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By the end of the nineteenth century the industrial revolution had created unprecedented wealth in America and Western Europe. The wealth might not have been distributed fairly, by modern democratic standards, but there was still a large population of upper income citizens that did not exist just a few decades prior. It is no wonder this period is sometimes called "the gilted era." Whereas in the middle of the nineteenth century, the difference between rich and poor was the poor emptied their own chamberpots, by the late nineteen century the rich had a room in their house with running water and hydraulic devices, euphemistically called water closets, to remove waste, at least in the larger cities where water and waste lines had been installed.
A typical Victorian bathroom usually included a cast iron tub often with a shower inclosure, a freestanding sink with hot and cold water, a water closet (toilet) and, sometimes, a matching bidet. The fixtures were often enclosed with ornate embossed walltile or, as in the bathroom pictured above, in wood wainscotting. Floors were made of colorful mosaics made of three quarter inch square or hexagon tiles or, in the more luxuriant bathrooms, encaustic tile was used.
Toilets in the Victorian bathroom might be either high tank, as in the one pictured above, or low tanks. To see examples of low tank victorian toilets
As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, fashion turned against the heavy, almost baroque, ornamentation common in Victorian decoration. Even in upper income residences, the bathroom was bereft of conspicuous ornamentation. White,which was thought to reflect cleanliness, became the universal color. The bathroom was now a place of functionality not aesthetic appreciations. New materials were introduced. Linoleum often replaced tile or wood for the floors, nickel or chrome plated steel was used as part of lavatory sinks. Wall tile was thinner. The claw-foot bathtub with rolled edges was replaced with enamelled tubs meant to be built into walls. It was not until the late 1920's that manufacturers began offering fixtures in glazed colors.
There is an irony in the comparison of nineteenth century victorian bathrooms, or water closets as they were sometimes known, with twentieth century bathrooms. The Victorians were notorious for their prudish mores regarding sex or, indeed, any bodily functions. Normal body functions were treated as if they did not exist. Explicit discussion was taboo and only veiled reference was permissible. How else to explain why bathrooms have even come to be called bathrooms when bathing is most often not the purpose for visiting the room. And yet in the victorian bathroom, sanitaryware was richly embellished with embossments and painted decorations that demanded the eye's attention while the twentieth century flush toilet has little variation in appearance. It is a utilitarian device not meant for artistic expression.
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