What Is This Doing Here?
May 7, 2025
Source: Reddit
Okay, so here’s the deal: I’m in this rickety old university building (which used to be a high school back in the day, fun fact), writing this article. Like, 1911 old. You can tell too. The floors creak just a bit, the windows are tall and dramatic, and the walls are dotted with all these odd little … features? It reminds me of when school gas heaters were installed in awkward places.
No joke, they’re just arbitrary rectangular indents in the walls. Some in classrooms, some in hallways. Totally not uniform. As if a renovation was started and the person got bored and left it like that, much like how school gas heaters were placed haphazardly.
And I thought, “Maybe someone needed a place to hide snacks or a superflat roommate.” But nope. Are they just part of a beautiful pile of junk that once supported a school gas heater?
Long Before Central Heating, There Was… This
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really given a great deal of thought as to how people kept warm in classrooms before the widespread use of modern HVAC systems. I kind of assumed everyone had to wrap up in a few more sweaters and be resigned to their fate. Or rely on a school gas heater tucked into the walls.
But in 1911, when this building was spanking new, they also didn’t have ductwork and smart thermostats. What they did have was gas. And oil. And those small heaters that sat in those small wall alcoves like the ones that I kept coming across. A typical school gas heater solution.
I mean, I guess it’s logical, isn’t it? Why take up classroom space with a big, clunky heater in the middle when you can snuggle it into the wall and pretend that it’s part of the architecture? Genius.
Why the Recesses Are Random (and Still There)
So here’s where it gets a bit odd. Those heaters weren’t distributed evenly because the rooms were not uniform, either. Some had windows that faced north, and some had drafty corners, and some were probably positioned next to stairwells that served as wind tunnels in January. It was the school gas heater logic at play.
The folks that put them there were like, “Just throw the heater somewhere where the kids don’t freeze,” and called it a day.
Fast forward to the present day — and boom. Central heating is a thing. The old heaters get removed. “Instead of sealing these alcoves up all nice and neat, someone just kind of shrugged and painted over them.” Classic renovation energy.
From Heat Source to Architectural Mystery
The heater — it’s long gone, of course. No grate, no piping, no chance of a fire (or so you hope). Just this empty box in the wall that appears like it’s waiting to be filled with something again.” A plant, maybe. Or a tiny museum exhibit.
Once in awhile, when I walk by one, I try to picture what it might have been like (early morning, kids shuffling in with red shiny noses, frozen fingers, all trying to sit close to that heater). Some poor kid probably sat right next to those school gas heater spots and roasted while everybody else froze.
Also? Let’s be real. Those heaters, one must imagine, hissed and clanked and seethed with the smell of burning dust and regrets. But hey, they worked.
A Little History Hidden in Plain Sight
I love these weird relics. You never realize they were there at first, but once you know what they were used for, they’ve become these little silent histories of how much change has taken place. A time when heating your room wasn’t a button on the wall but ) a box in the corner that could fry your leg if you got too close.
The next time you come across one of those random wall cutouts in an old building, take a second look. It probably housed a school gas heater from the 1910s, which went about its business quietly, keeping the chalkboard thawed, the students semi-defrosted.
And honestly? I kind of adore that they’re still out there. Ghosts of warmth snuggling up to the walls.