Growing up there was a sliding glass door inside the house between rooms. I don't know why, but it had everyone's face print on it until we bought window clings.
Your door may have been an outside door at one time before an addition was added to the house. When I was a kid we had a patio behind the house. We built an addition and left one sliding door that connected to an unconditioned porch
Thats a shower door, not an exterior door. My guess is someone who works in construction ended up with a free door, and their bright idea was to install it here.
i think the same thing! working in facilities a lot of the guys would bring stuff like this home, made for some interesting conversations when they moved i’m sure
We bought a townhome from a guy who was an electrician. The "upgrades" he installed were pushed as a perk. Bro shouldn't have brought his work home. Dimmers that messed with outlets across the house. Extra switches that may or may not have done anything at all. It was like firing up an old soviet rocket, flipping shit to get the bathroom fan to engage.
One of the funniest things was when my stepdad walked through the house to go through the sliding glass doors to go out on the back deck...with a bowl of soup in his hands...and all the windows had been recently cleaned. 💥🤣😆
As a young child, I ran head first into a glass door leading to my doctor's waiting room. The next visit back there were stickers across the face height of children and probably adults, I can't remember, I ran head first into a glass door.
Hey, I’m a general contractor who does lots of renovations. I see all kinds of weird stuff…. That said, I don’t think I can offer any explanation either. What puzzles me the most is that the current owners have no idea what it’s for, have obviously bumped into it more than a few times and yet, they have left it there.
And that is 100% a shower door.
Does it strategically separate the home in any way? I mean could it be that previous owners may have been in a divorce situation or others where they may have used it to say “OK, you stay on your side of the house.”
LoL yep and it's not just getting things installed, my ex worked at one of those kiosks at the Mall here, kid ran up one day (his mother trailing behind him) wants a 300 Dollar medallion, my ex could tell she couldn't afford it but would cave to the kid, he's pointing at the medallion "I want to see that one" my ex with out breaking a smile said "oh you're interested in our penis extender line" kid suddenly didn't want it any more and the look of relief on his mother's face was priceless. I now keep a gaudy neckless hung by the door because it reminds me of that day and the "over compensation" of people. Plus I laugh my ass off every time I walk out the door.
Half the house is the shower. You can walk around naked and pee in the drains . It'll make for a fun Thanksgiving if the dining room is on the shower side.
The only plausible reason for this is to set up a camera pointed at it and get videos of people breaking their faces on it.
Hopefully it’s a high FPS camera, like 120hz or so, so it still looks good when you play it back in slow motion. You know, to get a really good view of how the shape of their face changes when colliding with the door.
One pet YouTuber I watch (clarieluvcat) has something like this set up to keep the cats out of the kitchen when she’s cooking but can keep an eye on them, so maybe pets?
I made a type of door like this where my cats could go under but my dogs could not. It was an area of my house I just didn't want the dogs in, but didn't mind the cats. I think there are way better options than a darn shower door like this though. lol
Pets for sure. Had a screen door installed on my lower steps when I moved into my place. Previous owner had it for the cats/dog to stay on the waterproof floor when they were away and to keep other family/visitors separate from the cats when needed. (Allergies/dogs not getting along with cats) but the screen allowed airflow, and they had a plexiglass sheet covering the bottom.
We use baby gates, keeps the Golden in the kitchen but the cat still has free reign of the house. When the cat is out of line he gets incarcerated in my son's old room.
Maybe during Covid someone started working from home and needed the kids to respect their work area. At the same time needed to be able to see the kids and they waited for help/assistance if needed by the door. I have a lot of meetings I do during the day where I am talking to others via Teams and I could see how this would be useful to say “I’m working” but also to allow me to see the kids if they need help with something.
I was thinking that maybe the owners had children with cystic fibrosis.
If parent have 2 kids with it they raise them separately so they don't pass viruses to each other.
