I moved into a house built in the 1950s in the north eastern US and this outlet is on the back of the house but I can't find anything like it searching online. If anyone knows what it is I'd greatly appreciate the enlightenment!

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[–] 45 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I wonder if the house has a pool. I imagine someone wanted a phone on the patio table by the pool. That seems iconically 50s to me.

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  • [–] 20 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    I have a relative with a phone by his pool

    He uses an old rotary phone for it, because it's all pretty basic electromechanical stuff that can't really get messed up from it being out in the rain or whatever. It can't make outgoing calls because modern phone systems don't work with rotary phones, but it receives incoming calls just fine

    It should maybe be noted that he's an old school telephone lineman who really knows his stuff, so I don't know if there were any other adapters or anything needed to make his setup work.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 days ago

    No additional adapters needed. Other than touch tone (button pad) vs pulse (rotary dial) and the shape of the plug, landline phones are pretty much the same as they were in the 30s. Everything between them has changed tremendously, but the phone on the end of the line is very basic.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    ngl that looks like a pretty amazing place to live. Love that look

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago*

    that looks similar to the HOA buildings that my aunt lives in in florida, it's an enclosed pool but, the glasswork is similar.

    I would love to live in a place like that as well, but I couldn't deal with the HOA's said locations almost always have

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