It looks a bit like a 1920 - 1940's English scribes desk. Any chance you could zoom up a bit on some of the hardware and construction points?

Any markings located on the underside of the top drawers.. once removed?

I agree on the time frame but I would call it a steno desk...that center portion held a typewriter and the slide out on the right is for the material to transcribe.
It's a production piece of office furniture....and character acquired from use.
Linda C

I've only seen one other similar desk. Neat aquisition. The slide out is on the left.......it is 'sort of' about transcription and scribing......... but it would be totally unwieldy to sit a heavy period-accurate typwriter in the center section because you'd have to move that sucker over to access what's under it. They wouldn't hinge and slide it unless you'd be using it often and that's because the typewriter used to sit under that section. There may be a piece or two missing what held the machine, or even a lift mechanism to bring the machine into position when one wanted to type.

It's a nice vintage typing desk.

Here is a link that might be useful: vintage typing desk

Thanks so much for the responses. I'm currently at my parents' home so I don't have a good camera; I took some cell phone shots that I will upload to the album tonight but I apologize for the poor quality. I did not notice any marks or seals under the drawers. The only marking is on the keyhole for one of the top drawers, the lock has B9111 inscribed.

My dad is quite handy and we plan on fully restoring the desk and recreating whatever parts we may need. Seeing that ebay link made me very excited since I purchased it for only $40.

You done good! As Linda said, it's a production run of a piece of commercial office furniture and there's nothing wrong with that because it was made in the day when that meant it was probably sturdy as heck and made to stand up to real work, out of decent quality material, too. I had to buy a new desk for my office and I paid substantially more and have substantially less to show for it. :-)

As previously stated, the lift mechanisim is clearly missing... the mountings are clearly visible, and as Linda said, it is a production piece... and transcriptionist desk is probably more descriptive.

While it might have been a later "hold over" the B9111 lock would put it more in the early to mid 1920's range. It would really be a nice piece to fully refinish.

Actually I just found one in a 1937 catalogue and it was called a typewriter desk. The idea behind them was to get the typewriter out of sight and out of mind until you needed one and present a better office aesthetic and give you more space on your desk. If transcription were your primary job, you'd be likely to want your machine handy most of the time and not tucked away. I'd suspect it would be an ideal desk for somebody who did just occasional work with the machine. They were even available in home models.