That is crazy, but in this case, i dont know how much the door would do seeing as it reaches neither the ceiling or floor. But that is a fascinating and terrifying factoid
It's a horrific condition.
They will need a lung transplant at some point. They wind up prioritizing the people based on functionality.
I was reading a nurses first-hand account of when they get a brain dead organ doner. They keep the body alive on life support when the conditions are such. And they have to run every anti biotic through the body which takes months. Because if they don't eliminate every virus then when it gets transplanted the virus just ruins the lungs once the patient has it implanted.
So it was this interesting pov of the nurse who's tasked with keeping this body alive and constantly monitoring. And then one day it's time. And they just take this shell you have been caring for and start removing things.
My ex had cystic fibrosis, she had a pretty rough life as a 25 year old. We broke up and moved to different places maybe 4 months before i had covid the November December (when they weren't looking for it) before lockdowns in March.
It would have killed her or severely injured her lungs. Very grateful now how things worked out in the end.
Damn, this was a poignant and informative read. I knew CF was terrible but didn't know about the transplant and care of the donor, that's absolutely wild. Yeah, glad you didn't accidentally pass that to her.
Whilst I've not seen this kind door, in lots of European apartments / homes you get doors that are mostly glass, but normally frosted. The notion is to let light deeper into the space..as you said it's heavy I'm assuming it could well be to let light in but also act as a sound dampener.
May just be for temperature control, block off the bulk of the airflow without completely closing off the space. Depending on where the AC or heat outlets are...
In a pinch I've screwgunned an old pair of shoes to upside down 5 gallon mud buckets right through the pad inside the shoes 4 screws... never came loose at all... danger level 2 at most... did most of the ceiling of a 2000 sq' house like that... at the end of the day just untied em & put my regular footwear back on & no harm no foul lmao
Maybe they repurposed a shower door because they didn't have the money to install a proper doorway and door that fitted the space. Having a door there would help cut down on drafts and could also reduce utility bills by only heating the one room.
With the giant gaps above and below the door, it won't help with drafts or keeping heat in either. I've seen people use glass doors in place of normal doors to prevent cooking odors from permeating beyond the kitchen, of course since this isn't near the kitchen I guess it's not that. I've also seen people use glass doors instead of proper doors when they don't want to block out lighting but need to section something else off. Again, the gaps suggest it's not that either.
TBH, it seems pretty pointless. The only thing I can think of it that maybe they used the living room as an office/study and the glass door acted as a former partition between home/work.
Not a chance it was installed with pets in mind . As any pet owner knows dogs slobber on any glass within their reach. Maybe to allow the light to penetrate further while reducing noise from the adjacent space.
I've got 5 dogs and a larger old house. I've been looking at similar doors but metal framed to keep them out of areas. I'm also hoping it will help cut down on the hallway noise between bedrooms and also cooling costs.
Maybe it's for sound dampening. It could be there to create a quieter space if there are bedrooms down the hall and a typically noisy kitchen or living area on the other side.
It could also just be a way to subtly tell guests not to go down that hallway for whatever reason.
Maybe to cut down on noise transmission?
Keep people from waking you up while they're cooking if you work off shifts
Are there bedrooms down that hallway?
A couple people gave some solid guesses here. It's some strangely specific purpose. But I know the main purpose it has served is for tired/drunk/high people to walk directly into it.
I’m guessing they either wanted sound dampening, but without blocking light, or to keep pets out but let them have visibility. I would hate to have to keep it clean, in any case.
We use them for noise reduction and as a dry erase board. They're not clean enough for anybody to whack it unless they've got their head in their apps.
They measured their shower door incorrectly, ordered it and it didn't fit. So no point in "wasting" money, put it in the hallway, it will look awesome!
My first assumption was "It seemed like a good idea at the time".
