Let’s take a peek inside a Victorian home bathroom. I’ve always been fascinated by old houses. I love walking down streets full of Victorian homes, looking at the big bay windows and the intricate brickwork. But what really gets me thinking is wondering what it was like to live inside them, especially the everyday stuff. Like, where did they actually go to the bathroom?
The History of the Bathroom
It’s funny to think about, but the room we now consider essential – the bathroom – barely existed for most of the Victorian era. The idea of having a dedicated space in your house with a toilet, a bathtub, and hot running water was a huge luxury that only became common right at the very end of the 1800s.
Before that, things were very different. Most people, even in quite nice houses, would have used a chamber pot kept under the bed. That would be emptied each morning. If you were wealthy, you might have a separate small room called a water closet, which was basically just for the toilet. But for washing, it was a completely separate affair.
Bathing was a big production. A metal or wooden tub would be brought into the bedroom, usually in front of the fire. Water had to be heated up in kettles and pans on the kitchen range and then carried upstairs, bucket by bucket. It was so much work that most of the family would use the same water, one after the other! You can imagine the fifth person in line didn’t get a very fresh bath. Because it was such a hassle, a full bath wasn’t an everyday thing. People would wash at a basin most days.
Public Health and Hygiene
The big change came with improvements to plumbing and, just as importantly, the spread of ideas about health and cleanliness. Doctors started to understand the link between dirt and disease. Suddenly, being clean wasn’t just about smelling nice; it was a matter of public health. The Great Stink of 1858, when the River Thames was so polluted it literally stank out the Houses of Parliament, finally pushed the government to build a proper sewer system for London. This was a massive project that helped make indoor plumbing safer and more possible for everyone.
Slowly, the bathroom as we know it began to appear. Wealthy families were the first to have them installed. They often had to get creative with the space, though. These houses weren’t built with bathrooms in mind, so a small bedroom or a dressing room would be repurposed. You can often spot a later-added bathroom in an old house because it’s a slightly odd shape or juts out in a place that doesn’t quite match the original floor plan.
So, what did these first proper bathrooms look like? If you’re lucky enough to have an original one or are trying to recreate the style, there are some key features.
Victorian Home Bathrooms
Everything was about function and new technology.
The toilets were a real marvel. They were often high-level toilets, meaning the cistern was mounted high up on the wall, connected to the pan by a long pipe. Pulling the chain would send a powerful whoosh of water down. They are sometimes called “thunderboxes” because of the noise they made! These are probably the most iconic feature of a Victorian bathroom.
The baths were also different. They were usually deep and clawfoot, standing on four legs, often with feet shaped like animal claws gripping a ball. They were made from rolled steel or cast iron, which was then coated in a thick, glossy porcelain enamel. This made them incredibly heavy. Unlike our built-in tubs, these were freestanding pieces of furniture. They often had a ledge at one end, just wide enough to hold a bar of soap and a sponge.
Taps were almost always separate. You’d have a hot tap and a cold tap, rather than a mixer tap. This meant you either filled the bath with water from both and mixed it by hand, or you had a very hot or very cold wash! The style of the taps was usually quite robust, with cross-headed handles that were easy to grip, even with wet, soapy hands.
For the sink, or washstand as it was often called, porcelain was the material of choice. It was easy to keep clean and looked smart. The designs were much simpler than the ornate toilets and baths, usually just a plain white basin sitting on a simple wooden or metal frame.
Victorian Home bathroom Décor
The walls and floors were all about practicality. Walls were most often covered in tiles, about half or three-quarters of the way up. This was to protect the walls from all the splashing water. The tiles were usually plain white, but you might find some with simple geometric patterns or a single line of decorative tiles with a floral design as a border.
The floor would be tough floorboards, sometimes covered in linoleum (a popular new material at the time) or encaustic or geometric tiles in the grander homes. These floor tiles were often in a checkerboard pattern of black and white, which looked smart and hid dirt well.
It’s important to remember that these early bathrooms were not the warm, soft, fluffy-towel-filled spaces we have today. They were functional, often quite cold and clinical-looking rooms. They were a showcase for modern science and engineering. Heating was a problem, as they were rarely near the main fireplace, so people used heavy curtains and rugs to try and keep the chill out.
For decoration, it was fairly simple. You might have a medicine cabinet on the wall with a mirrored door. A shelf for holding toothbrushes and razors. Soap was kept in a dish, and towels were hung on a simple rail. Plants were a popular way to add a bit of life to the room, especially ferns, which loved the steamy, humid environment.
Conclusion
The Victorian era lasted a long time, and the bathroom changed a lot from the 1840s to the 1900s. What started as a rare luxury for the super-rich slowly trickled down to the middle classes. By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, having an indoor bathroom was a standard expectation for a new middle-class home. It was one of the biggest changes to how people lived their daily lives, and it’s a change that still defines our homes today. Every time we turn on a tap, we’re using a convenience that a Victorian person would have seen as absolute magic.