Can someone please identify this set?

[Electronic M]

It had the speaker right on the front like any other generic AA5....It would seem that there must have been some kind outlet in the wall for it, but I'm not the one who got that chassis out of it's original place of installation so I can't say for sure...

One thing to bear in mind most pre-war homes and some postwar did not use drywall or insulation between rooms. Thin boards would be nailed in, cement slathered over them then plaster....Very sound proof and decent insulation (honestly insulation on inside walls is only useful for sound proofing). On AA5 that could be fit in walls like mine they kept at least 4" clearance above the tubes (as could be seen in the design...There may have been top vents too), on deeper sets like the OP's and TVs the back of the set either stuck out into another room or a walled off dead space...
It is not as easy to start solid wall material on fire with tubes as you think...If it was the average wood cabinet radio or TV would be a fire bomb...I've got an OTL tube amp with north of 300W draw from the TUBE HEATERS ALONE sitting ~2.5" from the ceiling in a closet, and that sucker has been on nearly 12 hour days sometimes...It's never gotten close to causing a fire.

Your friend's set is almost certainly Post WWII (prewar and early post war stuff was usually octal 50L6 12SQ7 12SA7 12SK7 35Z5) That set is probably post 1946, and more likely 50's.