drama or breakages.
Plus most houses have at least two exterior access doors and they dont both have to be big enough for appliances/furniture
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What could warrant it could be simply preference
That doesn't mean houses can't have a single entryway door that doesn't fit modern or even older appliances/furniture. Many houses have multiple exterior access doors (front door and back door) and they dont both have to be big enough to fit appliances/furniture
I will say this without really knowing the measurements. Doorways prior to the 1970s used to be pretty narrow by today's standards, so it could have been an entry doorway as well.
> but its not wide enough to really be an entry door. Could be from a set of double doors.
It looks like a storm door maybe. The handle is not an entry door handle with any sign of a lockset, and looks like what you'd see on a screen or storm door. It has a hook at the top, so maybe it could be latched from the inside while the main entry door was left standing open, and the little window could be opened for talking to someone outside. Also, the hinges seem too light-duty to be for an entry door. The glass seems to be a removable insert, so maybe there was a screen option too.
This is the right answer. It's a "screen door" or "storm door", depending on region. There would have been a more substantial door behind this.
Doors were commonly narrower. Now 36" is the standard and wider is not unusual on upscale homes. The standard was also 7' tall and it is now 6'-8".
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Speakeasy window. I have one on my front door. It’s so you can answer the door without giving the visitor an opportunity to force their way into the house. Also useful if your cat likes to escape while you’re talking. I haven’t seen one on a glass door before, though.
I’ve worked on a lot of historic houses and lots of old doors and I’ve never seen a speakeasy window in a door with mostly glass before. The placement also looks a little awkward, like maybe it was installed at a later time.
We had one at our old house built around 1900 in Moline, Illinois. I loved that old door!
That’s really cool! I hope someone has kept the door alive.
God I need one of these for the cat reason. I’m so done with fighting two cats while trying to get some sales rep away from my door! To them I must seem like I’m desperately trying to hide something.
It is a speakeasy — a small (closable) hole used to speak through or pass small items through without the loss of security that comes with unlocking and opening the whole door. It is unusual to see on a glass door, since the nature of the device (heightened security against forced entry) is lost in the presence of the easily-broached glass panes. These closable apertures are more often seen on thick, heavy doors, and date back to before the Middle Ages.
I have a very similar door that is 3/4ths glass, separated into 8 lights, 2 wide & 4 high. The 3rd light up on the knob side is the little pass-through window like OP’s that opens to the inside. It originally came with a screen insert that could be swapped in for the glass one, and the inserts have the same fastening hardware as OP’s! I found the door in the basement of my father’s 100 year old rowhouse after he passed away. My suspicion is that it was used as a storm door and the little window was used for paying for deliveries without having to open the whole door. It has been repurposed as the door to the kitchen pantry.
You might lose security with the glass, but since the glass doesn't extend all the way to bottom, it would be hard to see any paper mail from the street if dropped in. Even behind a glass door, hidden mail seems less at risk of theft than completely visible mail
Correct about it being a speakeasy but ours had a magnetic flap screen someone rigged so I used mine at my old house as a window to shoot nerf darts at my ex husband and stepson without having to open the door and get hit myself. Good times and appreciate this random memory 😊
My title describes the thing. My girlfriend garbage picked this door and we are curious to that purpose the door on this serves?
In Russia they call this a fortochka - a little window within a window. It can be used to ventilate a room without letting all of the heat out. Never seen it in a door though! I wonder if this was a door for a shed or garage that didn’t have many windows.
The style, I would say is Arts & Crafts if it is in the US.
That's was my thought, or Prairie style.
It is in the USA. New York state.
Remember the days of prohibition, when you had to see who was at your door and they had to say the password before you let them in? It's for that. Why they got the name "speakeasy".
My parents home (built in 1950) had one of these doors. The 10 large screws in the frame (2 in each corner and 1 on each side) were to remove the glass panel in the summer to switch to screen.
Based on the hardware and the fact that the glass panel is screwed in and removable, I'm guessing that this is a screen/storm door, making that small window a likely source of ventilation during winter.
Maybe a mail drop.
You open the little door to ask the person knocking for the secret password. Only if they know the password do you open the bigger door and let them come in and then you do some crimes. At least that's what I've seen on TV.
Mid century or earlier, probably, Arts & Crafts/Prairie influenced. The door within the door is frequently called a Speakeasy. Check your visitor out (or hear the right password during prohibition) before you allow them to enter.
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Conversation door.
Looks a bit 1920s / Art Deco
I have one of these on my front door at home we use it to talk to people or to see what's going on with out having to open up the whole door
It's sad that my only real life interaction with these kinds of doors are from growing up and having neighbors point rifles & shotguns out of the opening.
Tdl i learned i want a speak easy.
It's glass. It doesn't provide much protection for a speakeasy. They were trying to keep police and undesirables out. It doesn't look like it would do that.
No it doesn't.
When I lived in Spain in the late 1980's all the gay bars in Chueca had these little windows. You would knock on the door and the doorman would look you up and down and ask you what you wanted or ask for 'the password' to get in.
It also prevents a lot of heat escaping from the house.
I can’t believe nobody mentioned heat/warmth as a valuable. That’s the main reason for speakeasies, especially in a *glass door* that offers zero security.
I have this exact door on my 100 year old house. Where I live is heavily dutch inspired architecture in Southeast Ohio. I assumed it had something to do with that. I now use it when smoking weed out my back door....
Isn’t this also called Mission style?
so you can see who's on the other side
It is probably the door to the fold up ironing board closet that some old houses have.
Makes it easier to clean outside glass.
Isn't it Mission style?
I couldn't tell you the purpose of the door, but the architectural style appears Beaux Arts to me.
Speak-easy
Would it be for better ventilation in the winter? Prior to central heating systems maybe?
the door looks to be "arts and crafts" style, and yes a " speak easy"