This show is the only place where I've ever seen a door like that. It's kind of cool looking, but I'm not even sure how that would work.

Didn't they have a door with the handle in the middle on Brady Bunch? I haven't watched Brady Bunch in decades but I believe they did. I've also seen it in some episodes of Mannix (which used the Brady Bunch house interior many times) too.

Most of the houses in my neighborhood were built in the 50' and 60's. A handful of them have double front doors with knobs in the middle. In that era, even moderately priced homes had style.

Didn't they have a door with the handle in the middle on Brady Bunch?

I'll have to look for it the next time I watch an episode.

Well if you can afford to live on Central Park East you can put doorknobs wherever you like!

As for the Brady's they had normal doorknobs (double doors, so it might have looked in the middle in memory).

I've noticed this also when watching the DVD's, door knob in the center of the door. Strange design. Family Affair is the only TV show where I've seen this.

No, the Brady Bunch front doors had normal door handles (I only know this because I just watched the Brady Renovation episode just the other day, when Maureen went shopping for specific doorknobs for the front door). They were in the usual part of the door.

The Family Affair doorknobs' locations were so unique. I've never seen that anywhere in real life, and I'm also mystified on how they would work: wouldn't you need a really long doorlatch? Those doorknobs remind me of the doorknob on Bilbo's/Frodo's front door, in The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: right in the middle.

The Family Affair doorknobs' locations were so unique. I've never seen that anywhere in real life, and I'm also mystified on how they would work: wouldn't you need a really long doorlatch?.

I recall noticing that back when watching the show in first runs, and when entering the building trades a few years later I was a little mystified by it.

The measurement from the center of the knob to the latch edge of the door is called the 'backset". The standard dimension for this is either 2 3/8" or 2 3/4", with 5" being an option for some eccentric tastes

I've installed quite a few 5" backset knobs, almost exclusively in office buildings, but like you, I have never seen functional knobsets installed with the knob at the center of the door.

Makes me wonder if the doors on family affair had passive knobs and deadbolt locking mechanisms, making the knobs semi ornamental?

Not that it wouldn't be possible. I've installed 5" backset knobs where they gained the extra dimension by providing an extension piece that mated with a standard 2 3/4" latch, making it 5" overall. I suppose you could link together several of those adapters to form one long extension.

And, if you look here you can see that longer backsets wouldn't be rocket science:
http://kilianhardware.com/exloba.html
But, I doubt that a "one-off" would be priced reasonably.

I suppose if you were a developer building a hi-rise apartment building, you could go out and get bids for 100 custom lockets with 16" backsets, to make your building unique.

But, to what end? How practical would a custom made knobset be? You sure are not going to be able to go out and buy replacements at Lowes or Home Depot in 20 years when you decide you need a new look.

I wouldn't want them on my property

Here are the knobs:
https://i.imgur.com/nwXPqRK.jpg

One thing I can guarantee you, not both knobs feature latches. It's not done that way with double doors. One door is always latched with bolts at top and bottom to lock it to the frame, with the other door having an active latch into it.

SO at least one of the door knobs is purely ornamental.

Incidentally, following is a sketch showing how the adapters I mentioned earlier work with a 2 3/4" backset latch to accommodate a 5" installation.

Looking at the Davis front door photo, those doors appear only about 24" wide each, so It would take a 12" backset to get to the center of the door..

Since each "adapter" adds 2 1/4 inch to the effective length of the latch, 4 such adapters linked end to end would add 9" to the standard length of 2 3/4 for a total of 11 3/4".
That is what I'll bet they did.
https://i.imgur.com/y6LoR78.jpg

I watched a couple of episodes this morning and that is a pretty cool design, having them in the middle. I don't know how practical that design would be, though.

I recall noticing that back when watching the show in first runs, and when entering the building trades a few years later I was a little mystified by it.

The measurement from the center of the knob to the latch edge of the door is called the 'backset". The standard dimension for this is either 2 3/8" or 2 3/4", with 5" being an option for some eccentric tastes

I've installed quite a few 5" backset knobs, almost exclusively in office buildings, but like you, I have never seen functional knobsets installed with the knob at the center of the door.

Makes me wonder if the doors on family affair had passive knobs and deadbolt locking mechanisms, making the knobs semi ornamental?