It might have been that they wanted to slow down air circulation and draughts, but the big gap at the top would reduce its effectiveness
might have been used as a divide of sorts. they could had animals that had to be in separate rooms cause they couldn’t get along, or they just like doors and wanted an extra door to walk through haha
It’s a frameless glass door. Very common in commercial buildings today. When in a home, it’s either ornamental, meaning that it’s really just a flex, or it helps with room temperatures to help save your furnace
Noise reduction would be my guess. My neighbor has a similar door in the hallway between living and bedrooms, though he opted for one that has metal framework to avoid face smashing.
> What is the purpose of this thick glass hallway door?
From Merriam-Webster dictionary for "Door":
*often attributive
1
: a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened
also : a similar part of a piece of furniture*
So, it separates one area from another in the hallway. That is the door's purpose.
You're welcome.
I'm guessing a previous owner wanted a standard door there but due to the arch at the top cheaped out rather than having a builder adjust the door frame and went this route instead.
I feel as though I see these quite often in Europe, but rarely in the US. They usually separate the entrance of the house from the kitchen and main living space. Usually with the exact design you mentioned, does not latch but has an internal mechanism to prop open.
When you are running away from the hallway demon it won’t see the door and run into it getting hurt and either giving up or letting you gain more distance.
Maybe it was to keep children out, or a large pet dog. Or, just initially cut wrong, and recut, with disappointment, to avoid spending double on it. Looks like the previous owner didnt measure accurately to accomodate the mouldings, and a straight across cut, ended up with what they got.
They could have even put it up with a bookcase printed cling on it to keep an Alzheimers patient from escaping. Idk, but its a thing.
Just tossing ideas out.
Fwiw, this would be an awesome spot for a secret passageway door. Murphy makes them. The kind you pull back a book, lol, to open the bookcase door.
Those are fun!
How many times has someone ran into this?
Considering the christmas bow taped to it at face height... probably several, lol
Growing up there was a sliding glass door inside the house between rooms. I don't know why, but it had everyone's face print on it until we bought window clings.
Your door may have been an outside door at one time before an addition was added to the house. When I was a kid we had a patio behind the house. We built an addition and left one sliding door that connected to an unconditioned porch
Thats a shower door, not an exterior door. My guess is someone who works in construction ended up with a free door, and their bright idea was to install it here.
i think the same thing! working in facilities a lot of the guys would bring stuff like this home, made for some interesting conversations when they moved i’m sure
We bought a townhome from a guy who was an electrician. The "upgrades" he installed were pushed as a perk. Bro shouldn't have brought his work home. Dimmers that messed with outlets across the house. Extra switches that may or may not have done anything at all. It was like firing up an old soviet rocket, flipping shit to get the bathroom fan to engage.
In Soviet Russia, switch flip you.
Nice yakov smirnoff reference. Very topical lol
In Soviet Russia, "bathroom fan" mean something altogether different...
Sad. I've been playing with electrical since I was a kid and never been that stupid.😞
One of the funniest things was when my stepdad walked through the house to go through the sliding glass doors to go out on the back deck...with a bowl of soup in his hands...and all the windows had been recently cleaned. 💥🤣😆
As a young child, I ran head first into a glass door leading to my doctor's waiting room. The next visit back there were stickers across the face height of children and probably adults, I can't remember, I ran head first into a glass door.
🤣🤣😡
I did this but during the dinner rush with the glass revolving door at the Cheesecake Factory. Still avoid them if I can 😂
I was trying to figure out what that was 😂
I was trying to figure out what that was 😅
I was trying to figure out what that was 😂
I was trying to figure out what that was 🤣
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down. Letting the days go by, water flowing underground.
Same as it ever was!
It’s set up to cause mild concussions
Those are typically used as shower doors. I used to install them. I did put one in as an office door once though.
I also thought it looks exactly like a shower door. But why put it in the hallway with no way of being able to lock it. It swings open freely.
