Evolution of the Residential Bathroom: An Analysis on the Design and Social Implications of the American Domestic Toilet

Vintage-60s-bathrooms-for-retro-home-decor-ideas

’60s American Bathroom Design, (Americana)

After researching the evolution of the toilet from the perspective of the Industrial Revolution, questions have arisen on the development of the residential bathroom in Western society. From the first glimpses of the toilet in residential settings to the creation of the colorful, glorified bathroom, how did one perspective evolve into the other? Much is revealed through analysis on the post-industrial approach to toilet design and how that design impacted and was impacted by sociological gender roles of American society. Looking at the domestic toilet from the first adoption of the flushed toilet in the United States to its evolution through the 1980s, much can be said about how the toilet, and eventually the restroom, defined the roles and practices of domestic living.

Home Plan from 1869, (Gerling)

The Adoption of the Flushed Toilet in the Residential Setting

As the adoption of sewer systems grew in large population and urban settings during the 1870s, the implementation of toilets in the home was a growing phenomenon. Since sanitation was a huge focus at this time, there was great concern with having a toilet inside the house; most toilets were then designed to be placed in a small water closet in the back of the house with an exterior entryway. Given that the flushed toilet was a new technology, only wealthy families were able to acquire the water closet ramifications to their homes; poorer families remained to dig holes in the ground and bury bodily waste away from the home (Gerling).

As the home was a sacred, clean space, there was much backlash to the domestic toilet. Even after the first sightings of the residential water closet, some families remained to follow the practices of disposing of excrement via digging holes, using chamber pots, or occasionally constructing an outhouse structure so the flushed toilet remained away from the sacred home space (Gerling). It took many more decades for the toilet to be a common household feature.

In the 1920s, American residences began to incorporate the flushed toilet as a separate room combined with the bathtub. This allowed for the water closet to evolve into the bathroom. With defecation and bodily cleaning being associated together, the toilet grew to be perceived as an important mode for sanitary practices (Lupton 5-8). As residential design evolved with the decades, so did the bathroom. By the 1950s, it became common practice to have more than one bathroom in the household, and by the 1960s, the floor plan of the bathroom grew in size to create the grand master bathroom. The flush toilet developed from an invention of fear and disgust to a grand, porcelain necessity of sanitation.

Left: Home Plan from 1928

Middle: Home Plan from 1934

Right: Home Plan from 1949

Sociological Implications of the Toilet

Toward the end of the Sanitation Revolution, the way the populations in both England and America adopted the sanitary systems into their day-to-day lives was through relating sanitation to religious practices. The phrase “cleanliness next to godliness” was coined soon after the implementation of the toilet into residences. The proper upkeep of toilets and home sewer systems became a religious obligation that was crucial to the ideals of western society. To defecate in dug up holes or to not maintain bodily cleanliness in relation to bowel health was considered ungodly and savage. These beliefs then grew to carry racist meaning as poorer communities and native cultures did not have access to these newer inventions and still practiced defecation methods that white populations had used only a few decades prior. The pressure to convert other cultures to a Christian lifestyle, and so therefore a sanitary lifestyle, became an aggressive behavioral trait in post Industrial Revolution populations (Gerling).

Continually, once toilets were incorporated in the residential setting, toilets and defecating processes became a domestic duty. Toilets quickly became the responsibility of women (Gerling). It was the woman’s obligation to maintain the cleanliness of the toilet and be sure the sewer line functioned properly, so excrement remained away from the home. By making toilet maintenance a domestic duty, women were further suppressed into the home and discouraged to enter into the work force. It was this association between defecation and female duty that drove females to the “American housewife” label and prevented movements of gender equality for generations. It was not until the later 80s that men began to take over some responsibility over the upkeep of the toilet (Neuhaus, 69-70).