Not that it wouldn't be possible. I've installed 5" backset knobs where they gained the extra dimension by providing an extension piece that mated with a standard 2 3/4" latch, making it 5" overall. I suppose you could link together several of those adapters to form one long extension.

And, if you look here you can see that longer backsets wouldn't be rocket science:
http://kilianhardware.com/exloba.html
But, I doubt that a "one-off" would be priced reasonably.

I suppose if you were a developer building a hi-rise apartment building, you could go out and get bids for 100 custom lockets with 16" backsets, to make your building unique.

But, to what end? How practical would a custom made knobset be? You sure are not going to be able to go out and buy replacements at Lowes or Home Depot in 20 years when you decide you need a new look.

I wouldn't want them on my property

Here are the knobs:
https://i.imgur.com/nwXPqRK.jpg

One thing I can guarantee you, not both knobs feature latches. It's not done that way with double doors. One door is always latched with bolts at top and bottom to lock it to the frame, with the other door having an active latch into it.

SO at least one of the door knobs is purely ornamental.

Thanks for the info, Jim. I have only installed a few of the traditional doorknobs over the years, and didn't even know the proper terminology. I see what you're saying about one of the knobs needing to be ornamental: it wouldn't have anything to connect to, with the other side already being "male". I can see how you could use adapters to lengthen the backset, but as you say, they'd need four adapters, back to back, and that sure seems cumbersome and likely to cause issues with parts likely to disconnect at some point. And trying to get the backset pieces out of the door, once they're disconnected, sounds like such "fun". :lol:

I watched a couple of episodes this morning and that is a pretty cool design, having them in the middle. I don't know how practical that design would be, though.

It's definitely a cool design, but as you say, probably not too practical: how long until you had to replace it because the adapters in the backset kept breaking?

It's definitely a cool design, but as you say, probably not too practical: how long until you had to replace it because the adapters in the backset kept breaking?


Right!

I can see how you could use adapters to lengthen the backset, but as you say, they'd need four adapters, back to back, and that sure seems cumbersome and likely to cause issues with parts likely to disconnect at some point. And trying to get the backset pieces out of the door, once they're disconnected, sounds like such "fun". :lol:

Whenever I used the adapters, I would always wrap a good layer of electricians black tape around the mated pieces to assure nothing drifted out of alignment, later.

Can you imagine having to drill the hole straight 12+ inches without coming out through the face of the door? I'd be on edge the whole time second guessing myself
I mean a standard door is 1 3/4" thick, and you are going to be drilling a 7/8" or 1" hole for the latch to fit in. That leaves you only 3/8" on either side of leeway.

Maybe they used a hollow core door, and that's what those big silver rings the knobs are mounted on,...are all about.

But then I really wouldn't want a hollow core door on my entryway...not very secure.

My rich uncle has a 40" front door with the door knob in the middle of the door, house was built in the 1960's - not common but not custom either - I see a few here & there

I just recently got Season 4 and 5 Family affair DVD's!! Enjoying this sweet old show very much, the cool doorknobs in the middle of the door! ;) I thought that was so cool seeing this as a kid along with the phones they had which were the latest, most modern type of phones back than!:cool: Those rectangle shape phones with the dial on the phone receiver, a pink one in the girls bedroom and a green one out in the living room! ;) And in the earlier seasons Cissy's pink "Princes phone " she had in her room !!:) I thought both types of phones were SO COOL (and modern) when I was a kid !!:D

I have always had those exact thoughts. I love that '60's style of telephones, not only did they look great but they were also very comfortable to hold and fit the mouth and ear perfectly. As a kid we had a wall phone that you see in '60's shows, the hand set was the same as the desk phones except the rest of it was hung on a wall and I didn't like it. I remember asking my Dad could we get a desk phone like they have on TV, naturally he said no. But those desk phones esp. the rotary desk phones are so perfect looking to me.

So the first thing I did when I moved out on my own was to buy those exact style '60s desk phones. I even bought my sister a pink "Princess" phone like you see on '60's TV shows. Over the years since I've gotten several different color desk phones (they're called series 500) and though I didn't like the '70s touch tone phones as much I have a few of those today too because you can't do business unless you have a touch tone.