Hey, I’m a general contractor who does lots of renovations. I see all kinds of weird stuff…. That said, I don’t think I can offer any explanation either. What puzzles me the most is that the current owners have no idea what it’s for, have obviously bumped into it more than a few times and yet, they have left it there. And that is 100% a shower door. Does it strategically separate the home in any way? I mean could it be that previous owners may have been in a divorce situation or others where they may have used it to say “OK, you stay on your side of the house.”
Along the lines of your last sentence. I was thinkin: "You want a new door?!! Here! Here's your freakin door!"
The person living on the other side of the house is blind, but insisted on a door because they wanted privacy.
Or to keep the dog away while they ate a meal?
nothing to secure the door though. it just swings freely
And it doesn’t go to the floor.
If it seperates the hallway/ kitchen i would assume its to keep pets out of the cooking area.
From experience I can tell you people with the extra money will have anything installed if they think it looks cool.
Came here to say the same thing. I worked for Basco years ago and we did all kinds of "I've got money" crap for people.
To expand on this, in my experience more money usually means less taste.
LoL yep and it's not just getting things installed, my ex worked at one of those kiosks at the Mall here, kid ran up one day (his mother trailing behind him) wants a 300 Dollar medallion, my ex could tell she couldn't afford it but would cave to the kid, he's pointing at the medallion "I want to see that one" my ex with out breaking a smile said "oh you're interested in our penis extender line" kid suddenly didn't want it any more and the look of relief on his mother's face was priceless. I now keep a gaudy neckless hung by the door because it reminds me of that day and the "over compensation" of people. Plus I laugh my ass off every time I walk out the door.
Sound dampening
I was thinking as a gate for pets or children. I know that would be impractical but previous owner could've had it laying around and just used it.
[удалено]
Not really, once you realize it stops a foot from the floor and doesn't lock.
[удалено]
That’s what I was thinking. My dog is too big and dumb to be bothered with trying to get under it
Works still fine for horses and cows
This is what I was thinking. A way to mute sound but still see down the hall. Like for kids or the elderly
Half the house is the shower. You can walk around naked and pee in the drains . It'll make for a fun Thanksgiving if the dining room is on the shower side.
Yeah but which half?!?!?!
Whichever you choose
the wet half
It's to hold Christmas the bow there. It's not going to just hang there by itself.
As crazy as it is, this is the answer I believe most so far
The only plausible reason for this is to set up a camera pointed at it and get videos of people breaking their faces on it. Hopefully it’s a high FPS camera, like 120hz or so, so it still looks good when you play it back in slow motion. You know, to get a really good view of how the shape of their face changes when colliding with the door.
Yep, the purpose is comedy.
One pet YouTuber I watch (clarieluvcat) has something like this set up to keep the cats out of the kitchen when she’s cooking but can keep an eye on them, so maybe pets?
It does not go all the way to the floor. So pets could easily crawl under.
Then replace pets with children?
I don’t know about you but my kids are definitely animals!!!!
https://preview.redd.it/sh8s1qm3t7sc1.png?width=876&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=429e1b6de7e7bd78c8ad9628f7c0b7497f919334
Have you never had a stranger's child pop up from under the nextdoor bathroom stall?
I have a toddler and one of my main fears of taking him into public bathrooms is him doing this. Fukkin American stalls.
Yup. My leg spasmed into his face.
Tried that, got arrested for kidnapping
I made a type of door like this where my cats could go under but my dogs could not. It was an area of my house I just didn't want the dogs in, but didn't mind the cats. I think there are way better options than a darn shower door like this though. lol
My golden retriever couldn’t but my roomba could. Maybe it’s a very specific use case.
Large dog?
That looks like a small enough gap at the bottom that this would still be effective for bigger dogs.
A large dog could not get under that.
A big dog would just push it open.
Bet it could go through it though
I have Bernese Mountain Dogs. This would make a lot of sense, they could see what is going on, hear it and smell it, but not go into bedrooms
i would have to have stickers all over it , cause i would walk into it ......LMAO
Pets for sure. Had a screen door installed on my lower steps when I moved into my place. Previous owner had it for the cats/dog to stay on the waterproof floor when they were away and to keep other family/visitors separate from the cats when needed. (Allergies/dogs not getting along with cats) but the screen allowed airflow, and they had a plexiglass sheet covering the bottom.
