the Bathroom the Kitchen the Aesthetics of Waste Ellen Lupton

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and the Aesthetics of Waste

(A Process of Elimination)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ACKNQWU1DGM ENIS IV

F OR E WORD Y

INTRODUCTION The ProctsSo[Elimination 1

THE DISCIPLINE OF CONSUMPTION Housekeeping in the TW(ntieth Centu ry 11

THE SANITARY CITY AChronologyo[WaUr. Wasu.

TH E MOD E RN BATtfROOM OrnQmt'Ut.andGrime

THE MODERN KITCHEN At Home in the Factory

41

STREAMLINING The Aesthetics o[Wasu

~

THE FUTURE A RtnewedAtSthtticsofWasu

71

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 74

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The exhibition and publication were initiated by Katy Kline, director of M IT List Visual Arts Center. The installation was directed by List Center preparator Jon Roll. They and their staff made this project possible.

Many individuals at the len cling institutions shared their knowledge and time, including Kimberly Barta, The American Advertising Museum; David Erickson; Peter Fetterer, Kohler Company; Don Hooper, Vintage Plumbing; Dean Krimmel, Peale Museum; J. Duncan Laplante., Trenton City Museum; Russell and Bettejane Manoog, American Museum of Sanitary Plumbing; Larry Paul and Tod Spence, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company; Richard Sgritta, Museum Village; and Stephen van Dyk and Susan Yelavich, Cooper·Hewitt National Museum of Design.

Our teachers at City University of New York Graduate Center provided ideas and criticism. We thank Marlene Park, Rosemarie Haag Bletter, Stuart Ewen, and Rosalind Krauss.

Opportunities to present our work at Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Irvine, and UCLA were enabled by Julia Reinhard Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard, who also shared their insights on psychoanylitic criticism.

Our parents have taught us about using, cleaning, and designing bathrooms and kitchens; we thank Mary Jane Lupton a.nd Kenneth Baldwin, William and Shirley Lupton, and Ruby and Jerry Miller.

The editors of Zone Books published an early version of our essay in Incorporations (Zone 6 , 1992); their suggestiOns helped to shape the project in its current fOrln.

Research and production assistance was provided by Kamran Ashtary, Kevin Connolly, Tori Egherman, Gabrielle Esperdy, Michelle Miller, Dina Rade\ca, and Angela Wildman.

The printing of this book was managed by Suzanne Salinetti and Kenneth Milford at Studley Press. We also thank Kevin Lippert, Princeton Architectural Press, for his support in clistributi.ng the book.

Many friends and associates contributed ideas, infollnation, and support, including Edward Bottone, Brian Boyce, Ralph Caplan, Russell Flinchum, Mildred Friedman, Elizabeth Marcus, Mike Mills, Charles Nix, Richard Prelinger, Jane Rosch, Ian Schoenher, Jennifer Tobias, George Tschemy, Massimo Vignelli, Edward Wencec, Richard Saul Wurman, and Gianfranco Zaccai. Finally, we thank our colleagues at Design Writing Research and Cooper. Hewitt National Museum of Design for their patience and support while we completed this project.

Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller

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FOREWORD

Design history has been the stepchild of intellectual history; too often it has focused exclusively on the f01'1ll or aesthetics of objects. This project is predicated on the belief that objects do not simply exist in a culture. but. permeated as they are with its beliefs. values. fears, and fantasies , actually definei\.

This exhibition and the publication which accompanies it revise the understanding of streamlining. which is widely credited as defining advanced American design through the mid· twentieth century. Whereas the telln previously had been seen as emblematic of speed, progress, and technological utopianism, guest curators Ellen lupton and J. Abbott Miller connnect the ideology and aesthetics of modern design to the human body as a metaphor for the actions and implications of the consumer economy. They have taken the bathroom and the kitchen, two charged domestic locations, as underexamined paradigms for critical twentieth-century design issues of both historical and contemporary importance. This look at the inter· relationship among technology, form, and function and the personal and culturally imposed confrontation with waste is particularly timely, as Americans appear finally to be confronting the limits of resources and ecological systems.

This ambitious venture consumed a large part of Ellen's and Abbott's recent life. They embodied the efficiency they were studying, and wasted no time or effort in digesting large amounts of material to produce their admirably thoughtful and articulate reevaluation of our intimate relationship to the domestic landscape. I could not be more grateful for the insights they have provided in organizing both the exhibition and the publication and permitting me the pleasure oflooking over their shoulders. Institutional and individual collectors generously allowed us to borrow important objects despite inconvenient deadlines. My list Visual Arts Center colleagues stream· lined the logistics of a cumbersome project with their customary wise counsel and deft professionalism.

The Design Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Graham Foundation, Chicago believed in the venture at an early stage and provided both moral and financial support toward its realization.

Katy Kline Director, MIT List Visual Arts Center

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illustration from an ad for Sheetrock TIle Board. 19'15. Th. wrfac. of the m<1t. ri;a1 is Impressed with a &rkkted patum. off.rlna a tow-COSt aJter .. nadv. to ceramic diu. moutht to be the most hytienic wan sumce for t».throoms and kit.dlens In m. 1' 1 Os and 20s. Collecdon Cooper.Hewtu: Museum.

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INTRODUCTION

The Process 0 Elimination

Between 1890 and 1940. America's culture of consumption took its modern form: products were mass produced and mass distributed. designed to be purchased and rapidly replaced by a vast buying public. The same period saw the rise of the modem bathroom and kitchen as newly equipped spaces for administering bodily care. The bathroom became a laboratory for the management of biological waste. from urine and feces to hair. perspiration. dead skin. bad breath. finger nails. and other bodily excretions. The kitchen be­came a site not only for preparing food but for directing household consumption at large; the kitchen door is the chief entryway for purchased goods. and the main exit point for vegetable parings. empty packages. leftover meals. outmoded appliances. and other discarded products. By the phrase process of elimination we refer to the overlapping patterns of biological digestion. economic consump­tion. and aesthetic simplification. The streamlined style of modern design. which served the new ideals of bodily hygiene and the manufacturing policy of planned obsolescence. emanated from the domestic landscape of the bathroom and kitchen. The organically modeled yet machine-made forms of streamlined objects collapsed the natural and the artificial . the biological and the industrial. into

an aesthetics of waste.

"When [industrial designers} tried to introduce their new designs into the sacred American living room,

they were rebuffed at the front door. But they persisted and finally gained entrance through the back door.

Their first achievements were in the kitchen, the bathroom, and the laundry, where utility transcended tradition."

Henry Dreyfuss. Designingfor People. I955

( toW York: Simon and Schulttr). 76.

I AL Ie r recl" JK be scI" rmc! (Tal fIaill

Towards the close of the nineteenth century. various consumer goods. from packaging. appliances. and furniture to interior architecture. began to acquire a vigorous new physique: the plush fabrics . carved moldings. and intricate decorations of Victorian domestic objects were rejected as dangerous breeding grounds for germs and dust. giving way to non.porous materials. Hush surfaces. and rounded edges. This ·process of elimination" found its most extreme expression in the streamline styling of the 1930s. which bor· rowed the conical ·teardrop· from aerodynamics and applied it to countless immobile objects. from industrial equipment to electric waffle irons. Stream· lining used bulbous forms with tapered ends and graphic · speed whiskers· to invoke the rapid movement of an object through air or water. The mech· anical devices of the industrial age. their elements assembled with visible nuts. bolts. belts. and gears. surrendered to the new ideal of the object as a continuous . organic body. its moving parts hidden behind a seamless shell. appearing to be molded out of a single piece of material.

We suggest that the Huid modeling of streamlined forms reHected the period 's twin obsessions with bodily consumption and economic consumption. Streamlining was born of modern America's intensive focus on waste: on the one hand. its fascination with new products and regimes for managing the intimate processes of biological consumption. from food preparation to the disposal of human waste. and on the other hand. its euphoric celebra· tion of planned obsolescence and an economy dependent on a cycle of continually discarded and replenished merchancJjse. Streamlining perfOllUed a surreal conHation of the organic and the mechanical: its seamless skins are Huidly curved yet rigidly impervious to dirt and moisture. The molded forms of streamlining yielded an excretory aesthetic. a material celebration of natural and cultural digestive cycles.

•

Model1ndultrial desial"l"" office. Installed In the Metroponan Museum 01 Art. 1934: lee Simonson Vld FUymond loewy. The dramatic stnamlinin& of thi$ Int.rior miaht e.Qt(. an elepnt octan IInel' Or • s-cle"'tlsl's labontory, yet iu sources also lie in the mundane. feminized modernism of the bathroom and

kitchen. The carved Plnellin" heavy drapery. and rich carpets of the tradidonal e)cKuuve suite tuve ,iven way to conc1nuous cabinets. built·in fixtures., non·porous surfaces. a.nd curved '0""$ typial f.~wr.s of the modem bathroom and kltehen. Coune.sy Metropolitan Museum of An.

Abov •. streamlined household appliance •• ~dvertiJed

by Universal In 1940.

2 I k bcsc r r nc

8nhroom. Idnrtlsed by Natlon.ll Sanitary Manufacturina: Company. 1910. This interior renects the eme",inc idul or the bathroom as an overtly Industrial ensemble or hyeienlc equipment.

The flamboyant product designs of the 1930S were preceded by the more anonymous modernism of the bathroom and kitchen, which earlier had begun to replace heterogeneous collections of domestic eqwpment with continuous, coordinated ensembles, designed to administer a new technological regime of bodily care,

The bathroom as an architectural space did not exist prior to the late nine· teenth century. In the pre·plumbing era, America's reluctant bathing customs revolved around portable containers tubs. pails, chamber pots, and washstands-which were used in the kitchen or bedroom. As modem plumbing coordinated the delivery and removal of water and waste from the home. the toilet and tub assumed a necessarily fixed position in the home: they becamefixturts. While early plumbed bathrooms maintained the decorative features of traditional domestic spaces draperies. carpets. carved details-the "modem" bathroom emerged at the turn of the century as an overtly industrial ensemble of porcelain-enameled equipment, with white. washable surfaces that reflected contemporary theories of hygie.ne.

The modernization of the kitchen followed that of the bathroom. whose aesthetic of obsessive cleanliness resonates in the non· porous materials used for kitchen Boors. walls. and work surfaces in the 1910S and 20S, and in the gradual shift from free·standing appliances and storage units to boxy, built·in forll1S. Like the bathroom, the modem kitchen came to favor fixllmls over furniture: the slender legs supporting individual units were absorbed into monolithic. built·in slabs which linked mechanical devices to work and storage cabinets. The modem kitchen emulated the unforgiving sparkle of the bathroom: it also reflected the production ideal of the modern factory, whose linear sequence of work stations enabled an unbroken flow of activity. This norm, which we call the continuous kitchen. was established by the end of the 1930S and remains powerful today.

A ··simple hYlienic kitchen,·' shown in the eJite shelter ml,uine Houn and Gordf:n. 1907, The ctrlmic tile Wills and floor of this cosdy yet sputan kitchen reflect the hY&it nic: <-oncerns or the modem buh,..oom. Courtesy House otWI Gorden. copyrl,ht 1907 (renewed 1935 by The Conde~Nast Publications Inc.).

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"Modern commercial art can be termed ... the art of elimination, the aim of which is to convey the idea intended as quickly as possible. "

Above, paclui,ed produ«s. 1895· 1940.

t~ On the- tilt or corporalc food indus,rk •. 1ft Alfml D. ChandJer. The Visthk HQM: n..M.~ Rnoolutio" i" Nnt:nc"" B.rnrteSS (Cambridge Tht Bdk:J1ap Prell of Harv;ard University Prrss. '977). On tIu: AUk) ian did. S«

Harvty A. l.evtn· tlt'in, RevofutWlft (,1.1

,"" r.ok (New Yo<Ic; o.(0Id Univcrsiry Pren. ' 988).

• . On tIu: (nd .... ttbJ dcsi&n profession. set Arthur PuIo<. Amcri(o." OQ;ign Elhlc (cambridge MIT Pr~5. 198J).

Richud Franken :md Carroll 8 . lat~bee. Pachp ,,.,, , StU ( ~ York: H :IIf-pet' and Brothers. '9::l8).

The changes in kitchen design were preceded by the rise of food packaging, a phenomenon which accelerated in the [880s and soon dominated urban and subu.rban grocery sales across the US.' The food package encloses the product in a smooth, continuous skin, giving the organic, shapeless substance inside a clear geometric shape. The package resists dirt, air, and moisture, sealing ofT the product within , just as the shells of modern kitchen cabinetry and appliances would later enclose the tools and materials of the kitchen behind a seamless surface.

Packaging was a major force in the shift from locally·based agriculture to corporate food production around the tum of the ~

century, By [9[0, many brands names which An Old Fashioned Grocery Store remaIn "household words" today were the trade marks of nationally distributed products, including Quaker Oals, Kellogg's Toasted Cornftakes, Heinz Ketchup, and Campbell's Soup. Such manufactured personalities eased the transition between the traditional food store and the modem retail outlet, where packaging replaced the shopkeeper as the interface between consumer and product, endowing products with a graphic identity and a corporate address held accountable for defective goods .

Packaging provided a model for the early industrial design profession, whose pioneers extended the principles of advertising and packaging to the product itself. The redesign of an object in the 1920S and 30S commonly involved its external package rather than its working parts. To ·streamline" a product often meant to enclose it with a hard new shell.

n BUY. t.,,~~ ,<:I "'I$:,~ T() EA T. E"",,( !:."":'"

-.eASILY TNE :=...::.... _ ___ _ _ ---.J

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Ad for Quaker Oats, c. 1898. ln the 1880s. new techniques for mUlln, ,rains resulted In I surptus of lOme produ(tJ-. Indudin. wtme.l. which qukldy sawn-ted iu dny market. Henry P. Crowell, whose business later became the Quaker Oats Company, shipped his product to 5l0r.s in Ittractively decorated paperboard contaiMra.., which seNed to explain the us. of the ,ray and shape­leu substl~e within. The brukfut cerea l lndunry was efreeth'e), "lnvtf'lted" tn the late nineteenth century (Ch."dler).

