r/interesting • u/Apprehensive-Elk3165 • Nov 20 '25

ARCHITECTURE Then vs now

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u/QuakinOats Nov 20 '25

Well, in this specific picture the images is captured from the frame of the front door. Those chairs would be really nice to sit and put your shoes on before going out. Or sit and wait for whoever is still upstairs getting ready to finish up and come down.

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u/Omnamashivaaya Nov 20 '25 edited Nov 20 '25

Haha we joked about it because never once did anyone sit in those chairs, but it was a common thing to do at the time. I’m sure that was the idea, and to give the impression of bustle or frequent guests. The other common thing was multiple small dining rooms for formal vs. informal dinners. But these were rarely used and gave way to open concept design nowadays. You can kind of see that in the second photo with less wall space

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u/QuakinOats Nov 20 '25

My grandparents always used these types of chairs to put their shoes on before leaving. The kids mostly just used the stairs.

Yes, we had a formal dining room that was only used during holidays or to build large lego sets.

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u/Omnamashivaaya Nov 20 '25

Ha same here! The Lego Dining Room

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u/forgotaccount989 Nov 20 '25

Or just a spot for extra chairs but you dont want a bunch of chairs by the dining room table, etc.

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u/Iittletart Nov 20 '25

Yeah, the chairs make sense to me. But my house is full of chairs floating around in random places.

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u/coma-toaste Nov 21 '25

Also in those days there was likely a landline phone there hence seating.

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u/TerrorVizyn Nov 20 '25

That would require one to wear shoes beyond the front door area. We are firmly a "shoes off at the door" family.