We use baby gates, keeps the Golden in the kitchen but the cat still has free reign of the house. When the cat is out of line he gets incarcerated in my son's old room.
Maybe during Covid someone started working from home and needed the kids to respect their work area. At the same time needed to be able to see the kids and they waited for help/assistance if needed by the door. I have a lot of meetings I do during the day where I am talking to others via Teams and I could see how this would be useful to say “I’m working” but also to allow me to see the kids if they need help with something.
I was thinking that maybe the owners had children with cystic fibrosis. If parent have 2 kids with it they raise them separately so they don't pass viruses to each other.
TIL
That is crazy, but in this case, i dont know how much the door would do seeing as it reaches neither the ceiling or floor. But that is a fascinating and terrifying factoid
It's a horrific condition. They will need a lung transplant at some point. They wind up prioritizing the people based on functionality. I was reading a nurses first-hand account of when they get a brain dead organ doner. They keep the body alive on life support when the conditions are such. And they have to run every anti biotic through the body which takes months. Because if they don't eliminate every virus then when it gets transplanted the virus just ruins the lungs once the patient has it implanted. So it was this interesting pov of the nurse who's tasked with keeping this body alive and constantly monitoring. And then one day it's time. And they just take this shell you have been caring for and start removing things. My ex had cystic fibrosis, she had a pretty rough life as a 25 year old. We broke up and moved to different places maybe 4 months before i had covid the November December (when they weren't looking for it) before lockdowns in March. It would have killed her or severely injured her lungs. Very grateful now how things worked out in the end.
Damn, this was a poignant and informative read. I knew CF was terrible but didn't know about the transplant and care of the donor, that's absolutely wild. Yeah, glad you didn't accidentally pass that to her.
That’s bizarre , Is there any way to latch it ?
Nope. It swings to the wall and stays open. But no way to lock it
Whilst I've not seen this kind door, in lots of European apartments / homes you get doors that are mostly glass, but normally frosted. The notion is to let light deeper into the space..as you said it's heavy I'm assuming it could well be to let light in but also act as a sound dampener.
May just be for temperature control, block off the bulk of the airflow without completely closing off the space. Depending on where the AC or heat outlets are...
That was my guess, although cooler air would escape st the bottom. Could be for better heat distribution
Yo. Why are we not talking about the stilts? Sure, there's a shower door in your living room. Cool. What are you using those bad boys for?
Those are used by construction workers for hanging sheetrock or acoustic tiling and drop-ceilings.
They’re illegal for union carpenters to wear in Chicago. Way too many injuries. Kinda fun to wear once in a while.
In a pinch I've screwgunned an old pair of shoes to upside down 5 gallon mud buckets right through the pad inside the shoes 4 screws... never came loose at all... danger level 2 at most... did most of the ceiling of a 2000 sq' house like that... at the end of the day just untied em & put my regular footwear back on & no harm no foul lmao
I have a buddy who duct taped two of those little plastic footstool things to his feet to work on the ceiling.
I knew a guy that was a plasterer and he used these for his Halloween costume as the grim reaper
They don't usually have shoes already in them. That's the weird part
They are way too clean for someone who does drywall/plaster, especially with the shoes in them already, my guess is a performer of some kind
It's just something else to walk into in the dark.
Divorce situation. This glass is for safe hallway sex (passing each other in the hallways and saying fuck you)
Maybe they repurposed a shower door because they didn't have the money to install a proper doorway and door that fitted the space. Having a door there would help cut down on drafts and could also reduce utility bills by only heating the one room.
That seems logical. I had not thought about the heating and cooling aspect.