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1920 1911 I •

"".multiplicity being the essence of confusion, the designer will endeavor to eliminate or combine parts, supports, or excresences whenever possible."

Raymond L~')' . Never teo", We" E"~wgh Atom (NC'w York: Simon and SchultC'r. 1951). 1 11 .

A Modern Grocery Store

The scenes ~bove. from a 1928 pack.,in& textbook. were likely na.ged (or a tttde exhibition. Hor. than iust pac.kqin, disdntuishes the brl&hl modern sto,.. at r1Jht (rom the dlno old.fuhioned one at left. with lu sawdust Roor. wood·burnin, stove, unuvory do,. ilnd morally suspect kel 0' hard cider. The lab· (oated work.r above no lon,er deals with CuStomers (cartons have uk,n her place). but Instead spends his time stockinl shelves with packa,ed loods.. From Pocko,cs thot Sell.

Streamlining metaphorically invoked a body gliding through Auid; it also served to accel­erate a product through the cycle of purchase a.nd disposal, stimulating sales and hastening the replacement of objects not yet worn out. The built-in disposabiJity of food packaging became a paradigm for consumer goods more generally in the 1920S and 30s. extend­ing a logic of digestion to durable objects. The policy of 'planned obsolescence" pictured the economy itself as a "body: whose health depends on a continual cycle of production and waste. ingestion and excretion.

Advertising became a crucial lubricant for keeping this cycle regular. emerging as a powerful partner of mass distribution in the early twentieth century. Although it raised the cost of conducting business, advertising WaS defended as a laxative for hastening the Aow of goods through the economy. Adver· tising created desire for new products and generated emotional differences between otherwise indistinguishable ones. It helped spread the emerging standards of hygiene, housekeeping, and nutrition by promoting new products that promised access to the rigorous ideals of modem bodily care.

Riehl. ad for 8a.b·O. 1918. While the (echnol0lr of the modern kltehen and bathroom promised to sav. labor, itt rin was accom~nied by fncnaslng standard, of clunUn.:u and a ,rowin, InventOry of produ(t$ for achievin, IL

Abo ..... from II

series of dnw­In,s by Raymond loewy, 1934. showln, the evolullon of pro­dueu towards pro,ressl,.,ely simpler. yec atways chan,ln&. (orms.. The desl,"s have addressed the ut.riot" j»Itka,. of tht product nther tMn lu techno'oIY.

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"Goods fall into two classes, those which we use, such as motor cars and safety razors, and those which we

use up, such as tooth paste or soda bisquits. Consumer engineering must see to it that we use up

the kind of goods we now merely use. " Ernest Elmo Calkins, 1932

INCOME

R,w Motcti.1 Prod.ec ..

" Con,.",.,.

T,odc EaoplO'l'tt, .. Con_

Mttcri.l.

Th. Conl.IIIO' buys

6

Oillram. "OM Conwmption Expenditure Surts Han), Ineome C),dH." 1934. from a ,ovemment repon. This fractal.Jike dl..,-am shows how every producer is i.lso a consumer.

AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! (Tal fIaill

" ... we have learned that the way to break the vicious deadlock of a low standard of living

is to spend freely, and even waste creatively. " Christine Frederick, 1929

A ·consumer economy" sells manufactured goods to a large populace through high.volume production. making individual items cheaper by selling a greater numbed American designers and advertisers in the 1920 S and 30S

used the term ·consumption" in reference to · durables" such as radios. furniture , and clothing; the term's more literal reference, however, is to the food cycle: to consume is to devour. to eat in a voracious, gluttonous manner. To 'consum~" an object is to destroy it in the process of implementing it. as fire "consumes" a forest. The advertising executive Ernest Elmo Calkins wrote in 1932 that an urgent task of marketing is to make people ·use up" products that they formerly 'used": cars and safety razors must be consumed like tooth paste or soda bisquits.4 Calkins thus compared the continual movement of goods through the economy with human digestion. To consume is to ingest and expel. to take in and lay waste. It is a process of elimination.

Giving voice to the ethos of disposal. the domestic theorist Christine Frederick employed the oxymoronic tel III "creative waste" at the end of the 1920S to describe the housewife's moral obligation to rhythmically buy and discard products.5 Her phrase 'creative waste" elevated the garbage of consumer culture into a for III of positive production, valuing the destruction and replacement of objects as a pleasurable and socially instrumental act. Frederick and other promoters of consumerism conceived of ' waste" not merely as an incidental by·product, a final residue, of the consumption cycle. but as a generative, necessary force. In the consumer economy. ' production" finds a place inside the process of consumption. a cycle that reiterates the body's own fO J til of "creative waste," excrement.

Reflecting and reinforCing the consumer culture's positive valuation of waste was the sh ifl of cooking. bathing. and defecating from positions of invisibility to dominance in the home. Formerly relegated to the cellar. exiled to the outhouse. or merged with the bedroom, these functions carne to command the most expensive and technologically advanced features of the

}. ~ idtolog)' of consum~,hm is 5UIlumrizr!d and c~~bra. tcd in Danie l J. Boorstin . "Wclcortlt to the Consumpoon Community,- FortWJlt,u (1961); 11S.}8. On social critKJUC$ of c:onJumco:mm. 5ee O~nid Horowitz.. 1l&c MoraJiry of Sptrtdirtg: AJlir"da Toword lhe CO"l lolMC"r SOf.Ia)' in Ama1c(.l. ,87j'ISHo C Baltimo~:

Johns Hopkins University Pins. 1 ~5).

For ~ays on t.he devt:lopment of American consumerism. see T. JOickson wrs. C'd.. The Culture of Ccmllnnpcion; Cn'Jic-al £uays in A1tIt1'iton HUIory. ,8&0-1980 (Ncw York: Pa nt.heon. 1C)8}).

On Khobrly approaches 10 lh( origi ns and intcprctllt:ion o( con!lwnprion. Stt

G~nt McCnckc.-n . CwrlolJ't and Co,uump­lion: Ntw Ap~ Ie rhe Symbolic CAanaatr a/Good! fJtUI Acdviw, (Bloom· ington: Indi",na University Press. 1C)88,.

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<4. ConsulnCT £ngin«ring. A New Ttchn;qucjor PhD""ir, . Roy Sheldon :md Egmont Arens. (New Yoric:; Harper and

Brolhm. 191». p .

So ChristiM Frtdt':rid. SeU,n, Mrs.. Con,-u"",. CNew YOI The Business Bourse. '9 29) . 81.

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Diagram. 1918. showing the expan.Jon of the kitchen and bathl'OOm: "The mKhanical core of the home has bec:ome inc:reu· In"y complex and all essential."

6. R.,..... 8a.nham. n.e An:"itahtrc of'M Wdl· 'mtptnd EIlr.'irol1 · mast (Chic.ago: Uni\( lsityof Chicago Prrss. 1969· 1 !)8~) . 9·

, . Sigmund Freud. TIt'" Fuoyson the

n.-y ofs....l i' , CNew York: Basic Bool<o. 196.). )9"72•

117I/Ilf m-

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modem dwelling, their disciplined aesthetic radiating outward as a standard for the rest of the home and its inhabitants. The new governance of the house by the marginalized functions of the bathroom and kitchen reflected a shifting relationship between architecture and what Reyner Banham bas called "another culture," comprised of plumbers and consulting engineers­a culture ' so alien that most architects held it beneath contempt" Banham describes a historical rupture in the discourse of design in the eighteenth century that divorced the "art" of architecture from the making and operating ofbuildings.6 We add to Banham's second culture the consumers often female who increasingly came to influence the shape of domestic space; the modem technologies of consumption directly address women's role in domestic Life, a fact which both empowers and manipulates them.

In his essay on "Infantile Sexuality," Freud suggests that during a child's development, the sexual zones move from mouth to anus to genitals: th.e body is an open, relational field to be mapped and remapped into regions of desire) Although the genitals commonly are viewed as the "natural,' healthy focus of sexual life, the mouth and the anus are the initial sites of erotic pleasure. Desire, Freud argued, leans on the alimentary functions; desire always works in conjunction with-and in excess of- need, which lends it energy and justification. Desire latches on to the biologically vital functions of digestion; at the same time, physical needs are transformed by their collaboration with desire, and can never again be reduced to simple utility.

We suggest that twentieth·century design gradually articulated the bathroom and kitchen as the erotogenic zones of the domestic body. While the parlor or living room is the home's symbolic heart- its "proper" architectural focus-this center was displaced by the utilitarian regions of the bathroom and ki tchen, which became concentrated zones for built·in construction details, costly appliances, and on·going maternal maintenance.

8

In the anatomy or the conventlo~1

mlddle .. <lass home.. the front of the buildin, is the symbolic, expressive face. marked by a uremoniAI entl'1nce: the (utKtJOMI open1na of most homes. however, 1$ the back door. a va've which serves as both mouth and anus . ... eelvin, and e)(~II. in, aoods and servkes.

Left. perspective and plan of house offered by the Chkago Millwork Supply H ..... , "11.

r CC~ II k beser r'llC1 r- 3tenaal

The new standards for personal and domestic bygiene. born out of scientifically·based heaIth refor illS. rapidly exceeded the demands of utility; the functional "need" for dean bodies and clean houses has fed the culture of consumption. by mapping out the human and architectural body as a marketplace for an endlessly regenerating inventory of products. ) ust as sexual pleasure is propped on the utilitarian processes of digestion. the restless desire for new goods builds upon the fetishlzed routines surrounding biological consumption.

In her reading of Marx's Capital. Elaine Scarry describes the relation of manufactured goods to the human body as a relation of reciprocity: every artifact recreates and extends the body. In a zero·degree state of production, human beings consume only enougb fuel to regenerate their physical tissues. The body takes in food in order to build and maintain its own structure; the organism itself is the product, yielded through the process of consump· tion. Production at a more advanced state involves consuming a broader range of materials in order to further extend the body: chairs supplement the skeleton, tools append the hands, clothing augments the skin. Furniture and houses are neither more nor less interior to the human body than the food it absorbs, nor are they fundamentally different from such sophisticated prosthetics as arti6dal lungs. eyes, and kidneys.8 The consump· tion of manufactured things turns the body inside out, opening it up to and as the culture of objects.

For the product world of the early twentieth century, human digestion served as a metaphor for the economy as well as a territory to be colonized and rewritten by a wealth of new commodities. The consumerist body ingests and expels not ortly food-the prototypical object of consumption-but the full range of images and objects that pass through the cycle of manufacture, purchase, and disposal. In this process oJeliminalion, the body itself is remade.

8. EI .. ine Sarry. n.e ~ in All ... : 1M }.fQ,king "rut Unlftdti-"loJtltt WMd (NC"I" York:: Oxford University . ..... 198S)·

The presence of hen and water in the ni ntc. •• nth·century "itch," made blIthin& and (ookil'\l natural partners untU modern standard, of hy,iene demanded ;a spe<i;a.i zed laboratory for uch function. At the same time. however. the Internal anatomy of plumb'n, ties the twO spaces totemer, lus( as eUln, and d.read", are linked in me human aniolomy by me serpentine (ubin, of the alimentary canal. The mechanical core of the home has become a concentrated sit. (or expens-ive and sophiscic:ated technologies-.

Above. ad (or a wln", system, 1936, Riehl. Runl wJ'ler supply, 1906.

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THE DISCIPLINE OF CONSUMPTION

Housekeeping in the Twentieth Century

The modem home is a site for what Foucault has called the ' disciplines"; the school, hospital, prison, and factory exert a subtle yet pervasive control over body and mind by articulating architectural spaces and devising routines

for inhabiting them.! While Foucault's "disciplines' mold what he calls "docile" bodies, which willingly submit to the rigors of factory labor

or military service, the modem home molds consumerist bodies, trained to embrace the logic of the consumer economy and

its cycle of ingestion and waste. As the setting for physical sustenance and hygienic care, the kitchen and bathroom-

~ and the product worlds they frame are crucial to intimate bodily experience, helping to form an individual's sense of cleanliness and filth, taste and distaste, pleasure and shame, as well as his or her expectations about gender and the conduct of domestic duties.

The modem kitchen and bathroom emerged in a period when the notion of the American "home' was under question by designers, domestic theorists, social critics, and others. Who would control domestic cooking and cleaning? Would the kitchen remain the private province of

Catharine 8ee<:her advoca ted the housewife, or would it be tended by central services? functional interior des'"" as a means for preservin, the autonomy of the sin,le-family. sin,le-income suburban dwellin,. set in a picturesque ,arden and sclentlflcalty arnnted to minimize the nud (Of' paid heJp. Su Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Americon Woman's HOrM (Hartford. CT; Stowe-Day Foundation. 1985; firtt published 1869).

The nineteenth century had witnessed the gradual industrial· ization of agriculture, weaving, sewing, furniture· making, and othe.r traditionally domestic fo.rms of manufacture. While men went to work for wages, women found their time increasingly committed to the purchase and care of merchandise. For the male employee, the home became a sanctuary from the pressures of production, while for women it became an isolated site for the economically devalued yet demanding labors of consumption.

left. ad for Purline Soap. 1892,

"It ~s 1M unmistakable rendency of modem economic and industrial progress to take out of 1M home all the processes of manufacture ... One thing after another has been taken, until only cooking and cleaning are left and neither oftMse .. .Ieaves results behind to reward the worker as did ... spinning, weaving and soap making. Whal is cooked one hour is eaten 1M next; 1M cleaning of one day must be repeared 1M next, and the hopelessness of it all has sunk into women's souls: Ellen Richards, "Housekeeping in the Twentieth Century; 1900

American KlJdttn Mapz.int Vol. XlI 0. 6 (March 1900): 10).

