Suspicious security door in wealthy home, with interesting openings….

A questioner said:

Suspicious security door in wealthy home, with interesting openings. Right next to the living room and kitchen, not subtle at all. What is the usual purpose of all this?

Some of the answers were:

1. Dude this forreal looks like a solitary confinement cell door
2. Mirror glass on the outside says panic or high security room to me. If you were locking someone up you’d want your one way mirror the other way around. Maybe the door was bought second hand from some sort of institution helps explain why its beat up in a new house and also the redundant features.
3. If the owner let you in that house with a full chance of you guys seeing that I’m guessing it’s not creepy serial killer victim storage. Also if you do have access to the house cant you ask the owner what it is?
4. It could be an access door to a safe room that has not been covered over and finished yet.

   Safe rooms are becoming prevalent features in new build homes for wealthy owners.

5. House was still being built, or maybe being remodeled. Door could not be opened. Google search on the brand “Armstrong Seguridad” (Security) advertises the door and a few accesories, but not these specifically.

   Is this like a panic room? And even if it is, what kind of situation would require the passing of medium and small-sized objects within your own home?

   Could it hold something of great value inside, and the opening gives the option to surrender it to any aggresors without exposing themselves? I might be over-thinking this.

   Given it’s a family home, what would be the common use for these functions on the door?

6. My thought is that it’s literally a solitary confinement door, installed by someone who collects things related to killers or other serious crime (either aesthetic-wise or items literally associated with specific psychos). It’s supposedly illegal to sell things related to serial killers, but there’s apparently quite the black market. This could have been purchased from a closed prison.
7. We have those doors in banks too.

   We hand over bags of cash through the rotating drum to the armed guards.

   I’m sitting at work looking at a very similar door as I type this.

8. Looks like a very self contained room leaving just limited access for passing items between doors and I suspect the top is a one way mirror which might have a cover over it on the other side.

   Edit: it appears to be a small keyhole to the right side, maybe look for a key or a lock Smith? Maybe they can quickly identify what sort of doors matches to those sort of locks.

9. Rehab room? Maybe a family member with a drink/drug problem. Lock them in to go cold turkey?
10. Wealthy home? The chipping, stained paint doesn’t reflect that.
11. Wealthy home? This might be a stretch but what if this person kidnapped people and kept sex slaves to sell for trafficking? There is big money in that. It’s creepy as hell.
12. How old is the home? Where is it? Many homes were used as health facilities. Looks like some kind of hold over.
13. My guess would be a safe room/panic room or a secured vault type setup used for valuables, cash, or as a walk-in gun safe, etc.

    The company’s (Armstrong Securidad) website says they distribute/offer service in Mexico and Central America, and the OP stated the house is in northern Mexico. It seems slightly more high end consumer-grade products than something, for example, a bank or military would go for if they were looking for security. Looks to be geared more towards cash and valuables safety.It’s strange it’s so obvious, but maybe it needs to be quickly accessible. I remember watching a tv show about property buying and the person was looking to buy a luxury apartment in Tel Aviv. Right in the middle of the kitchen was a aesthetically designed door that was a small yet very well fortified bomb shelter.

14. I think it’s just an eccentric decoration along with the mask, the mask actually makes me feel like its decor more Bc I don’t think a serial killer or something would just leave a creepy mask on a table
15. It looks like a high security prison door from in the movies. On the right side below the handle it looks like a key slot. Then the trays for passing food or bedding through
16. Im sure its not a common use for this type of door, but with yhe backwards mirror and the ability to slide things in and out without interference from outside light maybe it was used as a dark room for a photographer. Is there alot of framed pictures or any photographers portfolios laying about or hung on the walls?
17. I have no idea but I am curious about what is behind it.
18. I’m sorry if I missed it, but may I ask if the home is abandoned? are you doing renovations on the house? Is it being remodeled for resale?
19. A few thoughts – I just bought a pre-1950 home that was was built by a wealthy doctor and it has a distinct “luxury” difference between the kitchen/mud room/first floor guest room (feels like a maid’s room) and the rest of the house. If the house was built by someone wealthy, I think it’s possible that the area of the house this is in may not be trafficked highly by the actual owners.

    Second thought: I’m friends with the wife of a state-level director of homeland security. Their house has a secure room and it’s somewhat similar, though fewer pass-throughs. It’s not meant to be used as a panic room. Rather, it’s meant to be a walk-in safe to protect the contents of the room. It’s essentially a home office with a hell of a door/door frame. It’s in their finished basement.

    Third thought: If the person was selling something of moderate/high value out of their home, this might be a way to do it safely. Seems a weak argument, but it’s a possibility. If they also had human guards around, then this would make more sense.

20. It seems like a prison door. Why would a room in a residential home need such a door? Who are they detaining? Creepy at best.
21. My guess is that it was designed for someone in the family or previous residents family with a kind of severe social anxiety, or perhaps something like agoraphobia.
22. Still believe it could be some kind of solitary confinement door. Again, depending on how old it is. In the United states and other countries, wealthier families used to confine their mentally Ill family members, keeping them behind big doors, in basements, in attics, or closed-off parts of their property/house.

    Possible its like that, or could be from an old prison or even one of the older, less humane mental health facilities if we’re sticking with that theory.

23. Whatever it was used for–it was designed to keep people out of–not inside of. The clue is the lock on the outside: it’s a simple keyhole and a static handle. The other side of the door will have the moving parts to open, close, and secure the door.

    Appears to me to be a point where transactions were conducted with visitors to the house. I’m guessing it was a place to go to purchase…”chemical amusements…” and the homeowner (dealer) decided he or she needed additional protection beyond Mexican carry.

24. I have not seen it mentioned, and frankly it could be way off, but to me it seems like the door might be an entrance to a dark room for photo development. The rotating section in the middle of the door reminds me of a miniature darkroom door. Don’t ask how it supposed to work without 2 people, it just strikes me that way.
25. Safe room door? How wealthy were they?

    OP said northern Mexico. It’s definitely a safe room of some type. Maybe not the highest spec. Maybe hired security guards work inside that room and that’s where the cameras and guns are depending on how big of an estate that is.

26. It’s a cash-room door.

    They’re in 50% of retail stores here.

    Why it’s in a home I have no idea.

27. There’s a camera in the glass that records everyone who tries to open it!
28. Why not a door / transfer ports for a darkroom?

    A little more reasonable for a wealthy homeowner to have.

29. Could have been used during prohibition to sell booz?
30. The mask is actually the key to the puzzle. The door and frame used/”reclaimed”. The damage/wear is ‘patina’ and it’s purpose is as decoration. These types of doors are installed in places where you want to control both people and objects going through, but don’t have a counter. Think prisons, jewelry wholesalers/processsing. The owner is into a asylum/ bad-boy motif and thus a mask and a a prison door, over probably a closet or something.

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