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I have an older house that has these on the wall of the two bedrooms:

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Does anyone know what they might be? I took one out and it is has a long metal rod, but I cannot see anything that it attaches to or pushes. Trying to decide if this needs to stay or if I can remove and patch the walls.

Edit: Here's a pic of it removed:

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Rob
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  • Does it pop out (spring loaded) if you push it in? If so, how far does it come out? Might it be a hanging rod for clothing? – bib Nov 28 '15 at 22:52
  • No spring. By long, I just meant maybe 6" or something. This is on an outside facing wall and there's a similar one on the same wall of another room. It's really weird! :) – Rob Nov 28 '15 at 23:38
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    Are they where a door handle would hit the wall? – Tester101 Nov 29 '15 at 00:08
  • It might be the call button for the housekeeper or butler? The rod may have attached to a bell? – ojait Nov 29 '15 at 00:30
  • I am with Tester. It looks like a doorknob stop, although they are usually hard rubber not metal. It prevents damage to the wall from the doorknob hitting it. – ArchonOSX Nov 29 '15 at 00:58
  • No doors on these walls. I'm leaning towards a call button of some kind. I'm going to try to see in the wall again ... so curious! These are all good ideas. – Rob Nov 29 '15 at 17:07
  • Since you can get a picture of it, take a close up of the end, to see what kind of wear marks or other issues it may tell about since it has been there for a while...A close up of the knob would be cool too. – Jack Nov 29 '15 at 17:14
  • More pictures added. I can only vaguely see something metal through the hole and there is a slot where the rod inserts. I can't feel anything click or depress. – Rob Nov 29 '15 at 17:33
  • Truly is a curiosity, the end of the rod does not look like it acted upon anything, it looks loike it may have been cut possibly and it looks like there may bee lint or something like that on the end. – Jack Nov 30 '15 at 04:32
  • Are there any markings on the back side of the button, or when you separate the button from the rod and look inside the collar? – cutrightjm Nov 30 '15 at 07:39
  • No markings that I can remember. Everything is fairly smooth. At this point, I think if I really wanted to try to solve it ... I would need to cut a bigger hole in the wall and inspect from there. I'm not sure it's worth the extra patching involved, though :| The one in the second bedroom looks like it was caulked around so maybe removing it will show something more... I'll check tonight. – Rob Nov 30 '15 at 22:48
  • Try asking some neighbors with similar age houses to see if they have a similar thing in their wall. If the houses were built at the same time, then they might have similar hardware installed, and it might provide more clues or they might have figured it out already. – Adam Porad Dec 02 '15 at 00:35

2 Answers2

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It is a retractable hanging rod, also called a valet rod. It should only pull out about 7 to 10" max. I have installed theses in walk in closets.

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Jack
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  • This doesn't extend past the exterior ring, so I don't think it's a hanging rod :/ – Rob Nov 30 '15 at 04:05
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Its a button that when pushed would sound a bell or an alarm. It was used by affluent home owners to summon a house maid or butler.

ojait
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  • Interesting possibility, especially given that some such systems used mechanical rods and/or cables rather than electricity, and it would not have been uncommon for renovations to rip out the apparatus to which such things would have connected (e.g. to free up space to run electrical wiring) while keeping the buttons to cover up the holes. – supercat Jan 08 '24 at 22:41