The Colorful Bathroom

As the Industrial Revolution and Victorian era past and the bathroom evolved into the essential room that included the toilet as well as the bathtub, the residential bathroom was no longer a space for waste disposal, but a space for dwelling and promoting hygiene. As the bathroom became more of a dwelling space, bathroom personalization grew and marketing for these populations also grew. Since women were the central caretakers of the bathroom, these advertisements were directed solely to women. Bright patterned wallpapers and richly colored bathroom tiles grew in fashion so that women could make the bathroom a space of their own (Lupton, 5-8).

Pink Bathroom Design from the ’60’s, (Americana)

It was during the 1920’s that the colorful bathroom first began to come into being. With residual influence from the production methods of the Industrial Revolution, the use of mass production to create elaborate wallpaper and patterned decorative materials began to spread into the bathroom. Seeing the bathroom in full color changed the perception of the space from a clinical, sanitation room to a dwelling space. Particularly alluring was the pink porcelain bathroom that promoted a sexy atmosphere within the space. With the colorful bathroom came also the romanticization of the bathroom and the beginning of the “soft bathroom” aesthetic (Penner 164-7).

Although centered on the sexualized bathtub, the colorful bathroom drove the perceptions of the toilet away from its connotations of negativity and filth; the colorful, decorative nature of the bathroom allowed the toilet to be a vision of comfort. This feeling of comfort was further created through the adoption of softer toilet paper and innovations further focusing on connecting sanitation with pleasure (Penner, 165).

Home Plan 1952, (Old Prints)

Evolution of Gender Roles

During the 1970s and 80s, bathroom cleaning tools were on the rise in advertising. With the use of servants and housekeepers becoming obsolete, there was a need to find a way for every family to find ease in cleaning the bathroom. The responsibility of the bathroom still remained to be under the woman’s leadership. Advertisements first began to use mythical creatures as symbols on how the bathroom is cleaned in order to make the job more mysterious and whimsical for women. Toward the later 80s, there were even advertisements for cleaning products that were used by men; these were thrown amidst other images of men doing more manly tasks, but it was the first step in taking the bathroom responsibilities away from solely the women in the household (Neuhaus, 69-72).

From the beginning, the domestic restroom has proven to be a constant burden and obligation of women. As women were in charge of promoting sanitation, there grew to be more duties for females in the domestic sphere (Gerling). It took over a century since the adoption of the flushed toilet in the residential setting for men to even be considered for domestic toilet maintenance. In recent decades, the “housewife” stereotype and the responsibilities of women to be the sole leader in household sanitation is little by little being eradicated. Once there is an equality in toilet responsibility between both sexes, gender equality can spread into other spheres.

1920’s Bathroom Design, (Aposporos)

Conclusion

Since its adoption into the residential sphere during the 1800s, the toilet has undergone many stages of evolution. As a main drive for promoting sanitation and eradicating deadly diseases related to excrement, the domestic toilet created an unexpected effect of increased gender role disparity, becoming a leading element in the design details and creation of the renowned bathroom, and has now become the common household fixture of today. There is much evolution still necessary for the flushed toilet, but over the past century, the bathroom has undergone many drastic and unexpected changes to match the sociological needs of the times.

Bibliography

Gerling, Daniel Max. “Excrementalisms: Revaluing What We Have Only Ever Known as Waste.” Food, Culture & Society, vol. 22, no. 5, 2019, pp. 622-638., doi:10.1080/15528014.2019.1638126.

Lupton, Ellen, and J.Abbott Miller. The Bathroom, the Kitchen and the Aesthetics of Waste: a Process of Elimination. Princeton University Press, 1996.

Neuhaus, Jessamyn. Housework and Housewives in American Advertising: Married to the Mop. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Penner, Barbara. 2013. Bathroom. Objekt. London: Reaktion Books.

Image Sources

“60 Vintage ’60s Bathrooms: Retro Home Decorating Ideas.” Click Americana, 6 Mar. 2021, clickamericana.com/topics/home-garden/vintage-60s-bathrooms-decor-ideas.

Aposporos, Demetra. “Colorful Old-House Bathrooms.” Old House Journal Magazine, Old House Journal Magazine, 30 June 2011, www.oldhouseonline.com/kitchens-and-baths-articles/colorful-old-house-bathrooms.