ALtCLr rcer

I, MI he! Fouault. Oisdplillt Imd Pulllill: The Bink ofw Pri,. • . A!.n Slworichn. trans. t ew York: Random HOUR. ' 979)·

2. 8 )' ·consuml>" tion .~ we m~ not

on1)' to thr pllT·

dum of goods . but also to ~r usr and disposal. Simib r!y. bio­logic! consump­tion involves noc only lhr act of ratlng. but also digestion and ucrrtion. The ptW'Its or implemrnting. cl~aning. 5t':rvK' ing. and dis· allding an obj«t art" all ph.a.K'S in its consumption.

tit 'Je r(r'TIc. ,... at nIl)

). F~i,h M liley. "Tht . Sci~ct' of Consumption: Jo"'nwJ of Home Ecortomia Vol. XII NO. 7 (Ju1y 1910): )11' )18.

An alternale model of domesticity proposed to open up the endosed sanctuary of the home to the community at IargeJ "Home economics: established as an academic discipline in the 189os. sought to forge a "science" of consumption that would train women to spend their time and money efficiently. and ultimately to turn their domestic skills outward into the community.4 They promoted public sanitation. transportation. and health programs as "municipal housekeeping." and established settlement houses as model homes in poor immigrant neighborhoods. Rather than confine the feminine arts and sciences to intimate family life. they saw domesticity as an instrument for universalizing the values of the middle-class home (Wright 1980).

One spokesman fOf" the home economics movement wrote in 19 15. " In a sound proa.ram of socbJ construction tM streets and pa.rks and car. llnes will be all looked upon as elements in the problem of domestic houukeepin,." Edward T. Devine.. "The Home ... Journo' o( Home Economics. Vot VU No. 5 (Hay I9IS): 11 1 -12~.

Above. photo sttll> from a LYJoI ad. "howln, uses In the bathroom. kitche.n. l.aundry. and medicine cabinet. 1939.

Some feminists and progressive home economists predicted the centralization of major housekeeping tasks through the establishment of community services (Hayden 1981). Looking to the precedent of trains. ships. and luxury hotels. reformers saw the potential to conduct housekeeping on an industrial scale. After WWI. however. the model of private housekeeping was reaffirmed as the American nOtlll. Many political and business leaders wanted to discourage women from competing with men for wages. partic­

Some of the most sil"Hicant im· provemenu in housekeepi", techno­logy Ineluding (he washing machine. the medlanieal refrl,erato r. and the vacuum cleaner-appeared In commercia.l senlnes before becom­ing cheap and portable enough for m:us p¥oducdon and private use. The laundry bus-lness Is an eJeample o f a successfully c.entraUud housekHpin, service that was eclipsed by auressively marketed household appUances. A vital commercia.l laundry industry rose In the 1840s and grew steadily until the Great Depression: it re,aJned strength brieRy after WW-U and then plummeted-perhap" for good In the I 950s. when the privately owned ..... ashln' machine beame a h.aUmark of de-centralized suburban ttle. See Fred DeArmond. The loundty Industry (New York: Harper and Brothers. I ~SO) .

RI,ht. wuhin, machine. 1939.

12

ularly with returning veterans. Private home ownership was seen as a way to create happy. mortgage-burdened and thus strike-proof workers. while in the same stroke increasing the consumer base for mass produced goods (Hayden 1984)­The perfection of the small electric motor enabled the design of mechan ical appliances for home use. many of them manufactured-and heavily advertised-by gas and electric utilities in search of ways to sell more power.5

... On Ihe history or dOIllC!llk morm ~ts.

see l)alorn H:l ~--dt:n . The GnlIId Domnrk RII:~wdort:

A History of FlI:rtli"w JXsigrl5for Atnt1'ic4" Homa. N~s. "nd UlltS ~Cambridge MIT Prn.s. '!)S'): Dolo ... Hayek-n. Rc""'1r1"1l oJ.< .. ...nco" Dr-tdm: 1'he Fw,ure ofHovsirtg. Wort. a.nd Family (N('w York: W.W. Norton. I~): lind Gwendolyn Wright. MOI'Qlism "nd Ihc Modem No",,; Domtst~

Arthit«rurt OM C ... hwrQI Co"ificJ i" Oitogo. 18])· '9 'J (Chicago: Uni\'crsiry o( Chicago PIt". 1980).

Ikbcsrr I n III

This pholo,raph from a 1912 ad for coffee shows a supposed "time and motion study" in operation. The improved coffee. the copy d~ims.

slves steps In pre~radon. The housewife Is depicted as an object of surveillance. under scrudny by the scientific indu.striaJist armed with his motion picture umera.

s· On I~ rise of domotl ted1~ologits.

~ SitgI'ried Citodion. Ma::"""i:.al;O" Tam Command: A C~lfributlol'l to ""

ArIOftY'"oUJ HiJU>ry (N~' York: Otford Unlw.'nlity r~. 194-8); Much Schwart~ Cowan. Mort Work few Mod.c,: The If'Oftia

o/Ho",,1wi<I T«h~fro" ,,,. Opt. HCQrth to IN Mic:r<KlV1/t. (New York: Bask. Books. 198)); AdlUn Fony. Ohfra. ofCksirc. (N~ York: p~thron . 19&6); Pt-nny Sparte. EktIritaJ Applialtfa . TI6ltl'ltiah CtnlUI')' Design (New York: E. P. Dunon. 198,,: and Susan SU'aJSer ,

Never DMe: A Hisuwy of l umr1cIJJI H(I6I:,Scwot"t ( (:W York: Panthron. 19.1b.,

6, On domHtic Taylorism , S~ Chri!ltin~ Frtdt;ridt. HouSthcU Ertgirt«ri"s: XlMlific MaM8""l"" il'l rhe HOftUI (Chkago; ~= SclIool of HOm. £c.onomk$, 1919). Vld U1II.olIl M. Cilb«th. -Effickncy ttthoo. Appti<d to Kjlchttl Des gn: ArehiU'C'ural RctcmI VoL6, No.) (March 19)0): 291 '194.

•

Industry was retained as a metaphor for the private kitchen. conceived as a tiny factory dedicated to consumption. As early as 1869. Catharine Beecher had drawn upon the "ship'S galley" as a model for the efficient suburban kitchen; while she pointed out that

such facilities were designed to feed two hundred people. she saw no irony in using a similar arrangement to feed a family of four (34) · The ship's gaUey and the Pullman car were common metaphors for the early modem kitchen. which was also called the "workshop of the home: suggesting a place for the production- rather than tbe consumption of material goods.

The most elaborately developed industrial metaphor for the home was found in ·Taylorism: a management technique that breaks down the production process into a series of smaller tasks. divided among workers on an assembly line. Taylorism or "scientific management" used photographic time·and·motion studies to uncover wasted gestures; each worker became machine·like. repeating a single atomized task over and over. Beginning in the 19105 Christine Frederick. Lillian Gilbreth. and others borrowed the corporate cachet ofTaylorism and turned it towards the private home. per· forming their own time·and-motion experiments to expose the inefliciences embedded in domestic habits and conventiona.! house plans.6 As Dolores Hayden has pointed out, Taylorized housework is a contradictory proposition: while factory labor involves breaking down one process into many. house· work traditionally is penO! JIIed by a single worker and involves countless divergent tasks (1981). Taylorism organizes prod.tClion. while cooking, cleaning. and laundry are labors of consumption. The Taylorized housewife acts as both factory manager and factory worker. professional mastermind and disciplined laborer.

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lillian G IIbl"eth·. improved kitchen della" (1930) con$OlIdate$ the appliances And work lurines aJon;c one wall or the kitchen , as In the linau sequence or an assembly line, Steps ue uved walki", arovnd the kitchen, because the cook stands In one plue while workln"

scrcr'llC1 r- 'II naal

The Servant Problem

Above. mins",.....nt wtth vacuum cleaner. 1909. ~cln& P-Jle. m i Flush . 1938: built-In Ironinl baud. 1928: ,,,rba,e Incinerator. 1928.

Woven through the domestic literature about housework is "the servant problem." a theme obsessively repeated from the Civil War onwards: accord­ing to the "servant problem." the middle-class American woman is faced with an ever-dwindling supply of paid help. By the turn of the century. factory labor had become a more atttactive means of employment for many women; the live· in servant became rarer. gradually replaced by the "daily" who worked by the hour for several families. taking care of her own home as well. Meanwhile. the middle class broadened to include more families who lacked the income to pay for servants yet qualified as "middle class" because they lived in single-family homes and the husband worked for a salary.

Centl'tlliud housekeepln, schemes do not necessarily eUminue the class divisions inherent to the "servant problem." For e.nmple. Bertha Bass published a "co­aperat!v. housekeepln,' proposal in 189S which Is. at bottom. a corporale mald· s"""ce: the Individually contracted servant is replued by workers rented from a central bureau. While the emptoyees would benefit from relulated W1.,.s and routine shifts. an unansw.r.d quesdon remains: Who will do the Mold's hou.sewof'kl 8ass wrote. "'nnud of (orty cooks in elurz. of u many saucepans of potatoes In as many different !\ouses on the same street. one cook and one saucepan mi, ht do the work ror all, with manifest advlnue!: to thirty-nine of the mistresses" (1 61 ). 8.e:rtha Bus, "Co-Operative Housueepin,." New Enp,nd Kitchen MOlozint Vol. II No. 40.no.')' 18'5); 15'· 163.

The endless discussion of the "servant problem" enforced the notion that be.ing middle-class meant the possibility-however

hiring servants. while at the same time reassuring the housewife that her "problem" waS shared with other members of her class. and had to be dealt with creatively and realistically. Phyllis Palmer has pointed out that the expectation of middle­class women to employ servants. whether realized or not. has helped perpetuate the consistent devaluation of housework and the social superiority that middle-dass women (usually white) feel towards the women (often of color) whom they hope to hire.7

During the 19205 and 305. the concept of housework as "service" crySlallized. encouraging middle.class women 10 disdain household labor. They aspired to pass on housework to an "inferior" hired worker. yet in most cases could not afford 10 do so. Repeating the contradictory structure of "Taylori2ed"

This hOYSlwif. is shown sittln, at a desk In her kitchen. performJn, the man­lItment duties of hous ... keepi"Jr She serves alternately as misueu and maid, ch ief executive and manu:aJ laborer. From a Cran.'s Cabinet brodlurt. 1938. Collecdon Baltimore Gu and Electric ComPl-ny.

7. PhylliJ Polmer. DomtSridry aM Dirt; HOtUtWiIoltJ

""" Oomati< $trWUICS i,. 1M U"iud Stat'S.

'9lO'19-fJ fPhibddph;" T.."pIe Unl .. ' ...... lry P- . '¢4).

I k be sc r r nc I

'). The femini" literature on houS('WOrk i, ex1ftlsi\·e. Christine E. 80M' t' Ill. argue thai LM M of domntk ttthr» logi6 was iKcompmiro by brightened s1aJ'Idards of c1tanUnull ;and dtlld<are. Whik lIlC'Cbankal clo~ washen. for tumpl(.laltnerd 1M hardship or bundry. the frtquencyoflhe "lISle inCitased. As Marx pointed out (or the mech.anlulion of nunufacture, machines did nol man 1M 'worker's day short~. but rather incrt'.ased the quantity of obj<cts prodU«d by hi,., II« lobo,. Chriltine 8C1St, Phili p l.. 8e:rt3oo. and Mary MallO)'. -Household Technology and Ihl! Social Construction of HOl&#­"'-OIL· Tu:k~ ami CW'lI~ Vol.1S

0.1 Uanuary 1984': n-S", Sirrllbrly. Ruth $<:hW1r1% Cowan

argue, 1~1 while household nuchlnts minirn.i.ttd th~ t.uks of d~anin8 and rood p~~ration. shopping beame a rime· consuming .. ctivity of unprec~~I~ KOpt. The OTlOtklnal signfitance of household Labor also changed. ~jduiJarly in the period sunounding World War I. when ad\'t:rti.strs infu.scd dOh oeJUc labor with guilt. "The ' lndustrial Revolution' in tM Home: HOURhoid T«hnology .. nd SacuJ ~nge in the Twmtittb Century: Tu-.nology aNI. CulI wn VoI.17 No,. (Jan~ry 1976,: 1'1.).

housework, the middle-class housewife is forced to take the position of both mistress and servant, task-master and manual laborer.

A 1'10 artlde promoted etutrical appliances u the solution '0 \he new "el,ht~

hour day" demanded by c()f\tt:mporaty servants.: "\he housekeeper Is In the position of an industrlsllst whose product requires continuous operation or the plint. while. at the same time. labor shoral' makes extremely difficult the in'roduction of iI thrH"shift system." Mary Ormsbee Whitton. '"The el,ht Hour Kitchen," HOUle OM Gorden Vol. XXXVIII No. 1 (Autun 1920); 19-21,81.

Some historians of design have linked the "servant problem" to the American drive to invent clever labor­saving devices and the subsequent liberation of the American woman from domestic drudgery (Giedion, Heskett, Pulos); in contrast, feminist scholars have asserted that the labor-saving virtues of modem household technology were countered by an expansion of maternal duties and more exacting standards of cleanliness.7 Mass distributed household appliances discouraged centralized services, ensuring that the housewife would take the position of the desired but ever-elusive servant

The "servant problem." as both fact and fantasy, belongs to the modem kitchen'S mythology of origins. Efficient kitchen plans and labor-saving devices were promoted as solutions to the "problem: substituting the pri­vately contracted servant for the privately purchased product The supposed universality of the "servant problem" became a defining feature of middle­

Joann V .. nd: demonstr;at~ ~1 involvcnml in the paid bbor rorc ... , -not ttthnology leads 10 rt'duced house­"'-Otic hours. Emp~ WOlhtll . ptnd Jess time on housework. h«aust lhqo haW" Iotsi lime to spenc:L The di$ll p­pea~nce of 5eJQnlS hOlll mu all but the richest women into household l.3borels. bound togctht'f by the uniform standards or ck;anbnes. prornoced by;a r'laltonal product cull..,.. "H""",bold T«hnolot!)' and Socbl Sutut: Raing Uving Stmdards and Surus and R~idmce

Oifferfllces in HoustWOTk,8 Tedt"""v carl4i C.JtWrf.. Vol.19 0.1 Uanu.ary/ OctobeT ' 978): )6 ' '75

Christin .. Hardyment .argues that btuusc appJja~ wue concdvt'd of;d "mechanical xrvant' . - Ih~ discouraged (he gr~"1h ofcenrralized bundry. deaning. and cookin8 services: tbt "servant probkm- was solvro. by crt' .. ting t«boologicaJ lunOlP,es for tht privale Mukktepef. From Martglt to Mitrow,u~:

1M MtcMnizaJJon of Hourt:1utI.d Wor~ (Cambridg<: PoI;ty Pm . ' 9881.

class life; the "servant problem" eliminated the obligation to hire help, while holding it forth as a distant promise, a reward owed by one class to another. The actual "solution" to the problem lay not in the Iibe.rating force of technology, but in the continued gender­ing of housework, administered by a wife or mother who is at once mistress and maid. industrialist and three-shift laborer.

