Imagine walking down a busy city street in the 1930s. You look up toward the high windows of a brick apartment building and see something suspended in the air. A wire mesh box hangs precariously over the pavement, anchored only by the window frame.
Inside this metal cage sits a toddler, playing with toys or sleeping, hovering 30 feet (9 meters) or more above the concrete. This was not a stunt or a case of neglect. It was a widely accepted parenting solution designed to solve a specific urban problem. For a brief period in the 20th century, the baby cage was a reality for families in London and the United States.
Doctor’s Orders
The origins of this practice trace back to the late 19th century. In 1894, Dr. Luther Emmett Holt published a seminal book titled The Care and Feeding of Children. Holt was a prominent physician, and his manual became a standard guide for parents. He dedicated a section of his book to “airing” infants. Holt argued that fresh air was required to renew and purify the blood.
He specifically claimed that cool temperatures improved a child’s appetite and digestion. His instructions were precise. He advised parents to dress their babies warmly and place them in a basket near an open window. However, many urban families lived in cramped tenement apartments. They lacked gardens, balconies, or sufficient interior space to follow these instructions effectively.
The Patenting of the Cage
Inventors stepped in to bridge the gap between medical advice and architectural limitations. In 1922, Emma Read of Spokane, Washington, filed a patent for a “portable baby cage.” Her design proposed a rectangular wire cage that could be attached to the exterior of a building.
The patent description stated that the device would provide a space for the baby to sleep and play in the open air. The design included a slanted roof to shed rain and snow. The side facing the room remained open, which allowed the mother to supervise or retrieve the child without leaning out the window. Read noted that her invention would allow mothers to attend to household duties while their children received the necessary exposure to the elements.
High-Rise Nurseries in London
The concept found its most enthusiastic audience in London during the 1930s. The Chelsea Baby Club distributed these cages to its members who lived in high-rise flats without garden access. In 1937, the borough council of Stoke Newington initiated a program to install the cages in a local housing estate.
Photographs from the era show rows of wire boxes jutting out from the brick facades of apartment blocks. A 1946 newsreel from British Pathé documented the process. The footage captured a mother lowering her child into the suspended cage and then closing the window to keep the apartment warm. The narrator noted that the baby was safe and sound while enjoying the view from the top floor.
The Decline of the Window Cage
The practice eventually disappeared due to changing circumstances rather than a specific ban. During World War II, the constant threat of air raids and falling debris made the external cages a significant hazard. After the war, the urban environment shifted again.
The rise of automobile traffic filled the streets with exhaust fumes, and the air outside a city window was no longer considered pure or healthy. The wire nurseries were removed, and the practice of suspending infants over the street faded into history.
In 1930s London, pedestrians often looked up to see toddlers hanging in wire boxes 30 ft (9 m) above the pavement.
This wasn't neglect.
It was a standard parenting trend.
For years, city parents legally suspended their infants out of high windows in metal cages…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/ZDScPmUy2A
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) December 4, 2025