eavesdropping!

I think there is a confessional in your closet.

p(too) -- Hah!

I think it's the older version of "Frebreeze" so that there are no stinky clothes, hopefully.

I'd remove the vent and see what's behind it. That may tell you what it was for.

the entry into Narnia

My guess is in agreement with bobbin- ventilation for the clothing.

And the paper also continues the 'Febreeze' analogy- Probably put there by a previous tenant attempting to block out the stanky smell of cigarette smoke from a neighboring apartment.

...But I like all these other answers better.

...the entry into Narnia!! HAHA...good one Lourdes!

That looks a helluva lot older than 40 years. Does this closet backup to the bathtub?

Thanks for the answers. The vent looks plastered to the wall and has been painted over so many times, I was afraid to try prying it away w/o causing major damage to the wall.

I suspect that the building was divided into smaller apartments years ago, and this vent was part of a bigger space. In answer to Kurt - no, this does not back up to a bathroom.

This building must be really old. Later, I'll post pics of the old-fashioned drying rack that's in the bathroom. It consists of a door up on the wall - there are wooden dowels inside that fold down that you can hang clothes on to dry.

Patty

That's a purty vent, but no... that is not a Doris Day Era vent, that's a Mae West Era (or Mae West's mama) vent -- closer to 100 years old than 40. And back then -- as now -- they were putting as many strange little features into buildings as they could; things like butler pantries, with dumb waiters (that were like tiny little elevators) that went down to restaurants below, etc., so who knows? But it must have been kind of a fancy building at one time.

If you ever find out, you must tell us what you find.

It looks like a tiny, slightly-more-old-fashioned morself of DNA of whatever gave birth to the Metropolitan Opera House:

http://www.eventticketscenter.com/Event.aspx?EventID=126&gclid=CO7Dx-2w1IwCFQV4VAode3SHuA

Hmmm...

Curtis - Ha! It took me a second, but I got it... ;-)

Curtis -- love the reference to the Met! Brilliant!!!!

Undoubtedly some kind of vent -- but 40 years old -- that cracks me up. That thing is way older that 40 -- looks liek something from a building done in the 19 - teens or 20's.

And a word of advice -- I'd leave the paper as is -- chances are your predecessors put it there because of vapors or smell, or even to keep little critters back where they belong -- out of sight!!!

I agree that that vent looks a lot older than 40 years. I have to go with someone else who said that it probably wasn't originally a closet. These places get chopped up in strange ways -- from rooming houses to apartments.

From working on public schools built around the turn of the century in New York, I've seen that a typical coat closet detail was a vent, presumably to keep things from mildewing and allowing them to dry faster. The doors had louvers for airflow. So I bet this vent was for that purpose as well.

Depending upon building locations, I would disagree with the reason for the vent. I suspect that the coat closet was once a water closet if this building is in a tenament area -- there would not have been full bathrooms in the rooming units, only a closet with a toilet.

That is an Art Deco era vent. I'd say that you are living in a building with older apartments of that era. If it had hinges I would have said a laundry chute door for clothes, but I don't see hinges.(nicer buildings offered laundry service with on site launderers) So, I'm guessing it's simply a heat vent. Apartment living from about 1880-1940 was really amazing. WWII caused many of these fantastic apartments to get chopped up to make more for GI's and their families. I suggest reading Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History by Andrew Alpern

the closet might have been added later.

(I'm pretty certain this *isn't* urban legend.) At some point decades ago, houses in New York were taxed based on the number of doors they had - this included closet doors. That's why closets in older homes are either nonexistent or post-construction add-ons. This is also why you may find old heating vents or gas-fueled light fixtures in closets - the closets were probably added on after the tax laws changed, and the closets were fitted over existing fixtures.

And people didn't have so MANY clothes! I counted my t-shirts recently, just the white ones, and I have over 20. That's just not right.

Off topic: the houses in Amersterdam are so narrow (and tall) because they were taxed on linear street frontage.

I live in a building built in the teens, and there's a vent in the narrow pantry closet, at the bottom, and it leads directly outside. I suppose it was meant to keep food cool.

Some apartment buildings built long ago used vents and transoms to provide a kind of air conditioning.

What room is on the other side of the vent? If it's a kitchen or bathroom, it's most likely access to plumbing pipes, in case a repair is needed. One of the apartments I rented had a little door in the closet to access the pipes in the bath, as the shower had a mixer valve, and they seem to run into problems as they age.

These are in buildings I've seen that were built circa 1960 or so. In the same shape too... Just cause it looks a little deco doesn't mean it is.

It's either a vent cover or t's filled with KRUGGERANDS!

Actually, some of you got it right. As recently as early in the last century, people didn't wash their clothes as often-- just think about the labor involved then -- so closests were built with vents and even windows to air out clothes. In LA, closet windows in old houses are very common.

Harley, I think you might be refering to Europe - mainly England - that taxed the number of 'rooms' a house had. A closet was considered a room, so people didn't have them (who wants to pay more taxes!) and kept their clothing in armoires - a piece of furniture. As the New England area became more settled (with europeans - mainly English) people built what they had known, using architects who built what they knew.

I'd agree that Patty's apartment was carved from another space - perhaps a planning/zoning office may have original building plans, or plans from upgrades/changes that were made to the building after the zoning laws were enacted. I have to admit that I'd be too curious to just let it be.

Patty,

If you decide to remove the grill please let us know what you discover.

Having lived in, and refurbished, many old houses over the years I've noticed that builders had often used just what is to hand to cover things. Maybe it was the door to another piece of furniture used in this way.

It doesn't open, does it? I had one kinda like this in an entrance closet of an apartment. If you looked closely, you could see the outline of where a matching one used to be in the common hallway - it was for milk delivery!

curtis says...things like butler pantries, with dumb waiters (that were like tiny little elevators)

I have aLWAYS always always wanted a dumb waiter, load the groceries on, move laundry from floor to floor, hoist kids for a ride, confuse the #$$ out of the cats... wo, man, thought I was in the room with the bed...

If there was any type of heat behind it (this could include the pipes for a steam or hot water system) the closet may have a been a drying room either to dry wet coats quickly or to hang drying laundry in the winter before machine dryers. Sometimes these were closet sized rooms with radiators in them.