Jobn Kc!nnC'tb COllbr-aith bas a.lIt'd the "menan h~ft! a "clypto-lt!r'Y'<lnl" upon whom lM modem consumer _nom), d<prnds. 'Tbr non-<mplO)'td boustwiI~ has mor~ ti~ to manage conlumption. and thw: helps fl1 ure .. the flow of goods: ~ it is WOmnl in Iheir crypt~5Crva.n1 role of .. dminLstraton who make iJ1 inddinitdy increasing COCll-umpt;on poslible ... it II their supt eme contnburion 101M modll:m tCOnomy." EconDmia and Iht Pwbtic PkIJlOSt: (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 197J). l7.

15 AL Ie L r re ~ II k be sc r r nc It fI III

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THE GREATER SOFTNESS AND DAILY PROTECTION OF

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old Linen

H ow \f ,,'Y mother!' r:1ifhrHIt~ " '0110" (he hooJ.. ·· on chiM r~·d lnt :tnd C;':.lrl"­

~~I :Irt" ("()mpl,,'t>I~ "n3"' ,If\" of tht> d:IU., 1'"i!i1.. Iht'~ nIH In l'\:~lntt :1 child'" ,,:omlt-,. ,!loki" to ordin:lry. h :Ir"ih 1(111", II.!t ut"!

l)on ' , tw ,hi !100ft or mUlht'r: Ch't" ),(Ulr

("hiM Ih~ ('om fort. .!W'Curlt~· nnd H;M'nlial h""'lth rrotl"CtiUlt of I.t ,, 'R' T. x-rnc.r S~ClITlo("'h· . I.inen • .!IOh . lhi~ .fl". lint> II!L lie ('1t .... n~ imm;Icuhlh'l, ami ",lthollt lrrh~l·

lion to Ih,' nlf'KI ~n~i1i\'P &.:In . Yf'll.u'tury Tl'(lur .. i!!l: tirm, ~Ironll . . 'O'lJ nwn" :l~rb­l'nt . ,\'hl it 13!!1:1lIi .\ tn!t lI;I,'''' 10n\1t"r. lwelmu~

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\ 1\IIo'!JY!I kt!t"p 1.1I 'tury T .. ( I ur~ 'n )'(Jur lY .. th. room . 'our child m't'f/~ II ~rr.llt"r ('Oot'ort tlnd rrn.Klfon and ~'our ",hol~ family will " -t'lronw h. '00. ~II lJ. .. per O.mp-.lny. Cht""lrr. Penruyhania . :l"'O mnk~ra of \\~ldor' nnd SroITo""t'ls for hornt' use.

he ~L wh ' '-<qSorbent soft

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STAN DARDS OF ClEANUNESS

Facin, pa,e and above: 1939 ads (or ScotTi-ssue toilet paper, In the full page ad, a woman 's maternal skill is jud,ed againlt he,. knowledge as a consumer. Above. the small copy reads: '·AII tOO often standards of de21nnnelS are taken for ,noted. Doctors know this from e.xper-iene:e." Whether or not the mother and daughter will meet the standard or be embarrassed is left unJtated.

CLEANLINESS AS HYGIENE

The Civilization 0 the Body

From the mid· 18th century forward. respectabili ty. morality. and good health would increasingly converge to form a nexus of values at the heart of American culture. Early nineteenth· century sensibilities about bodily cleanliness were sbaped by gentility manuals that specified appropriate behavior for polite society. religious teachings that connected cleanJiness with morality, and a growing body of medical opinion.' I n the second half of the century cleanliness was medicalized as "bygiene" when germ theory connected cleanJiness to the prevention of disease. Although attitudes about the good of cleanJiness solidified over two centuries. the motives for cleanliness varied with the shifting terllls of class. c.ience. technology. fashion. and geography. For instance. among upper·class society in the early 1800s washing was largely an issue of appearance. but by the 1850S middle·class sanitary reformers were teaching cleanliness to the working cia s as a battle against disease. Even as late as 1908 the priorities of health versus personal grooming were still being negotiated: a textbook on hygiene described the advantages of personal cleanliness as healthful and "not merely an esthetic adorn· ment." allowing that it was nonetheless an "acquired taste."'

The measure of cleanliness has also varied: daily sponge bathing was not common in middle·class homes until the mid·1800s. while more intensive full·body washing occurred perhaps a few times a year. A 1929 ad sponsored by the · Cleanliness Institute" advised women to shampoo every two weeks. which al the time was conside.red frequent.

"The bathroom is an index to civilization. Time was when it sufficed for a man to be civilized in his mind. We now require a civilization of the body. And in no line of house building has there been so great progress in recent years as in bathroom civilization. " J 9 17

,. For ~ thorough Il!'VteW of lNthing cu 10m.:and ;attitudes t~fd.s donJjnru in Amc':r1a. 5«

RIch>r<I l-8u hnun:and Cbud~ L Bustmun. -rb(' Early Hiltory of OtanUnH, in ArMrica: jOkmat of A".".riau'l HisrDr'y Vol. 74 (MUch '988,: UI).uj8.

~. Quotnl in "Y SIUlI<,. "Or.wlintlS Iw only r«endy btc.ome J virtue,· nu Smi,lIso"ion Vol. 21 No. II (F.b"mY'99" ; u6.

J7 ne

Ad (or Pea" Soap. 1886. "r oilet s~p" (or deil"ing the body did not com. into mlddl.-4;lu. u.e undl the CMI War period. While c~rse laundry soap. hild been nunu­faclured as a product of the tallow industry. the body soap business wu Initially dominued by French per. fumers. With the rlslnl Interest In hYllene. American manufacturers developed finer soaps to compete with importS. At left is a detail (rom

the first ad for Ivory. 1882. ''''0'1 made the transition beeween body and laundry soap: the notch Indklled lu dual use for laundry and bilthin,. Soap

production re.spond~ (0 the ,eneral Interest In hn1ene. While manubc· turers eventuilly advertised on a tar,_ scale, adwnllina did not "uut.' a market (or clelnline" (8u>hm>" 12)6- 12)8).

Bathing: The War on Germs

Bathing in America was not initially connected to clea.nliness. In his classic study on mechanization. Siegfried Giedion classified two poles of bathing practices cleanliness and rejuvenation-which have overlapped at different times (628-712) . American practices began in the rejuvenation mode with an emphasis upon the bath as a curative for illness. but throughout the nineteenth century bathing was redirected towards the goals of cleanliness.

By way of European interest in the Turkish bath. American nature enthu­siasts and medical advisors suggested various fOllllS of steam baths. vapor baths. and cold plunge baths for maintaining proper circulation and as a calming agent for insomniacs. As historians Richard and Claudia Bushman have written. "Modem ideas about bathing as a means of getting clea.n took form only when another bodily system began to be understood. the skin. The change from cold bathing to invigorate the blood system to warm bathing in tubs to remove dirt came about because of the spreading understanding of the skin's function in the removing of wastes' (Bushman 1223). Thus. bathing as a curative for illness was joined to the idea of bathing as a 'curative" for perspiration. Washing drifted in and out of fashion until it received the imprimatur of science.

The extension of habits of cl~3nliness from "polite society" to a broader populace was driven by the nineteenth-century public health movement. Prevailing theories in the early decades of the century held thaI disease and illness were caused by foul and stagnant air. a condition thaI reformists believed could be preempted by ventilation. By the 1860s. the research of Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister advanced the idea

18

"Rain shower baths are considered, (rom a hygienic stand·point, to .,. much superlor to tub baths. The runnin, walf:r tOUChH the body but once ... .it more readfly loosens and removes the dead clJtid • .••. ·· Edward C. Cuthbert. "'The Mechanics of the Momlnlance,.,·· Hou.se Gnd Gorden Vol. XXIX No. I Oantnry 1916): 38·39.

Abo", •. avaUabl. throuch the 189S Mcw'lt,ornery Ward and Company Qalocue, this "shower blth nne"' transforms the buher Into a self· contllned rainstorm.

r CC~ II k beser r'!lCl r" 3tenaal

Abov •• a " floatin& bath" in N.w York City's East R.lver. otIt of IS s.rvin, tenement dwellers In 1889. These wooden structures uose in Boston in the 18601 but were criticized by reformisu as "floatin, sewers." As late u 1897 over 90% of the families In the tenement dlstrkts or America's four lar,est cities had no baths, leavi", the poor to w.uh in hallway sinks or courtyard hydranu . A contemporary account estimated thn tenem.nt dwellers bathed fewer thVl six t irMS a year. See "The Publk Bath Moveme nt in America," David Glauber,. Amtricon S(udies Vol. XX No. 2 ( 1979): 7.

that germs not foul air-were the source of disease. In the 1880s, the germ theory of disease was bolstered by the identification of the bacteria causing typhus, tuberculosis, and cholera,}

There was a Significant lag between scientific and popular knowledge: magazine articles reveal that the public understanding of germ theory was fragmentary and often inaccurate. Yet the basic insight that disease could be transmitted through germs, and that germs were associated with bodily filth, was aggressively promoted by health ref 0 1 rners, journalists, and the manufacturers of personal care products.4

In a 1916 article in CoIliu's, the ·war of the body against invading germs' is described as "a great battle that one is called upon to fight: which must be · waged continually throughout life. ·S The recurrence of war and battle metaphors in health journalism suggests the complexity of ref 01 mist impulses. Refolmers saw the low level of public health as an expression of a larger social malaise and believed that cleanliness would encourage morality.

Viewed in a less altruistic light, reformers saw "unwashed" members of society as a potential threat to the health of the larger community. Given the lack of bathing facilities in tenements, reformists campaigned for the institution of public bathhouses. Conceived as facilities for lower-class patronage. their location echoed the ghettoization of different immigrant groups. They were an instance of the Victorian spirit of reform as well as a strategy of containment.

Opened in 1891. New York City', "People's Baths ... "n Indoor public bathhouse. was the firS( successful one of Its kind In America. Its success led other private ch.uleles to build similar bathhouses, Reformists campalgn.d (or municipally supported facllldes . An 1895 New York State taw ordered the construction of buhhouses in munic:ipalities exceeding populations o( 50.000. yet by 1904 there were only thr.e in the entire state (Gtusber& 1 I).

Between 189S a.nd 1904 the number of public bathhouses in America increased from six to forty ·six. Their rapid growth may be pardy expla.ined by (he rise in other civic institutions and sel'vicu at this time. Including Ubn.ries. parks. zoos. hospiuls. beachel. Ichoots. ,arin,e collection. nre protection. and sanlury Inspecdon. Bathhouses typically had more faci lities (or men than women. indicatin, d\at workl n,men were considered to be their prlmary ulen (GI.uberg 5).

AL te L r re cr

). Adrian Forty provides a concise ~ in Obiurs ofDni.n(N~York:

PaniMon Boob, 1986). 156' 181. Set also Daniel M. Fox. HtOllh PoIiOO ./Ild Htlll"* Potili.cs. Tht: Brilish "NJ Amt:riaut &per. imu 19 .... 96j (Princtton: Prince· ton U niverslt)t

P"" " 986,.

... Andr..,.· Mcdary. ·Germs are Everywhere: Th~ Cenu Threat as Sttn in Maga-· rine Anicles 1890+ '9:10: joumoJ of AmuitGn C",.tun: Vol. ) No. I (Spring '980,: lJ·.6.

So William J. Cromie. "Dodging Gtrm.I." ColUcr', (Septemb<' 'I. '9,6): Jj.

J9 r'TIc rr at rr III

liten.ture on the modern bathroom often (ompared It to a hospital. One article described the bathroom as a place of "truly surgical clc:an .. liness. wh1ch. as everyone knows. is far above and beyond mere toIou.sewlfety cleanliness." Muy Newberry. "A Model Bath· room." House 8eouli(u' Vol. XVI No. 2 Uulr 1'1(4): 21.22.

Richt. toilet paper paclu&e, 1'14. To ilet paper WI' unsuccessfully muketed in 1857. but wu reintroduced In the Nthroom. conscious 1 880s,.

The Hospital in the Horne

The issue of cleanliness and hygiene, and the product world that accumulated around it, was promoted not only by social refolUJers but also by popular journalism and advertising. At the tum of the century there appeared Good Health , Health Culture, and H~ne Gazette; the older, more academic American Journal of Public Health began to publish scientific and popular material side by side. By the 1920S health became a regular feature of newspaper journalism, often constituting a daily or weekly column written by a doctor or specialist In 1923, the American Medical Association began publishing the popular magazine Hygeia, concerned with cleanliness, health, and nutrition. Hygeia gained credibility through its affiliation with the AMA and, in turn, products advertised in its pages were granted an unofficial. and not always deserved. legitimation.6

Manufacturers turned the new field of medical journalism to their advantage by blurring th.e distinction between articles and advertisements. creating ads which not only looked like articles but were authored by doctors and other experts. Advertising in the 20S and 30S strategically represented products in proximity to surgical instruments. doctors, nurses, or men wearing lab coats.7 While nineteenth-century advertising is filled with

-- -- ._= •

unfounded claims and fake prescriptions, the public attention to the science of hygiene in the 19205 and 30S made audiences especially receptive to the imagery and "evidence" of medicine_ Advertisers mapped out the human body as a field of danger zones. marked by discoloration, bad odors, unsightly blemishes, and other embarrassing compromises of personal "daintiness.' The house was treated as both a hospital and a patient. in need of intensive product therapy from antiseptic detergents to paper towels.

