Antique tub styles from the nineteenth century are an inspiration for today's vintage bath design. Indoor plumbing was almost unknown at the beginning of the 19th century; and before cities and towns introduced a supply of water under pressure there were no plumbing fixtures in houses, stores, and shops. Homeowners were obliged to get the water for home use in buckets at the public wells, located in the streets. Many houses had also rainwater cisterns built in the yards from which water was obtained either by pumping or by drawing it in buckets. Waste-water from houses was at first simply poured out into the street gutter; later cesspools were built in the rear yards. These also contained a common privy vault, which at that time was in universal use.

The service-pipes which conducted the water from the street-mains into the houses were at first manufactured of lead, cast in lengths of about six feet. Only a few of the better class of houses were supplied in this way. The plumbing conveniences of the earliest period were restricted to a single faucet for drawing water, placed either in the kitchen, in the extreme rear of the house, or else in the yard.

Antique Tub Styles

In 1851, William S. Burton’s General Furnishing’s at Perry’s Place, London, advertised “All the New Shower Baths” similar to the antique tubs shown below.  A “Portable Shower Bath” with curtains, from 7s. each; “Pillar Shower Baths” with copper conducting tubes, brass force-pump and top, complete, with curtains, and japanned, from 60s.;  and “Hand Shower Baths” japanned, 3s. each.

How to Design a Victorian Bath

View a Victorian bath interior from 1883 with painted tiles and mahogany paneled walls for inspriation for your remodeling project of your Victorian bath. Find Victorian bath robes, slippers, soaps, towels and more to complete your luxury bathroom remodeling project. Learn about the Vanderbilt's luxury Victorian bath on the east side of Central Park.  

Find Inspiration for your Victorian Bathroom Remodeling Project