The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-26
ELEGANCE IN BATH ROOMS.
Thousands of Dollars Spent in Fit
ting Up Private Swimming Tanks.
From the Chicago Chronicle.)

Qrom the Chicago Chronicle.)
Bathrooms in dwelling houses are a COM
paratively modern convenience, but public
bathing places are as old as civilization.
The Greeks and Romans spent large sums
in fitting up public baths, which were pop
ular resorts for all classes, but private
bathroom in ones own house would have
been hard to find. Even to this day peo-
pie Of India consider bathing in anything
other than river or smaller stream of
running water to be a disgraceful act.
Pent water was considered defiling to the
body by the ancients, and the public baths
of Greece and Rome were so constructed
that the outflow of water was equal TO
the inflow SC as to secure as nearly as
POSSIBLE pure water for every bather.
The bathroom in hotels and dwellings
passed rapidly from the realm of luxury
TO that OF necessity: today house with
cut a bath tub is the exception. But with
the belief, or knowledge, rather that
cleanliness is next TO goodness came a
sort OF rivalry in bathroom furnishings
and sanitary engineering skill and inven-
tive genius were called upon to do their
best. 4 few years ago little room in an
obscure corner with zinc tub was some
thing to boast of, but in these days of
great individual wealth and palaces the
bathroom often involves large expendi-
ture of money
Many of the wealthy construct their
bathrooms on lines that as far removed
from the old tub style as It is possible for
the ingenuity of the architect and plumber
to construct them. Instead OF S25 ENC
I tub pool 5xs feet or lsrser is constructed
Of porcelain in the centre OF a large room,
say 14x20. Entrance to the pool from the
I cursing level is by marble steps, and the
! depth of the water MAJ be as much as
/ four or five feet. The cu.b.ng is of marble,
and the walls and ceiling of the room are
| lined with tile or cnyx. The windows are
| of cathedral shape and great palms and
smaller plants are placed about VIII Re they
! viii give the room AL the comforts OF
/ home" and the picturesqueness OF a gar
I den. But that is rot all that is Tequir d OF
such a bathroom There must be another.
! but smaller, room adjacent, lined th,o Igh-
! out with marble, with the floor inclined to
! tie centre, for the shower bath. Then
1 there must be another small room at hand
for a porcelain foot tub, and still another
for a wash basin, TO say nothing OF an
deliberately appointed dressing room. All
the floors should be in tiiing. done in mo-
sale pattern, with rugs here and there.
Such bathroom costs from 81 coo to s., 600,
and IL is said there are few of them in
Chicago.
In most modern mansions in Chicago the
cost OF the bathroom and accessories
ranges from 500 to 81 coo. The latter in
ciudes a pool instead of a tub. Cathedral
windows are dispensed with the pool is
porcelain lined. the shower is over the
pool, and in fact, one room serves for
everything except the dressing apartment.
1t is a fad with some wealthy people
to have the tub hewn from solid block Of
marble, but such folk are few and far be-
tween. There is another style of tub that
is liked. 1t is solid steel, porcelain lined,
sets on the floor without legs, and when
in place looks as if it might have grown
out of the wall. These tubs are low and
roomy, but the shower has to be a sep
arate work OF art stationed on a marble
slab in another part of the room.
There are many private houses in Chi
cago that have bathrooms costing from
$500 to $3.50. and some dwellings have
one on each floor Hs well as a lavatory,
but as rule from $3.50 to $500 is all house
owners care to invest in that department.
few swimming faddists have pools oc-
cupying most of the space in the cellar. OF
course the cellar must be constructed 10
admit of such a thing and also to give
the pool the required depth. The correct
house for a gentleman to live in has a
swimming pool in the cellar and billiard
room in the top story says a man who
has both
Plumbers say that few zinc-lined tubs
are used these days. An iron body with
enamel lining costs little more and out
lasts a dozen zinc tubs.
A gentleman who has a costly bathroom
says the way to enjoy bath is to sub
merge ones self in the water to the chin.
then light cigar and sip ice cold cham
payne between puffs. Keep it up until
the cigar and the wine are used up, then
go to bed and dream of fairy lands