Popular Journalis.m In [tole 19JO.s extended the concept of toIy,lene beyond lu domestic and bodily senses. Throu&hout journals. such

6. lohn C. Bumh;am. How S"p'rstitCon Won tusd Sdtnu lost: PopulllNln& $cit"" ond Ht.elth in tht UniJcd StoUt (New Brunswick Rutgtn Univr:rsit)' PKss. 1987). SS19.

as Sden<e E.ducotion. Hyftia . and Thr: Amr:rican joumol of Publk Health. there are r eferences to School Hyciene. Industrial Hy&iene. Mental Hy,iene. Sexual HYliene, So<ial Hy,ien •. Emotional Hniene. and Moral HYliene. For .)Camp'e. " Mol'al. Ttw: Mental Hy&lene

7. On $GIn: campaigns in tbr: 19)0$. 8te Roland Marchand. Adwrtising fM Amtrialn Omam IBtrkt:lt)': University orCali(omia Press. Ig8S). loa·IO}. :190. For a contempora.1')' review or 5Ciu'e UCtics. see Trdfie COX. J.S. McCollum. and Rilph WatkiN. "Sci~cr:

3

Abov •• pockq. for Mum and· perspirant. 1918. Introduced In 1888. Mum was the flnt and· persplrant.

d .. " .. d to pre­vent MOisture under the arms rather than to mask odor. Th. t".rM "8,0 ," ent.red the marketine 'fOUb.. ulary in 1919.

of Unempk>yment. .. Amerk;on Jaurnol of Public H .. 1th Vol XXIII No. 1 (Much Ifll): 40-4-40S. and Camilla M. Andenon. Emadono' Hy,ieM: The An. of Undernondin, (Phil. delphi.&:

Oaims in Maguine Ad-.atising.· Sdtna EdU(4tion Vol. 22 No. I Uan~ry 1938); 11" 9 .

Above, illustration from an ad (or Squibb', Dental CreaM.

Llpplncot~ I9l7).

20

I 921.The obsession with white enameled sumc.es In the bath­room extended to the teem.

Al tel r cencll k beser r'llC1 r" 3tenaal

Above left. from an ad for Red Cross paper tow.ls. 1918. The: towels are promoted as a nnitary banda,. (Of"

the home, Pa~r towels w.r. intro­duced by die make:n of Scot· T1s.sue in 1907; they were orl&lnaJIy ailed Sanl.Towels. and were promoted for use In public restroom,.

Above rilh~ slol:an (rom an ad for Nujol. a b)Q.tJve. 19'24. The :ad pre­sents the product as II dunio, acent for the bowels.

" • •

, . •

Above. the Swco seamless toilet sot promised "hospital c"anlineu" in the hom •• 1929. The nurse Is a medial shadow behind the fashionable but Maim· minded housewife.

Rilht. "Ask your Doctor" about standArds of clean linus, 19]9, This ad (or ScotTissue suuesu that the s.cr~ behind eM liede I lrl's nany demeanor lies in her moth .. r', choice of toil.t pilper.

Far "ChI. ad for lysol offen "Flrse Aid" for the home. 1918,

For lntel'llal Cleanliness

• L (iLeanliness

enlllfcss Pal

A

klow, (rom 10 ad for Koep. 19)1, Tt.. copy reads. '"Mad. In factories where lhe very air Is. wuhed every ~wo minutes. White on new snow ... • Koeo: was Invented at the end of 'NV'tI1. Ind marbted by 1921 , replacinl reuuble "dia~n."

Set! Delaney. l upton. and Toth. Tht Cunt: A Culturol HI' lMy of MtMtrvo~ (Urbana: Untverslty of illinois Prm. 1988). 129·1 H .

21 <11

THE SANITARY CITY

A Chronology 0 Water, Waste, and Electrical Systems

1 79Os. Philadelphia builds I system of public waterworks (Stone).

1810. extruded lead tubes. produced by forci", mew throuah die. with hydraulic pressure. begin production in EndaRd. Used primarily (or water supply. me extNded pipes are strOOlcr than cast tubes. Production belins in Americi by 1850 (Stone 285).

I MOs. hot Wlter (or bath/n, is fa.c.1Il· ated by the Introduction of a boiler situated to the rear or side of tM hearth. which is lutomatlcaUy f.d from the main water supply. The he.rth at this time Is also the sfte of ,he cooldn, .. n,e (Stone 286).

1842. the Croton Aqueduct brin,s wlter to New York City and makes plumb!n, available to I wide,. public. A reservoir in Central Park is constructed to store water (rom the Croton A.iver. The lack of adequate dn.inaae throughout the city, however. makes the Increased avail­ability of 'NneI' a mixed blusin, (Stone 193).

As water becomes .vail1.~., plumber5 suppty pre-wstin, homes with runnl",-wlter fhnure" convertin, small !>'drooms Into bathroms. In new urban homes built by hl,her.income families, water is routed to the kitchen and to bedroom &avatorlcs; the bedrooms would share a wa~r-cto .. t (Stone )00).

1846. a new bw in 8rita1 n altows towns to tax their poputadon In o rder to build public baths; by 18S. London has 13 bathhouses. In the us bathhouse constf"Uction is leh to charity (Gla.uber, n. 1&49. Imona: Philadelphia's 340,000 residenu there are only 3,521 bathtubs. In 1855 ,.'ew York City's population of 629.9041w only 3.521 both,ubs (WInkl ... IS).

2.2

By 1850. Philadelphia. New York. 8oston. and Chicaao have semi­adequate public Wltlt" supplies: intecrated sewa,e d isposal systems, however , are non-existent. Before the 1850. cities typicaUy dep.nded for their water supply on private companies. a technlolly ineffic'ient and economlcalty .ltclusk)nary practice with little or no municpal control (SchuJa 390-391).

c. I 850. en.cinured sewel'l betln to replace cesspools (Stone 284).

Between c. I850 and c.1875, rmu· produced calt·lron. wroucht-;ron. and "ned stoneware pipes encouraae cons.istency within the plumbi", industry. Plumbin, remains expensive. however. beause handwork is still necessary for manu· flewr. and Installadon. Full mas .... pr oducdon makes plumbf"l available to tow.r income hous.holds onty in the first decades of the rwenti.th cen,ury (Stone 181.-188).

1859. New York City's daUy per apCu water consumption (combini", public, IndustrlaJ. and domestic USt)

Is reponed as 40 ,allons. By 1880 per capita use Is estimated at 78 pitons, 60 of which is 'Of' domestic un (S,one 194)

1860. plumbln, and ,as fittioa supply manufacturers In Amerlc. numb .. r 221 . By 1870 the num!>.r Incre.n' to 70S. and by 1880 it reach.s 2, 1'1 (S,on. 286).

By 1860. the wate,. dMet Is a typk:al feawre In wealthier Amerk:an house­holds (Stone 194).

I86S. The Cltizetls' Auociation of Ntw York publishes lu Repon on !he ""'neil or Hy,_ ond Public Health. pointin, to the u'lent need

for unitary rqulations. In '''' New York st.te InstituTes a Metropolitan Health Board. seuln, a precedent for gnjtlry law in the Us. In 1879

the Board pins authority over te.nement construction: In the same yur •• NldonaJ I>wrd of hAlth is established (Stone 188-191 ).

1870. a deptr a,.ent of publk works In New York City II for-M ed and becins modemirin, Manhattan's sewers. Connection spurs fOf' water suppty and waste rt:mcMl art placed I.,ery I 5 'Mt alon, new lines, In anticipation of new houle co,.. strUcdon (Stone 29.).

1870. sarntary ."lln .... ;"I becins to evoJvc u a diSCip line. In r"ponM to demands for experu In nwace. water supply. and dl"llna,p. By 1880 the term "sanitary enetneer" p ins curr.ncy (Stone 189).

18705. ia'le intqrated sewer con­suucdon beII"I In American tides In re5pon .. to the valt Increase In

wa.ter consumption .fforded by new waterworks and the kKreaJinc ule of flush toiletS. extensive sueet pavin, Is also initi.ted to knprove drain ... (Schultz 393).

I 870a. AtMrican sanitarians campa.i&n aplnsc the Inadequate dralna,ct: provided for domestic buMdl"". The foul odors of fluky drain systems w.re erroneousty aSSUmed to be • major sourc.e of iUn"5 (Stone 183).

1877. The 1fumber OM SonItoty en,.. neeI', a paper d irected at plumbers. builders. archlteC'u. docton. and the ' ..... 1 public. bocln. publication. Later renamed Sonhory fncinet.r and then EA,itteem, kcOt'd. the pap." II responsible for Improve".enu In the plumbin, industry (Stone 191).

18n. Thomas Ed;,,,,, and Joseph Swan Indeptndendy Invent Incandescent c:arbon-ftlament tamps w itaba. for domestic use (Hard)",ent 21), electric li,&ht bu:orne. a majOf'

competitor .... id' PI Itcht dun"l tho 1170. (Sparke 37).

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

loco for a plumber's trade mapzine. 1906, CoUtction BaJtlmore Gas and Electric Company.

T B E R GAS. .,. HOTWAT flTT

Between 1880 and 1900. water preuure becomes Inadequue as water consumption CroW'S. Houses at this time typically place a water supply tank on the tOP floor of the buildin" filled with a hand pump. whose downward flow produc:es sufficenc pr,s.sure (Stone 298).

l880s. che ,erm cheory of disease is confirmed. The discovery thac rnany diseases are waterborne encour.a&es che campaj," for dean water. sewer construction, and water and "WIle fi ltration. These campaicns lead co decreased typhoid morulity rates (Schula 395).

1881 . the New York Board of HeaJth belins supervisln, new plumbin, installations and requirin, the revsention o( plumben. encoun.,in, professionalIsm throuch account· ability. Plumbel'$ cain resptct as the trlde orranites Juel(. (Stone 295).

1881 . the estimated COst o( plumbin, fixtures (or a typical tlouse is S500. Another source in 1887 estimates plumb!n, com (or an aven.a:e home It $600 (Stone 302).

1890. the COst to plumb In Ive,..,e home is between ssao and Slooo. or 20% the total buildln, cost. In 1860 It kid con only $250 to plumb a $)000 house. or 11S the total COst (Wri&ht 1980. 90) .

1890. the Edlson·Swan Company builds power SUttons in Ncw York and LOMan. which become proto· types (or municipal ,eneraton in Europe and the US (Hardyment 28).

From the tau 1880s to the earty 1900s. urban health and pbnnln, commissions take (orm in response to poUution from sewers and wuerworits. These croups act as impartial councils, mediating the divided intere-su o( different political bodies (Schultz: 399).

1891, New York Clcy's secretary of the BoJ,rd of Health announCeJ that cesspools a.nd outdoor privies (usually in the lots behind houses and tenements) have. been successfolly eradicated (Stone 294),

1894. ttle American Society for Munklpal Improvemenu Is founded by engineers lnvotved with uttan water supply. sewers. parks. and roads (Schultt 40 I).

190 • • New York', Model Teoement House Re(orm law requires waler to be provided on uc:h floor of new buildin&s. The law later requires that wattr be supplied to eac:h &pal'Unent. This sets a precedent for San Fran· cisco. Baltimore. Cleveland. Piw­bu,...,. Chicago. Boston. and Phil~.

delphia. which require a water-closet for each family or evtry three rooms. Since plumbing had become a pre· requisite. many builders had furth.r incentive to Insull Inthtubs. 86~ of new tenements built in New Yorit CJty between 190 1·19 10 have bath­tubs (Glassber, 18).

8y 1901. ax of US homes have elee · O"lclty provkSed by power sadons: the number rises to 24.3% In 191 8: 53.2" in 1925. and 7~ in 1948 (HlI'dyment 28: Cowan 1976. IS9).

8y 1907. a lmost every city In the countl'y has a sewer (Schultz 39S).

8y 1910, over 70% of Amerkan cities with populations ovcr 30.000 t'ln' their own waterworks. The conyer· sion (rom private wuer companies to municipally controlled wuerworks oce-urs mainly In the period between IUO and 1890 (Schul .. 393).

8y 1913. GenenJ Electric Is maritetin& irons., toasters. and an electric ran,e for the consumer martc.et; sales do not become s.,,.liIicant until the 20s. tlowever. when the home appliance Industry triples in value (Sparke 27).

tV}

1919, a USDA survey finds thlt while 42X of farm households have power· driven machinery. only I SS have power·driven domestic appUances (Kleineu.r 173).

1923. e leerrldty Is listed In the con­o(·Uvln, Inde,; (or the first time. Indicadn, that It has become part of the American "standard o( IIvin," (Shaw 31).

8y 19'29. e leven nu..nufacwrers control 8SS o( the home appliance industry. many o( these companies also sell electrical power (Sparke 27).

In 1930 c.8S~ of urt:l;ln home, have electricity. Betwee.n 1930 and 1940. the annual use of e lectridty per home doubles. due to Ireater use o( electrical appliances (Shaw 1 1).

193-4. 89'S of housin, uniu in New York City are equipped with bath or shower (G lassbe,., 18).

1937. the death rate (rom typhOid (ever decreases from )S.8~ per 100.000 in 1900 to 2.1 per 100,000 as a result of increased attention to water trutmenL ArcMeaurol Record Vol. 86 No. 5 (November 1939): 65.

1918. more tN.n h.a.1( the US popu­lauon (73.000.000) disposes of lu bodily waste throu,h pubUc sewqe sysyems. ArcflitKtufol R«ord Vol. 86 No. 5 (November 1939): 65.

1940. 93.S~ of the dwellinp in the urban US l\ave Nnnin, water; 83S are equipped with Indoor tolleu. and 77.5% hne bathin, arra",emenu. or the more than 40" of Ameriu.ns IMn, in rural lrt:u. 11.U N.ve runnning water in their homes and 11.2% have tOilets and bathtubs (WlnkJer I I). In homes wired for electricity. 64X have mechanial refriaerators. 6)X have washln, machines. a.nd S2X have vacuum duners (Shaw 32 .. 3).