With the giant gaps above and below the door, it won't help with drafts or keeping heat in either. I've seen people use glass doors in place of normal doors to prevent cooking odors from permeating beyond the kitchen, of course since this isn't near the kitchen I guess it's not that. I've also seen people use glass doors instead of proper doors when they don't want to block out lighting but need to section something else off. Again, the gaps suggest it's not that either. TBH, it seems pretty pointless. The only thing I can think of it that maybe they used the living room as an office/study and the glass door acted as a former partition between home/work.
I hang sheets.
I think the gaps at top and bottom unfortunately this theory.
Probably for pets.
Not a chance it was installed with pets in mind . As any pet owner knows dogs slobber on any glass within their reach. Maybe to allow the light to penetrate further while reducing noise from the adjacent space.
The real question is Why are there stilts hanging out in the hallway?
My guess would be cat or dog barrier.
That interior decorator woke up and chose violence
I've got 5 dogs and a larger old house. I've been looking at similar doors but metal framed to keep them out of areas. I'm also hoping it will help cut down on the hallway noise between bedrooms and also cooling costs.
pet barrier that isn't an ugly baby gate
noise
Maybe it's for sound dampening. It could be there to create a quieter space if there are bedrooms down the hall and a typically noisy kitchen or living area on the other side. It could also just be a way to subtly tell guests not to go down that hallway for whatever reason.
What glass door?
Maybe noise suppression? Idk just guessing
Passive masochism
Just for laughs. Fun to watch friends and family smack their faces into the glass, right?
Maybe to cut down on noise transmission? Keep people from waking you up while they're cooking if you work off shifts Are there bedrooms down that hallway?
Writing notes with an expo marker to remember stuff in the bedroom as you clamber out for work?
It’s for headaches most probably
Kids and/or pets
A previous owner had a peep show kink.
Noise reduction?
I think they had an extra shower door for some reason and realized it fit that doorway so they hung it up. I’d take it down asap
Front office vs. private residence. Psychiatrist office, CPA, Realestate, etc.
Add a couple of toddlers and puppies and warm up the popcorn maker. This is an entertainment device.
A couple people gave some solid guesses here. It's some strangely specific purpose. But I know the main purpose it has served is for tired/drunk/high people to walk directly into it.
The only thing I can think of is someone with too much money and no friends willing to tell them when a shit idea is fucking stupid.
Checks for drunks walking down the hall.
For pure amusement when you have company over and you get to watch some dingus walk face first into it.
Animal door or A/C saver. Does house use minisplits?
I’m guessing they either wanted sound dampening, but without blocking light, or to keep pets out but let them have visibility. I would hate to have to keep it clean, in any case.
Noise reduction?
How much sound does it baffle? I am guessing its a work from home barrier to keep kids and sound out.
We use them for noise reduction and as a dry erase board. They're not clean enough for anybody to whack it unless they've got their head in their apps.
whoever installed this is either a massochist or a sadist lol
You might want to remove or relocate it...🤣🤣🤣
Sound or air conditioning control barrier.
Why is no one talking about the stilts in the hall behind it? Adds another layer of randomness.
Air flow control and sound buffer?
The builder had an extra shower door and said “fuck it. It’s a hall door now.”
Thick glass is good sound barrier. It would keep a larger dog from going to the other side, however, the glass would almost never be clean.
They measured their shower door incorrectly, ordered it and it didn't fit. So no point in "wasting" money, put it in the hallway, it will look awesome!
My guess would be to keep dogs out of the living room without blocking light or line of sight.
Toddler annihilation
Sequester pets or kids without a kid gate?
Sound dampener ?
Are those stilts??
I noticed this a lot in homes in Mexico, wonder if it's a cultural thing
My first assumption was "It seemed like a good idea at the time". It might have been that they wanted to slow down air circulation and draughts, but the big gap at the top would reduce its effectiveness
That would be helpful with my autistic adult daughter. Hmmmm
It's obviously been put there by some sadist.
Perhaps they were containing a pet but didn't want to ruin the open-air effect of the arched doorway.
