Black tabletop telephone for public telephony in the master bedroom of Sonneveld House. When the house was completed in 1933, it had twelve telephones: two telephones for public telephony and ten home telephones. This telephone was one of two table phones for public telephony. The other telephone is on the desk in the library of Sonneveld House. The choice of telephone type for the public telephone network was extremely limited for subscribers. The municipality had a contract with Ericsson, which meant that all equipment was purchased from this Swedish company. The telephones, however, were produced in Rijen. The somewhat old-fashioned-looking handset, especially compared to the telephones from the home exchange, had two gold-colored horizontal lines across the bottom part. This was characteristic of Ericsson. Characteristic of Rotterdam was the second receiver, which allowed someone else to listen in on the conversation. Sonneveld House was completed in 1933 and was built for the Sonneveld family to a design by the architectural firm Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. They were also responsible for the interior, working closely with W.H. Gispen.