1~ riel k bcscrcr'llClI" atenaal

MAllllLE, despite its d eS""t'C, issocndurins , so reudily a,",wable, so easy to keep clean and 80 rrcc from cost of \'('pln t'Cl11cnt. thntitisnctullllythc most eeonomical of all materials

for th" interior fini h of "uilclings of " helt er rhnn.clcr both COlnmcrcinl and residential. " .,,;,. r:! I1Ilutll'dn/ (:'nIJrn Jrl'1/1,'", ,j,,_",-",.,,~ ./lrUt' i ll 1M oW., tH I*lJie bwfflli"l# ,," P,./ ,,-r 1M OIfJ:irtl' I . , ill'''' IJ.op,ut"",," (' .... I!ctr 0.,.0 ..... 11,., j,dl'HIII ,--_ obIi,.,""', 0.' mw,M_

NATIO AL A SSOCIATION of MARBLE DEALERS ROCI(EFF.tLER B TWING - CLEVELAND - owo

I . Adolph l.oos. ·Plumbtrs," in Spot.. ,.'" ",. Void: C""""" fj"'Y' I897··goo. tnns. ,ant O. Ntwman ~d

IM n H. Smith (Combridv­MIT Pre" 198a) .

45-49·

:a. P. T. Frankl. "Saths llnd Bath· D~fing Rootnl." Howse altd c.nW. (August '9'7): 51 -55·

}. Egmont Arms. "Imaglrulion (or Sa'el" AtlwrriSl"C Arls (Ncwember 1931): ]:.l·l }.

THE MODERN BATHROOM

Ornament and Grime

The Austrian architect Adolph Loos travelled through America from 1893 to 1896. More noteworthy than buildings were American bathrooms. In an 1898 essay Loos compared Austrian and American facilities: • A home without a room for bathing! Impossible in America. The thought that at the end of the nine­teenth century there is stiU a nation ... whose inhabitants cannot bathe daily seems atrocious to an American."l like its grain silos and factories. America's bathrooms at the tum of the century presented an image of unfettered modernity. often idealized as a spontaneous evolution of pure functionalist design. The modernism of the bathroom- its straightforwardly technological fOlllls and the novelty of its materials within the domestic landscape made it an exemplary new environment. an instance of what design would be like unburdened by historical precedents and styles. In the words of designer Paul Frankl: ' Chippendale never designed a bathtub .... we have been forced 10 use our own ingenuity in planning [the bathroom]."2

The bathroom's imagined freedom from the baggage of his lory led designers to envision it as the laboratory from which the modernization of the rest of the home would eventually foUow. Paired with the increasing importance of hygiene in Ameri· can culture. the bathroom was poised to influence aU areas of domestic life. It was also upheld as an aesthetic model: thus the designer Egmont Arens exhorted readers. 'Consider electric refrigerators and skyscrapers and bath· room equipment. This is where to look for the development of a genuine modernism."l Against this "genuine modernism" was judged the frivolity of the stylisti.c moduno that also influenced American design. While modtme

UThe new order invading our homes has established itself first and most firmly in our kitchens, bathrooms, and basements. " Walltr Oorwin Te~g~ .. Df$igtt Tltb Oor (New York: Harcourt. Brace and Company, 1940). S1.

le~ a 1917 ad for the National Association of Marble Dealen. The use of marble In bathrooms wa.s crltitft.ed because itS porous surfac. ... allow deposJu of moisture and d irt to acc,umulue.

A I9ISadlor Trenton Pone-riel Company. The buhroom is shown u the core of the enU,htened. modem home.

r nc

4 . ~ Corbusier ckso .bed the modem home as one thaI adopced the h)'8ienk s~ndolrds of the bathroom. Stt 1'1le Manwl of tho Dw.lling· in Towards" New Ardtiuawrt. l..e Corbusin (New York: [)(weor Publicitions. I5)86: firsl pubU.shc!d '9}1,. 1 'l~ . ' :Z).

5- See th4! cl.uslc 5tudy of N th, room ersonomics by Alexander Kin, The &adu!»" (New York: Viking Prt'ss,

'976).

A deluxe b~throom u depicted In the J. L Mott Iron Works Cat3loa:ue or 1888. The RKtureS Inside or the wooden c;abinetry were mad, of cut­Iron and wlrl porc;el~in enameled. The style shown here is "Easd~ke_"

and art deco styles ' expressed" modernity. the aesthetic of the bathroom embodied it. As such. the bathroom was seen as beyond style. which explains why designers as disparate as Walter Dorwin Teague and I.e Corbusier both valorized it as a pure expression of fOI ill in the service of function.4

However. the ' non-style" of the bathroom has "01 been chiefly detelDlined by the functional requirements of defecating and bathing-these concerns are consistently overlooked in the design of bathroom equipment.5 Hygiene. rath.er than bodily comfort. determined the evolution of the "bathroom· aesthetic. Non-porous vitreous china. enameled iron. and ceramic tile were favored over such potentially moisture- and germ-gathering materials as wood. marble. and wallpaper. The cracks and recesses as well as carved and relief ornament of early bathrooms were eliminated; in their place came smooth. unornamented surfaces impervious to dust and moisture. White porcelain fixtures were freed from their dark wooden enclosures and made 8ush with the Roor and walls. The hard. white porcelain bathroom rendered dust and grime immediately visible.

This prouss of eiimiliOIUl" took place from roughly 1890 (with the gradual decline of decorated enclosures and sculptural fixtures) to 1930 (when the decorated. yet hygienic. bathroom appeared). A modem aesthetic in design was also developing at this time. characterized in part by the elimination of ornament. Designers working in an industrialized society questioned the logic of reproducing traditionally hand-wrought ornament by machine. Loos' 1908 polemic ' Ornament and Crime" equated progress with the elimin­ation of ornament from utilitarian objects. arguing that ' ornament is wasted labor power and hence wasted health. "6 Others urged the acceptance of a new aesthetic that exploited the properties of the machine. rather than using it to imitate handcraft ideals. This new sensibility about the relationship between technology and design had its laboratory phase in the bathroom.

A deJuKe bathroom as depleted In I 19 10 National Sanitary Manu(acwrin, Comp~n)' u~de cataJocue. The wooden cabinetry that e.ndos.d plumbed appliances disappeared with the Increnina awareneu or hYCiene. The shift. from wooden cabinetry to china and porcelain e",meted "*-posed" futturu entan.d a shift rrom dark to lIJ:ht. porous to non· porous. soft to hard. and omamented to unadomed.

6. Adotpb Loot. ·OrNm~tand

Crime," P'''I,oms .ruJMAI1~ 011 2otk-Custury Ardlrrmwrt. Ulrkh Conrads. od. (Cambridge: MIT P ..... ,~). '9" .... See .also Kal)' Klint-. -"," .. ", """' ..... FOOnI of rAe Fu'ure in Amerit.Aft Dc:sip '9Jos/,g3or (c:.mbridge: MIT lJJ1 ecnttr Co< tho Visual Am. '9~) . I.~ ailidzed oma.rne:nt for rutl. m, the- consump­tion oC I1yIos 10 thai ROOd' or • ..pac<d ~fort tMy arc­womouL

26 AL lEU rE r I k be sc r rOlC llnlll

7. May Stone offers an 6CeUent history of Ameri· can plumbing in -The Plumbing Paradox." Winkr.

thwr PonjolJo Vol. I~ ~o, ) (1979): >8)')09'

8. Cail Cuke,. Winkler. 1M WdJ'Appoi"ud 84th (Washington. DC: The' Preser· vation PrHS. 1989) . II ·as·

9. ~Modtrn

Plumbing" Ara.iuakJ'Ql R««d Vol, 8 (July 1~81:

Ill · II ) .

From Furniture to Fixture: Towards the Built-In Bathroom

With the introduction of plumbing to the nineteenth-century household. fO I meriy portable body appliances- bathtubs, wash stands. and chamber pots- assumed a fixed position in the home. tied to water supply and waste disposal pipes. Giedion has described this as a shift from "nomadic· to · stable" conditions (68}). This transfOlmation was aniculated in the design of bathroom equ.ipment. which moved from its origins in conventional furniture types to its modern incarnation as overtly industrial ·fixtures,"

By the 1880s water-supplied appliances were called · set" or · stationary" to distinguish them from the movable devices that preceded them. 7 The newly-stationary status of plumbed equ.ipment was reinforced by the wooden cabinetry that enclosed the awkward pipes. bowls, and leaks of early plumbing,8 Looking back two decades. a writer at the tu.rn of the century commented. "Prior to 1880 the plumbing fixtures were considered so unsightly that architects were accustomed to sacrifice even the occupant's health to hide [theml. As a result. the fixtures were boxed or encased:9 These enclosures took stylistic cues from the carpentry. parquet Boors. and wainscotting found in other parts of the home. Carpets. oil cloth. wall paper, and drapes graced the Boors , walls. and windows. marking the bathroom as a space whose closest kin was the bedroom (Stone }08).

By the 1890S. with both mechanical improvements and aesthetic adjust­ments. the "exposed· or · open" plumbing that was common in laundry rooms. kitchens. and servant quarters became acceptable in the bathroom, as did annealed brass supply pipes (Stone }o}. }08; Winkler 21}. Yet the utilir:y of the kitchen and laundry room were admitted into the gentilir:y of the bathroom through the agency of ornament the new ·exposed" plumbing featured applied decorative patterns. ornamental relief. sculptural forlils such as elephant trunks and dolphins. and the · c1aw-foot· that would dominate bathtub design until enclosed bases merged the tub with the Roor and wall_

The nin.u~enth~c'(ltury bathroom took shape as (ormerty portable applilnus bea.me equlpp~ with runnln, water. While the chamber pot. the sitt bath. and the wash sands shown at r'cht cou ld be used in the bedroom. Mar the h~nh. or in the kitchen. theIr plumbed equivalents- the toilet. bathtub. and bvatory required their consolidation in a. spedal roo m. The devices shown at "aJu ~re typical of thole used throuahout the nineteenth c.entury. These items were available 1(1 the 1895 Monqomery Ward and Company catalogue; the sitt bath remained popular even throu&h the 1920s.

ct-cr'llCl ,.... atenaal

'. , .. -

The Toilet

The passage of the toilet ITom its nomadic to stable form was an uneven developmenl'o The toilet rehearsed the same problems that beset the introduction of plumbing generally: water supply advanced ahead of water drainage. posing problems at the domestic as well as civic scale. Thus the first water closets patented in America in the 1830S were not connected to a plumbing system. and environmentally they were little different ITom the hole·in·the·ground outhouse.

In the 1840S and 50S, the earliest types offlush·drainage water closets began production. and by the 1860s they were a typical feature of wealthy American homes. The cast·iron pall closet, the first major type, featured a bowl that was tipped mechanically to empty its contents. Lack of water pressure left incompletely disposed contents on the pan, yielding unsani· tary conditions and foul odors.

Improvements resulted in the washout closet, followed by the siphonjtl. which increased the force of water to empty the bowl and featured an oval- rather than circular- form that created a centrifugal force. Originally made of sheet metal. the washout closet was vulnerable to rust. leaking seams. and peeling paint, and eventually was manufactured in porcelain enameled cast·iron and later vitreous china (Winkler 19; Stone 304). With technical advances in manufacturing, toilet tanks that were fOllllerly made of wood with copper or lead.lining also were made of vitreous china. The tanks were brought down from the wall and situated directly behind the bowl. establishing the typology and material of the modern toilet.

Top left. II fancy porcelaln-erumeled toiler advertised in 1888 by J. L Mott Iron Works. Omam.nul stylin, made "exposed" rather thlJ1 .ndosed (ot'ms acceptabl • .

A detail of II 1905 StlndMd Sanl­ury HanuQ«urin, Co. ad offerlne an unorn.mtnted tOnet: the tank is elevated on the wall.

The "Expulso Closet." a modern siphon jet toitet with the tank brou,ht just above the bowl, advertised by Standard Sanitary

Manubctut'in& Co. in 1922.

The "TlN One-Piece," advertised in the 1930s, me"led the separate, box­Uke fot'm of the tank with the rounded

(orms o( the bowl.

early toileu wt:,.. dlqulsed

w1th cabinlb y and c:lothed In

the """'OC' of tradition.1 chain . Toilet enclosures were common in the 1870s and 80s: this one was advertised in

1919.

10. The history or tMto~has

been docummted ex1tncl"dy: Lawll('Jlct' Wriabt. Cfu;" GM DtttPIJ.: n.. HistIKyof 'M &u-. riM too (London: Rout­k<lge ond I(qpn P>ul, '960): Rqiruld R<y· noIdJ. Ck,udiMS g1t.d Godtimss (Cuden O ly: OOUI>l .... y. '946): Rog<r IGI""" no. C ... ,.,., '-

" t". .. 1OrioJ Mis­cdlon)' (London: Victor Gilbna.. Ltd.. 198.,.): Hest<!r It'.nt Miller. A Sod,*, History oj £he Amaic;Q" 80.-.· tOOfIi. unpubUlhed mal kTI dlHiJ (11hac:>: Cornell UnittrSity.1960)·

AL lEU rE r 1 k be sc r rOlC llnlll

o . ~PorceJain enamel- is ~ minure of sodium carbonate. sand, and lime. "VibrtOUs c.hina-Is a day material harde.ned through an intense firing proctdure. Made in two stases, the day is fiJ$l: hardened under high he~t.

then gLaud. ~nd re· fired SO w ,lbe tNltrrial and the glaze !>e<o"", moJt~ and merge, As trade Ute~tlJTe

de '(j ibed it: "T1le surface is in re~ty a ~rt of thI! body and Ibe body IIsdf is hard, non·porous and imptcrvious to

moisturc_ .. '" Vi,now, ChIAO Plwmbing Fb!r IAn:s (Trenton: Thonus M Oliddock's Sons Company. ' 9>4) .