So to this day I have never owned a cell phone and am still proud to use my '60's phones each and every day. They're the only phones I have. My blue desk phone reminds me of the exact kind of phone Hazel used. But my proudest phone is my Avengers inspired 2 tone phone it looks just like the red and black one you see in this picture.

http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/twotonetwins.jpg

The yellow wall phone we actually had in my house as a kid looked like this, it was in the kitchen:
https://envisioningtheamericandream.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/telephone-extension-1958-swscan07920-copy.jpg?w=710

The blue phone I have that reminds me of Hazel looks like this:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/12/a3/3412a3c8dc2f055178fd1d7d94a11038.jpg

The yellow wall phone we actually had in my house as a kid looked like this, it was in the kitchen:
https://envisioningtheamericandream.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/telephone-extension-1958-swscan07920-copy.jpg?w=710

The blue phone I have that reminds me of Hazel looks like this:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/12/a3/3412a3c8dc2f055178fd1d7d94a11038.jpg


We had that exact same yellow telephone on our kitchen wall when I was a kid , and we never had a blue phone like the one in the picture , but one just like it in a tan color in my Parents bedroom and a really old black phone ( I think an older model phone)? downstairs in the hall right near the living room !:)

I love using these phones, they remind me of the '60 TV shows everytime I look at them. Practically all the shows from the '60's used these rotary desk phones series 500. Everytime I see them I love 'em. Dick Van Dyke Show always used them.

I have used other people's cell phones once in a while not only do I feel like an idiot as I never know where I'm supposed to talk as there's no mouthpiece and you are forced to talk in the air but I never know how to hang up. So I have to hand the phone back and say you have to hang it up.

.

So to this day I have never owned a cell phone and am still proud to use my '60's phones each and every day. They're the only phones I have. My blue desk phone reminds me of the exact kind of phone Hazel used. But my proudest phone is my Avengers inspired 2 tone phone it looks just like the red and black one you see in this picture.

http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/twotonetwins.jpg

Here here! Or perhaps I should say "Hear Hear!"
The beautiful thing about those phones is how clearly you can hear people, and how clearly you can be heard.

All the highly styled phone sets you can buy at the fad boutiques seem to think audio quality is unimportant.

And the "omni directional" microphones used in most cell phones are a joke. So often a person using those phones get their heads cocked at one angle and the phone cocked at another, and you end up guessing what 50 % of the conversation must be about. No wonder there is so much misunderstanding.

Those older phones got the job done right.

That is very true Gent Jim, I didn't think to say it. But everytime I talk to someone using a cell phone I can barely understand a word they're saying and the sound keeps going in and out. This is supposed to be a modern day improvement over the old phones of the '60's and '70? It seems the more features they add on these modern day confangled cell phones Iphones Uphones whatever the more HORRIBLE the sound quality.

It seems these modern day phone manufacturers have forgotten the main purpose of a phone is to be able to talk and hear the person clearly that you're talking to. My Mom had a cell phone and I bought her a regular good old fashioned Wall phone (she didn't want a desk) that looks like the touch tone phones of the '70's. It never ever fails, every time she uses that phone other people can hear her clearly and it never fades.

I'm glad I will never be texting with my rotary phone, and the real benefit is I'm not bothered with other people trying to text me.:) Their efforts will be futile up against my rotary.:crazy:

I used to have a cell phone but now I just have a land line. On the subject of talking on the phone, it really irritates me when the person I'm talking to puts me on speaker phone. It gives the person's voice a loud echo effect and it's close to impossible to understand what they're saying. When this happens, I want to tell the person, don't put me on speaker phone, hang up and call me back when you can talk to me the normal way through the mouthpiece on the telephone.

I always thought the door knobs in the middle were a bit unusual.

My next house is going to have doors with knobs in the middle.

Seeing these old phone sure takes me back. I think we had an olive green rotary phone similar to the blue one, shown above, back in the late 1970s. And my grandparents had a pink one all throughout the late 1970s to 1995, when they sold their house. (They might have even had it previous to the late 1970s, but I wouldn't know.)

I just caught a you tube of where Jody arrives, and as they open the double doors I noticed that there was nothing on the side of the door, no, thing that pops out, like the wood was all smooth. I am probably not explaining it right but it would look to me like the doors were held by a magnet at the top, like closet doors would be, thus making it not real for an entrance door. Maybe someone else can see what I mean by this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNKCLXhYzuM

and now I just saw another episode and there was side hardware

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeDGFzvwPU

My great niece age 6 was watching tv with my sister and the little girl ask what was that THING the lady on the tv was holding up to her head ? It was just a 60's Bell Telephone