Search for "valet rods".

http://www.thehardwarehut.com/catalog-product.php?p_ref=37200

Thanks. Yeah, that's a good example of what I've been finding--ones that are much too short for those old deep closets, or else so frail that they're designed for neckties.

I have to admit those closets puzzled me for years until I found out how they were supposed to be set up. That closet system was widely touted in the teens and 20s as a big space saver when designing a house, but I don't see it--it's the same amount of space out of the floor plan whether it goes sideways or front to back. Does let you put closets in darned awkward places, though. :)

My house is from 1900. The closets didn't have pullout rods--they just had two short rods that ran front to back in the closet. Someone changed them out to one long side-to-side rod at some point, but the original supports for the short rods are still there.

At some point, I'm switching back to the two front-to-back rods. I've measured, and they will give me at least as much usable rod space as I have now, and the clothes will be easier to get to. Just have to find the time. . . .

Yes, yours must be wider than the later closets. It was from just before WWI up through the mid-20s (when this house had closets and bathroom added) that they were pushing the ultra skinny, ultra deep closet.

Post a picture and a measured sketch of what you have - there's probably a solution.

I thought you wanted it for an armoire.

Thanks, lazygardens. For now it's a moot point, since to my surprise the seller didn't even make a counter to her very reasonable offer, even though the house has been on the market for almost two years. Evidently one of those foolish owners who keep turning down offers, then having to drop the asking price to a point below what the offers were.

Well, it's a historic district with plenty of other homes for sale, although most not as fixed up as that one.