They are called Pelmets

Or cornice board, They can be removed , they often hid lighting too which was quite nice IMO.I use LED tape lighting in place ogf the old stuff. As for the wood one , who knows but my guess is it was installed after the panelling. I would be lookng at replacing those ceiling tiles anyway.

Don’t touch those! Restore them. Original details like that are a huge value to the home.

Thanks! I’m living with all but the panelling ones because I’d like to put a Roman shade on that window and the way it is now, the stack will cover too much of the window.

I call them cornice boxes and they are desirable when you want to hide the fussy bit at the top of a pair of drapes or if you want to run a particular moulding all the way around the room, uninterrupted. You see them in good architecture, the intent was to create a crisp clean line around the room. Good luck!

Those are great! And very useful. A properly draped MCM house would have nothing else. Roman shades are not appropriate to MCM.

Well the panelling ones are in my office and I need unfussy shade that doesn’t block 1/4 of the window when they’re up. No room for floor length curtains so Roman shade is what I’m considering one I remove this cornice box. The others are plaster built in and are staying.