A few weeks ago, I was working on a shoot in an amazing 100+ year-old mansion in Long Island. In the hallway leading from the dining room into the kitchen, I noticed something on the wall near the butler’s pantry…
This glass-covered box:
Later, I was in the living room…
…And noticed this button on the wall.
Of course, I couldn’t resist…
Immediately, I heard a loud noise in the kitchen. Turns out, this is the original call system for servants. Press a button, and in the kitchen, a buzzer goes off and a number drops indicating which room is in need of assistance (below, I had pressed the living room button, as well as an upstairs bedroom):
Though broken for years, the new owner recently rewired it back into working condition for fun. There’s a button in each of the downstairs rooms as well as the bedrooms…But for some reason, I couldn’t find one in the dining room.
Turns out, it’s a foot pedal located on the floor beneath the table (currently covered by the rug). A host or hostess could signal for servants without ever leaving the table!
The device was made by the “Knickerbocker Annunciator Co.,” which is a pretty great company name for this sort of thing. A quick Google search reveals their business address at 116 West Street in Manhattan in 1921.
To reset the numbers, you just turn the knob below…
And they crank up into the box!
-SCOUT
Wowsies!
I especially like the subtle under the mat signal.
To you, your blog is called “Scouting New York”, to me “One thousand a one million reasons to move to New York” (from Australia… ah to dream).
Even more interesting is that the company seems to have been around in at least somewhat recent history:
Via NY Times October 16, 1983. Wonder if they were still making these things in the 80’s?
My husband is a private chef – one of his clients lives in a historic mansion and has a still-operable annunciator, although he only has it hooked up between the dining room and the butler’s pantry/kitchen. As you pointed out…it’s loud.
Wow that’s a pretty awesome find. Is that company still alive? I wonder what they would make today…
It’s too bad it looks like it was covered with layers of white paint.
There’s one in the Governor’s Mansion in NC. It is located on the underside of the dining room table at the end where the governor sits.
Oh GAWD that is cool- I so need one of those! wonder if it can get here by christmas…
There’s a great old New Yorker cartoon that shows a somewhat tipsy hostess half under the table in her attempt to find the call button with her foot….I’ll have to see if I can find it and link to it.
What a great find!
You might have one of the best jobs ever
That is awesome!
that is amazing
Very cool – the house I grew up in had buttons like that in many rooms and we always wondered what they did, now we know! Thanks!
[...] The Annunciator Box (Scouting NYC) [...]
My paternal grandparents met as servants in a house like that on Long Island in the 1930s. Very cool.
Excellent post. Really enjoyed this one. Scout, you have all the fun!
I have one of these I picked up at a yard sale on Beacon Hill in Boston. It isn’t “digital” like this one, instead there are little metal arrows that turned to point to the number of the room. A bell at the top of the box (unfortunately missing) would ring at the same time. I imagine it came out of one of the houses nearby where I bought it. Its one of the coolest things I’ve ever found for five bucks, although my servants haven’t been quite as appreciative.
Scout, this site is absolutely AWESOME. This is my first comment as I’ve been going through all of the archives. I’m moving to New York some time next year. I’ve always loved the city but never actually lived there. You are doing a phenomenal job documenting all of the wonderful bits and pieces that make the city the amazing place it is. Keep up the excellent work!!
love this! you have the coolest gigs.
My grandparents’ house had a button under the carpet in the dining room to call the maid. I can remember my grandmother slowly sinking in her chair as she was trying to search for the button. Naturally, we kids instantly dove under the table, found it and started pressing it like mad. It did not please the maid.
Years later when my parents took the house, we insisted they keep the buzzer. It necessitated some changes to their remodel but they did it! They don’t have a maid, but we do occasionally buzz my mom when she’s cooking dinner. She’s always about as pleased as the maid was…
I have a friend who lived in an old “Mill Supervisor” house in Cumberland, RI, which included servant quarters, a butler’s pantry, and a dumbwaiter! I could just imagine being a child and playing in it! she also had a stream running below her house used for fresh water access, located right in the basement!