The Lavatory

Wash stands holding jugs of water. bowls . and towels were a standard piece of furniture in American homes prior to the advent of running water. Lavatories with faucets fed by hand pumps were availbale in the 18505 (Giedion 685). Following the wash stand. these also featured bowls. although now Slink into a marble or wooden slab. Because the earthenware. soapstone. or metal-lined bowls were physically separate from the slab. a dirt-<:oUecting gap made them difficult to cleatl (Stone 304-306)-Cast-iron. which had been used extensively since the 18505 for the mass-production of pipes. allowed manufacturers to cast the bowl and slab as one seamless unit with a porcelain-enameled interior_" The cast-iron lavatory. heavily ornamented or housed in a wooden base. was the dominant type from the 1860s to the 189os_

In the 1890s. fixtures made of either cast-iron or fragile. porous earthenware were superseded by the glearrting white finish of non-porous "vitreous china: " As production techniques became more sophisticated. the complex fOllns of the toilet also were made in vitreous china. bringing a homogeneity of color and materials to the bathroom_

The two principle lavatory types-wall-mounted and pedestal base shifted in and out of currency from the 1880s to the 1940s- Design changes have included the creation of more counter space around the basin. culminating in the ' console table" lavatories of the 1920S and 30s- In the late 1940s. spurred by the production oflarninates such as FOlmica. there was a shift backward to the typology of the enclosed cabinet with the basin set into a slab_

Top. a wuh stand (rom J. L Mott's 1888 ca.taJoaut . The counter is made of marble. the bowi is pot'celaJn enameled Iron. and the cabinet is W1lnut wood decorated in the "Easdake" style.

A lavatory mounted on the wall In a bedroom, 'rom a "06 ad for Standard Sanitary Mfa. Co. The ad copy proc:lJims the elimilU.tion of the "unsi,tldy wash stand."

A pedestal base with wide coolOle top. as ,un In J

1924 Standard Sanitary Mf,. Co, ad, A 19S4 Jd (or "Panelyt.e." a IJminated panel. shows how

the lavatory reven, to the cabinetry and bowt·sunk·into­count.en.op typology (rom Which It evolved. The ideal 0' the seamfess bathroom l.ntel"lor Is here achieved In shHt

'orm rather th~n tile.

AL Ie L r re ~ II k be sc r 9 II

The Bathtub

Although the bathtub has taken many sizes and shapes, from shallow. lightweight metal "saucer" baths to massive wooden boxes lined with sheet lead, the decisive factor in the develop­ment of the modem bathtub has been the finish of its interior surfaces: the point of contact between the skin of the bather and the skin of the appliance. 1n the mid-nineteenth century, lead, copper, and zinc linings prevailed, yet their easily damaged surfaces required intensive maintenance (Stone 286). British craftsmen succeeded in producing solid porceJain bathtubs, whose surfaces offered a smoothness comparable to marble; their fragility and weight, however, made them an expensive import item. Cast-iron bathtubs were manufactured in the 1870S, follOwing the use of cast-iron for Javatories, and became the major bathtub type by the 1880s. The tubs were painted on the interior with white lead (initiating a long-lasting shift towards whiteness), or finished with enameled and galvanized coatings (Stone 286). Mass­production techniques in the 1920S reduced by nearly 2.0'}6 the cost of double-shell cast-iron tubs with porcelain enamel finish , bringing the bathtub to a broader public (Glassberg ,8; Gieclion 703).

Like the toilet and lavatory, the bathtub moved from furniture to fixture, passing through ornamental to exposed states_ More than any other appliance, the tub has determined the size and design of the bathroom: the gradual abolition of the tub raised on legs in favor of one that hugs th.e walls and floor encouraged the standardization of a five-foot recessed bay (Winkler 8).

Top left. a porcelaln.llned Qst· lron ~thtub offued by the J.l . Mott Iron Works In their 1888 cUllolue.

A cast-iron bathtub with porcelain enamel Wlsidt: as well as out. as shown in I 1910 Nadonal Sanitll"y Manur.cwrlr'\C Company cata~&ue..

A 191 I Trenton POtteries Company ad shows a tub with an enclosed bue, abuttina one w.1I. Footed bathtubs b.,an to be cridciud for the difftculd.J they posed In dunlnc behind and underneath their low forms.

In 19 11 Kohler Inuoduced a bollt..ln bathtub cast as a continuous form. "8uUt·lns" had previousty been accom­plished by dlif'11 the front of a reces"d bay. or weldi", a '.~nt.ely.c:ut "apron" to the upper tdae of the tub. Th. Kohler d."a" InttVated tM ~on as part of the tub and set a sundard for the industry.

30 AL L r rc r I k be s r r I n III

The Built-In Shower and Bath Ensemble: The Seamless Enclosure

When a turn-of-the-century home had a shower. it typically was located next to the bathtub. Along with the sitz bath. foot bath. and bidet. the shower was used in wealthier homes for specialized bathing tasks. rather than as a daily alternative to the tub bath. The shower routinely was linked to male use: referred to as the "rain bath" or the "morning bracer: the force and athleticism of the shower was seen as incompatible with female grooming rituals.

With the growing standardization of the recessed bathtub in the late teens and early twenties. the shower became more generalized and widespread. displacing the tub in many homes with space limitations. The consolidation of the shower with the tub encouraged the complete integration of bath.ing equipment and its surrounding architecture. A House and Garden writer in 1922 advised careful planning. since "bathroom equipment becomes a part of the very construction of the house.""

Tiled floors and walls created a seamless. water-proof environment for showering. By 1905 there are references to ·cove base" or "hospital" tiles for bathrooms. whose curved Iransition between right angles allows water to run-off rather than collect in seams and comers: this gelIll- and water-proof environment "could be quite safely flushed out with a hose. "I)

The recessed bath and shower ensemble encouraged the glove like fit of all bathroom equipment and accessories: in 1931 Vogue commented: "Nowadays ... everything (is) recessed, concealed. smoothed away, a.nd our bathroom walls are honeycombed with .excavations for various gadgets instead of being spiky with things that jut out of them" (Hardyment 103).

11. Mal)' Fanion Roben •. ~lr You Art Coin81O Build. ~ HOU$f!""" Gank" Vol. XLI No. 6 (lune J9,u).

76·

I}. Char'ln ,lJTIC'S

Fox. PhD. ~UP.lo­Date 8.1throoms. ~

HOWie QM CGrrk,. VoIXIl oJ (Xpkmbc:o:r 1907': 119-12.2.

Top ri,~'It. earl)' In the cenlury the shawf!r stands 31onl­side the bathtub as an Independent unit. N .. dle-.baths such as the one shown In this Standard Saniury Mfl_ Co. ad (rom 191 I were usodated with a th.~p.utk function; thus the shower and bath were not seen IS redundant. Such hclllties would equip wulthy hom.s: mlddle-dau dwellin,:s typically had baths with shower :utlchments.

Middle. in this 1912 ad for Standard Sa.niury Mf,. Co .. the re<-eued bay creues an enclosure for the "built-in" shower. Cenmk tile runs from Roor to ceilin,.

Bottom. a 1922 Standard Sanitary Mf,. ad shows the "built- in" tub a.nd shower comblnadon. This ad presenu the minimal space required for the complete ensemble, ,e"ealing the Wly the dimensions of the tub esablished the site and arran,ement of the room.

,

",TE .f $ •

31 A 1 IT'd a r al 1 r

Detail from a 1929 ~d from the Trenton Potteries Company offerln, I simulated marble finish. ,oro the beauty of mubl. Is now combined the unequalled sanitary and endurin, qualidu of china: '

Decorating the Bathroom: The "New Ceramic and Enameled Furniture"

Magazines in both their advertising and articles- played an important role in fostering the norm of the hospital·white bathroom. Whiteness described as either pure, virginal, sanitary, or snowy-was the ideal against which fixtures, accessories, soaps, cleansers, toilet tissue, feminine napkins, towels, and teeth were judged. Yet as early as 1911 , a writer in

House and Garden noted that since the modem bathroom had reached "almost perfect sanitation ," it was now time to consider decoration. The author suggested, "While COnfOiOling to every law of health, the place should be made as attractive in its way as any other room in the house."14 Such articles created a conducive atmosphere for the magazine's advertising base of decorating manufacturers and services.

It was in the pages of popular magazines that the stringent norms of the bathroom were called into question-not on the grounds of cleanliness, but on the grounds of style. If the bathroom's cleanliness reRected the housewife's standards of hygiene, then its decoration or lack of it-reRected her taste.

A 1931 ad for Crane fixtures encouraged consumers to visit their showroom, stating that · the first step in planning the bathroom that is to be an expression of yourself is to see the materials that go into it, just as you insist on seeing living room furniture you buy,"'S

Beginning in the late 1920S, the industrial language of the modem bathroom underwent a transfol mation: the ideal of sanitation was accused of sterility, exposed plumbing was called severe, and unrelieved

whiteness was denounced as dull. With the help of colored

r tiles or new toilet seat covers, the housewife could reclaim her bathroom.

Left, a ,9)0 I.d 'Of' Standard Sanitary Mf,. Co. HaUln, the bathroom as ··the new Amerkan interior," the ad ur&e:s readers to dis.pos.e o( their "Chippendale buhtub ..•. [with) 10 claw and baU ( •• t." In favor o( thl "new ceramic and enameled furnlwre for the bathroom."

Colors. offered by Standard in the earty ,9lOs wert Min, Green. Tan& Red. Clair d. Lune ~ue. Sl. Porchal,. Brown, Roos.e du Barry. lvolre de Medici. Orchid 01 Vlnc.nn ••. Royal Copenha,en Blue. and Ionian 81.ck.

(4- lydia LeBaron Walker.

"Be.utifiing ~ Bathroom: H_ tuod C.""" Vol. XX tI • . 6 (D<cember

'9' '1: 178.

's. Howsew C.n1<><VoI.LIX

(Marth '91'1: 'SI·

Deuil (rom In

ad lor Church Sani-Seats. 1930.

I k be sc r r nc I

.6 , utherine Wooley. -rhe llathroo"'l>d-A n..'elopod Interior'- House 8«JutijUf

(FebMlfJ' '9)'1: I~S · I ~6.

In this 1934 i.d for ArmnfOn& Linoleum Fktors. the unusual hoop desi," of the bench and the streamline bi.ndi"& around the tub announce the va,,&uard stylln, of this fashion-conscious floorin& material.

Whereas the modem bathroom was once valued for its intensified standards of cleanliness. these standards now info, med other areas of domestic life. The bathroom. formerly positioned as a kind of hospital-within-the-home. was now being re-absorbed into the fabric of the house. subject to the same decorative attention as other rooms. A 1932 article began with a scenario suggestive of a definitive shift: "When Mr. and Mrs. Jebediah Jones built their brand new house some five years ago. their bathroom-white of tile. glistening as the inside of a new refrigerator-was the acme of hygienic perfection .... But wben [berl younger sister Jessie displayed her new house the other day. the bathroom turned out to have fixtures of Copenhaeen blue .... a dark green lacquered floor. _ .. and a shower curtain of apricot. 0, Consumers were being encouraged to soften and personalize the industrial aesthetic of the bathroom.

The decorated bathroom was spurred by the appearance of color bath­room fixtures in the late '920S. The Universal Sanitary Manufacturing Company was the first to introduce colored fixtures. followed by Kohler and Crane in 1928. and Standard in the early '930S (Winkler 22). Initially featuring light pastels. manufacturers later introduced deep colors. including a black ensemble by Kohler. Colored fixtures dominated bathroom advertising. but were not widely accepted until the 19505. This may have been due to their cost-which ads described as "just pennies moreO-but also reflected the endurance of whiteness as an ideal of hygiene_

A I ens ad (or enran. Structural Steel Glus Walls (eatures the rounded corn.,-s. round "porthole" mIrror. and horizontality o( strei.mlined desi&n.

33

-

AL Ie L r re ~ II k be sc r r nc It n III

The Minimal Bathroom

The small size of the standard bathroom reflects the ambivalence which has a~nded bodily functions and maintenance in American culture. The bath· room is at once the most and least important room in the house: it accounts for a large percentage of building costs and is used by all of a home's occu· pants, yet it is granted one of the smallest spaces. It is a private room yet is made very public by its shared status. It is physially clean yet culturally dirty.

The marginalization of the bathroom has several historical sources. As it was introduced to homes with new plumbing, the bathroom was granted small, incidental spaces, such as stairwell landings, dressing rooms, and closets. Also, as Giedion has noted, the American bathroom was most vigor· ously pursued in the hotel industry, where the one-bath.for-every·bedroom standard established a precedent for small bathrooms; the domestic market

\" subsequently inherited the ·compact bathroom" as a model (697'700). The equipment of trains with plumbing nurtured the development of the compact

r bathroom as well as the • Pullman kitchen: Hardyment has noted that. in the British experience, the size of the bathroom was also influenced by the need to keep it wa'ilI: the smaller the space, the more easily it is heated (ror).

Bathroom dimensions also have been influenced by class and wealth: servants' quarters routinely were equipped with small facilities, while the owner's bathroom was roughly two feet larger in each direction. A writer in '906 advised that the minimal bathroom be no smaller than six by eight feet, while a 1912 interior design text suggested that the owne.r's bathroom should be no smaller than eight by ten feet. and that the servant's bathroom be 5'6" x 6'6".'7 By the early 1920S, as the the five·foot recessed tub and shower bay became a typical feature, the bathroom reached its five-by-five-foot standard; this minimal compartment suggested the development in the 1930S of a prefabricated bathroom. conceived as one appliance .

The plans at left ar. from an artie" on m;nhnal spac. plannin,. A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey. .. Dimensions. Part Two: 6tdroollu. Bathroom ..... Architecturo' It«ord vo" 1 1 No. 2 U.nuary 1932): 123·128.

34

.,. Robert C. Spenw Ir .. ·P"'.ning lb. HouJr. Bath·Rooms. Oosets . ..rut Dressing,Rooms: HouJt 8tGwlifol (fe~ tulry J~): 3.0; md WiDi"m Vollmer. " 8001: of OiJri.aiw 1 __ jl/ow Vorl<: Mc:8ridt, Nut & Co. 1912.). 88.

