I have no idea but that looks pretty cool!

Well, 1912 is before forced air and before hydronic circulator pumps. Looks like a vent to allow hot air to rise from the floor below, maybe a boiler room or basement.

Have you had a peek inside, any pipes or heat emitters?

It might be a relic from a gravity fed hot water system. I’d keep it!

IMPO

SR

I grew up in a house in SoCal that was built in the 1920s. It had two hot air furnaces that I think were called "gravity furnaces". No water was involved, they worked on the principle of hot air rising.

The heat vents in rooms were mostly on wall baseboards but a few were on the floor. None were pass through from below, each was connected to its own duct, one of several that rose like octopus arms from the top of the large furnaces underneath.

This could be from one of those hot air furnaces.