What is a telephone room?

As far as we can figure out, houses once had "telephone rooms" which were small rooms that were used exclusively to house a telephone and allowed people to make phone calls in private.

Some history:
The first prototype of the sound-proof phone booth was built in 1877. Mr. Watson, Alexander Graham Bell's trusty assistant, used a bunch of bed blankets around a box. He created the booth to prevent his landlady from listening in on his conversations.
(source: www.telephonetribute.com/telephonetrivia.html)

Today:
Our Telephone Room Gallery has a floorspace of four feet by two-and-a-half feet and we are guessing that it is original to the 1930 house. It contains a black Western Electric Model 554 rotary-dial wall telephone, some cupboards, shelving and a small window.

Here's Ellen and Chica in the Telephone Room Gallery (sans art - dogs and art don't mix!):


Here's another example of a telephone room:

"The main telephone for the house was kept in the telephone room, as during the 1930's telephones in full sight in living rooms were regarded as rather vulgar." www.carrickhill.sa.gov.au/house_telephone_room.html

You can still buy an original, restored Model 554 (minus the rotary-dial feature) for your own telephone room: www.oldphones.com/servlet/Detail?no=129

Lastly, some good telephone websites:
www.telephonetribute.com
www.arctos.com/dial
www.porticus.org/bell/the_bell_system_telephone_story.html