Why is there a “small house” in IBM's Code page 437?

Note: This post is a companion piece to my article The origins of DEL (0x7F) and its Legacy in Amiga ASCII art. That article is all about the character DEL, what it is, how it was used, and why it even has a visual representation, but with a focus on Commodore's Amiga computers. Whereas AmigaOS's Topaz font renders DEL with diagonal lines, IBM's PC renders it... as a house. This bonus article is about that. This article wouldn't have happened without the great help and insights of Michael Walden and VileR, thank you! If you want to comment on something (minor or major), please send me an email at [email protected]. I would greatly appreciate it, and if something needs fixing I would gladly update the article with proper credit. a-b-c-d-x-y-z...HOUSE? There's a small house ( ⌂ ) in the middle of IBM's infamous character set Code Page 437. "Small house"—that's the official IBM name given to the glyph at code position 0x7F, where a control character for "Delete" (DEL) should logically ... Read full article.