Door knob in the middle of the door

[DJM77]

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.

[Hazel Anyday]

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.

[TSMIV]

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.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

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.

[merlinjones]

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).

[1960'sTVfan]

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.

[RetroGuy2000]

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.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

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:


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.

[GentlemanJim]

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.

[Schmoopie]

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.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

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:


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".

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

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?

[Schmoopie]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

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!

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

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".

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.

[CosmicCharlie]

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