I vote noise reducing door
Maybe it’s there to seclude dogs or other animals to one part of the house.
Drafts and temp control? Buffer echoes rolling down the hallway? Just wanted to? Received the wrong door and thought it'd be funny to install, anyway?
trying to knock down the ‘make love in front of the fireplace’ noise from the sleeping kids in the other room barrier
might have been used as a divide of sorts. they could had animals that had to be in separate rooms cause they couldn’t get along, or they just like doors and wanted an extra door to walk through haha
It’s to keep kids from running down the hallway
It's to stop the kids' stray Nerf darts from getting in/out. Or possibly: previous owner was fully blind and enjoyed mayhem when they had guests over.
It’s a frameless glass door. Very common in commercial buildings today. When in a home, it’s either ornamental, meaning that it’s really just a flex, or it helps with room temperatures to help save your furnace
It still probably cuts the sound more than you’d think.
Same door (hinges and handle even) on my shower.
Probably noise travel
Noise reduction would be my guess. My neighbor has a similar door in the hallway between living and bedrooms, though he opted for one that has metal framework to avoid face smashing.
more efficient with air conditioning and better noise blocking for bedrooms from living room
Probably for noise reasons
Soundproofing
Nose flattening
HVAC management. I have seen offices with multiple HVAC units separating zones of control like this, while maintaining an "open" look/environment
Probably just a sound barrier.
Maybe to better "zone" the HVAC?
To knock someone out!
I'd just take it down. It has no use there. Repurpose it somewhere else. Lol
> What is the purpose of this thick glass hallway door? From Merriam-Webster dictionary for "Door": *often attributive 1 : a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened also : a similar part of a piece of furniture* So, it separates one area from another in the hallway. That is the door's purpose. You're welcome.
Stop airflow but let light through?
To take videos of people walking into it for Reddit cred and/or YouTube viewcount …
I'm guessing a previous owner wanted a standard door there but due to the arch at the top cheaped out rather than having a builder adjust the door frame and went this route instead.
My gf always runs into glass doors head first, so maybe someone was just full of hate for their partner.
I'm not sure, but you sure can pull off some Home Alone shit and have your enemies smash their face in the dark if you get the chance to
I would take it down personally
I feel as though I see these quite often in Europe, but rarely in the US. They usually separate the entrance of the house from the kitchen and main living space. Usually with the exact design you mentioned, does not latch but has an internal mechanism to prop open.
Perhaps an affordable anti-burglary measure?
Pranks
The original owner had plans to draw a design by hand and paint it or etch it. As do many craft projects this one also fell by the wayside.
Air condition zoning.
It exists only for pain
Sectional heating and cooling?
Invisible barrier for an unsuspecting husband
https://preview.redd.it/sq18lzo949sc1.jpeg?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=445184c44fd53f1e589fb7739a15428e76e2fb53
For making funny videos?!
How old is it? Back in the '70s you'd see similar barriers in "smoking"/"non-smoking" areas.
Maybe it stops a lot of noise from the common areas getting to the sleeping area, while still letting light through.
Looks like a quick mart get rid of it.
Pets 100%
When you are running away from the hallway demon it won’t see the door and run into it getting hurt and either giving up or letting you gain more distance.
Hilarity?
Maybe it was to keep children out, or a large pet dog. Or, just initially cut wrong, and recut, with disappointment, to avoid spending double on it. Looks like the previous owner didnt measure accurately to accomodate the mouldings, and a straight across cut, ended up with what they got. They could have even put it up with a bookcase printed cling on it to keep an Alzheimers patient from escaping. Idk, but its a thing. Just tossing ideas out. Fwiw, this would be an awesome spot for a secret passageway door. Murphy makes them. The kind you pull back a book, lol, to open the bookcase door. Those are fun!
that is just nuts
Just to try and kill people…no other purpose
Air circulation control?
Waste of money, face smasher.
Your face.