Otllbentdy It.mLrious, O\u·s~ bathroom' haw: existed alongside the mininW .oand.ud. 1 .... 11td primarily In mailer bedroom litmrions, aver-siu bathroom. are allOdated with the lntl­Dli.tt pleasures of ~ lift.. Rtttrat designs (or ul>scaJe d'Wftlings ha"ft attempted 10 int~nte largt: bathrooms into the public living ~nd I'KfUtion.a1

..... of Iht bome. s.. Elilabtlh Rudulph. ~Comfort.l.blt' Stations." n"" (Decuubcr ,0, 1991); 79; lCI!ph Ciovannini, • A Combination Cym and Bath. 1be ulHt in Home ArMnitks.· Tht IV ... Yori; T_ (Ibuncby. Imuary 'j. 1!)86): ct. c6: and 8<>ul, RusscU. · PooI·Bathroom Silopa Up as ,ho New Amenity; 1M New Yori: Iima (Ibuncby. M.ro. 17. 1!)8.): " . 08.

r rce t'

This 6-x-7-foot bathroomwu advised u the minimal siD: for .. rvana' quarterl In Vollmer', 8oH: o( Oistinctt~ Interiots. 19 11.

beset' r C. ("at n III

Above. the Bathr-oOtn Utility Wall. de.si,ned by Georae Sakler. 1917. This lavatory Wl$ one amo", ~ number ot attempts [0 produce equipment as an inte,ral part of the bathroom walls. Manufactured by the American Radiator ComPJny, It provlded stora,e tOf' linens as weU as a pbce to conceal the radiator and toiJet tank. It W'U part of a SYStem of interlockin, pan.ls 'or both the kitchen aM bathroom. '''Sanitation Equipment: lbthrooms and Kitchens." Architectural Record Vol 81 No. I Oanuary 1937): 45.

Prefabrication

The recessed bay of the tub and shower, as weU as the determination of the minimal bathroom plan, encouraged designers to think of the bathroom as one large water­supplied appliance. Since a single manufacturer typkaUy made aU three pieces of bathroom equipment-toilet, sink, and bathtu\>--.and since the interior of the bathroom entailed the creation of water-proof waus, it was logical to think of the entire room as a unit that could be mass-produced and instaUed on-site. SociaUy-minded proposals throughout the 193os-notably R. Buc1aninster Fuller's 1938 prefabricated bathroom conceived of the bathroom as a large scale appliance whose elements were stamped out of a continuous piece of material.I8 Several prototypes of Fuller's five-by-five prefabricated bathroom were built (the architect Richard N~utra instaUed one in his otherwise deluxe Brown House of (938), but the project was commercially unsuccessful.

Such plans failed to take hold in the '930S and 40S for several reasons. Giedion has criticized the attempt to translate the architecturaUy fixed, integrated bathroom into a movable appliance, as well as the use of metal rather than time-tested china and porcelain (7U). Indeed, manufacturers have discovered that fixtures made of plastic rather than china are rejected by consumers. Furthel more, the construction industry contingent upon field erection and assembly- has resisted prefabrication. As A1exande.r Kira has noted, "With few exceptions, the bathroom has rarely been conceived of as an entity, certainly not by the plumbing industry" (9). Moves towards an ecologkaUy and ergonomicaUy intelligent bath­room are on.ly now beginning to take shape.

AboYe. the Pre.­(obricated 80th· room Nt Two Poru, by R. 8uckminner Full'r. The patent was filed In 1938. ,l'Mlted in 19-40.

18. FuUer'. design was initiated in 19}0

~nd originally spon. SClr~ by A.merian Su:nd.a.rd ~nd the Pb<lps·Dodgo Com~ny. FuUu inttndtd it to bt nUcI< . fgl .... mnforced plastic: ... 1><, than m<tal. S« I IfllMrions: 1M P,,-UnJtrJ WOtb t( R. BudmjlUW FwUtr (New York: SL Mar· tin's Prm.II)8J). 4" 5<1, FuUn repoMd that his prefabri. aled mthroom was mass..productd in Co many. Sttilio -lntegn.tfd Bath· room: AtdI:rll'dwrol R«orrJ Vol. 81 No. I Omu~ry 19)7): 41 ,

l.eft. 8uckmlnster fuller's 1916 proposal ro,. a "Mtchanical Cor.:' which IIl'ylce-.s the bathroom and kit· chen.. A slmlla,. desl,n wa, tht "Vinytitt House." 1. propoul ror Inexpen,lve housinc that used standardlred bulldln, paru bolted toC.tht:,. on-site. Uke Fulle"'s Mechanical Cor • . tht Vlnylitt kitchen and bathroom were dellvtr.d as a fixed unit: all plumb'", resources sh~re a wall. "The Vinyllte House," Architectural RKord VoilS No 1 (Jan· uary 1934): 36.

35 'llC1 f'" 3tenaal

1<). lydQ J(! Baron WaJktr. HokS( ,*"d Cllrde" Vol. 20 No. 6 lOt<ccmoo 1911}: 318.

A 1'28 ad for Crane Fhctur" suuescs insallin& twO lay.torles.

Zoning the Bathroom(s)

As the bathroom entered the American home, opinions were divided over whether the toilet should be part of the bath· room or placed in a separate compartment. While some designers and builders sought to determine the limits of the minimal bathroom, sanitarians were critical of the increasing trend towards including the toilet alongside the lavatory and bathtub. Health critics felt it was not hygienic to mingle functions; later writers emphasized the practical advantages of separate facilities: "Keep the bathroom what the name

signifies. Eliminate the toilette [sic). Put that in a separate room, even if it be tiny . ... the ...... u

convenience of both rooms will be more tha.n doubled."19 Developments from the 1910S and through the 1940S brought the toilet from remote hallway locations to the bathroom interior, separated from the bathing area by a door and accessible directly from the hallway.

The trend towards multiple points of entry evidenced an erosion of the boundaries of privacy in bathroom use. In the mid'30s dual lavatories for family use and the "dental lavatory,· a small sink for brushing teeth, were promoted by the plumbing industry as ways to open the bathroom up to multiple users. A partitioned space for the toilet encouraged simultaneous use of the bathroom. By the late·1930s and throughout the 1940S and 50S the emphasis in advertising and articles on home building and decoration shifts from

multiple points of entry to multiple bathrooms: a 1938 article refers to ·the 'separate bath for each bedroom' standard,· while other articles stress the importance of the ·powde.r room.· located just off the dining room for use by . visitors. and the necessity of a master bathroom for the private use of parents.

Kohler's "denul lavatory" was Introduced In 1936. Manu"'c· wr.,.s attempted to invent many new fixtures: the dmmkk of the dental laVatory (a small sink) did not ttke hold.

Top • • 191 lad for Standard Sonituy Mfa. Co. feawres the to'''t In a •• parate spac • . Above, .. noor­plan from a 19 17 booksullesu I sepant. room for the toilet. Advenili"l from the 1880. .0 the prestnt often places the toilet run beyond view. or behind a half· open door.

1 k bcsc r r nc

...... _' ..... . c

This 19+4 ad from Suncb.rd presents a c-u(.away view of t"- "Duo.Use" bathroom thlt allows for muldpl. aceCIl and simultaneous use. Standard promoted it u a way of combinlna the powder room and {rad/taonal bathroom. It features the "Neo·An&I." lq,thtub, introduced In 1914. that was used In rooms of unusual pt'opordons.

37

left. I 19<45 ad from the Brias Mfa Com~ny. The bathroom has uken on the proportions of a hmUy room. Th. dual bvatories. partitioned toilet.. and ,11.$'· Inclosed shower enable muldpl. and slmulun.oul u.se of the bathroom.

u reel hkb rT'd aler .ml

.10. l'bom.as Hines tu..s nottod that Nrutnl', U5t of Full .... bathroom ..... .t>ttorica1: lht Brown rttidence W'2S an otherwise a>tdy proj<c1 ,nd the ule' of the bath· room on the basis of economy is dubious. RWooni NelUnJ raM Ike Sum}, for Modun IoWol.a .. " . INow York:. Oxford University PrtSS.

'98',. '17·

.11 . Richard Cuy Wilson. Diolnnt H. Pilgrim . .. d Dk.krsn Tashjian. n..M""""'l\fJtiA ~ric:o. '9,8-'94' (Ntw York: Brook· Iyn Musrum,

'986'. ''H.

The Modem(ist) Bathroom

The bathroom bas been a recurring object of interest to modernist designers: George Sakier, Henry Dreyfuss, and R. Buckminster Fuller were involved in the design of bath· rooms and fixtures, and the architects I..e Corbusier, Richard Neutra, George Fred Keck, and Frank Uoyd Wrigbt all attached particular significa.nce to this room. While for Wright the installation of a low toilet signaled his insistence upon the organic and bodily, for N~utra the bathroom was a site for announcing his vanguard sensibility: Neutra's Brown House. a luxury residence, featured Fuller's prefabricated bathroom, originally designed to make fadlities affordable to a

. J .,

I ,

wider number ofpeople.20 Neutra 's 1935 Von Sternberg bouse featured floor-to-ceiling mirrors, highlighting the reflective surfaces of porcelain and cbrome. In a similar exaggeration of the formal language of the bathroom, George Fred Keck's Crystal House, shown at the 1934 C~ntury of Progress exhibition, featured a sink whose tubular steel framework was echoed in the legs of a modem bench and floor lamp." While the bathrooms promoted by the plumbing industry took on color and period styling in

the '930s, such modernist bathrooms intensified the severity and neutrality of the bathroom in its early pbase ofbospital cleanliness.

• MODliN UTNIOOM

l'hU4-'l1 ~1(.JII"-fO L .. U.'T~. t.. ... , ..... t.fof

Ad (or Harlite Pre-Finis.hed Wall Pantls.. (tawrl", Its UN In Richard Net.ltrI', 19)7 KJ,ufman House In Los An,.MS. The ad Incorporates a representation o( the house (rom Archftecwr04 fOt'Utn. Like the NtUVOltJe .. semble deslcMd by Oreyfuss. N.utra·s bathroom Interiors accencultt pometrtc purity In the bathroom, The Martlee ad app IIred In Pe<'d/ PoIII .. Vol. 21 No. 8 (AUlUst 19~ I): 60.

"Neuvolue:" b,athroom fixwres des l",ed by Henry Dreyfuss for Cn.ne In 1936. The Neuvolue was one of thl few toilets d.sllned with any awareness

• . ., , -of tr,onomlcs: tht backward 'lope of th. Jlat tnCouraled the bowels In eUminulon by tpproximad"l a squattin, pos.llion. Visually. Dreyfuss emphasl:ud the verticality of the toUet by creati", stni&ht Unes t.N.t joined the tank and bowl. Tht squared bue beam. a sculptural pedut::al on which the curvln& rcwms of the toilet pefched. The rectilinear e:mpl\asjs. in the: laV1tory Ind bathtub produced a ,eometriciud ensemble, introdudna a delfberately modem (orm o( stylin, to Inthroom fixwru.

r CC~ II k beser r'llC1 r" 3tenaal

• ••

• I •

•

The Ilyatory a,nd faucets at left wer-e desi&f1e<i by Geo", Salei" . c. I 9)6 .. The lavatory recalls the use of tubular steel In modem St European furn iture. The suppty pipes and hardware of the plumbin, are used as RUehin,-". desl,n motifs In the 'auceu and sink supporu. From Industtiol Oes;'n. Harokl Van Doren. 1940.

The above bathroom Is from Richard Neutr.'s I9lS Von Sternber, House in Northrid, • • CaliforniL The portelaln. metal trim. and noOf·tO~cellin, mlrrMS heilhten the refteedve atmosphere 01 the buhroom. The fixtures, from Crane. lndude a bidet. more (ommon in Europe than Amerla.. O"i.cned (or the film director Josef von St.rntt.r&. the house. like moSt of Neutra's wOt'k, presenu a theatrk:.:ally clean and austere modemism. The sanitary untletic of the modem buhroom ies sumleu materials. built-In furnishln",. and machine·made forms~e$onat .. throua;hout Neutn's buildinJl. From Ardtiteau,oJ ICf:(Md Vol, 86 No. I Uuly 19)9): 5).

Al tel r 39 'crcPllC1 r- 3tenaal

•

u~

ADHE$II/E

· •

THE ARCHITECT SAID •.• -".nd I."he k'~"n nOOl'I ha~. lpec:ifled th. ft ...... Adhesiye S&oole. UnoleufO'l. It has a perfectly ,,"oottol lurioee with no (rock. and c' .... Ic •• to (otck dirt-elllcepttonolly lon, tory ond eClsy

10 dean. And the factOfy-appUed adhesive Oft Ihe bock Oi .... ' Q strortQ""r • • "fTC! long wearing in.'o llollon. ..

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r /JJJloolh rtlu/ nJllYilty.

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Everyfhing Ihot ,",obi this If)Odern kitchen beau"',,1 ",ok., II SUfMrl01 • .,.ty eoJ)' to deGn,'oo. 8uIII·ln equ'pm.enl, wllh. 04.01 legllo deon around_ WOlhobl. wollt of Seal .. Wall.

C~,;rtg No. 1124. Above 011,111.10_., 1\00, ona C:CMln'ttf' tops of Adh~ .. e Seale .. L..nolelolm ttNlOm a.nd IOn,lary, M,. a dhno piolet The paHeM I, .. N,le," No. Al3, ..

n"Ul /", liMit'." oml t".tlt'tl/on# l if,.. i$ t his modern. inJai(1 nUQ" \,II...N \ e~J6k-\: J"nuwu,"!

The pM'rf't:( A"n~JOt hfM"'"._IIH'1I ",al..t'1O .hii' lillt). Iru m ..0 uui'.,." and flI"Y 'I) d t'a n- al,o(, ",.I..u it "'IJod'iadly ~"IIN·"i~lin ~.

SI ill m ore i 1l11)01'lllnl. Arll~h e Suk'< tJnolc::um insure! )otl II "' Imngl'f. more dUf.bk: ins,all. · liun. " II)? It i II • ., oul~ jnl.i,1 Iinolt'ulI1 .... i lll Ulllu"f,u." fin ",1' hI""/" ,' 1'1. i.. I M'ul "c' IA ft}t,. a u I OtlUlli ­.:. lIy. (rom t l,e liM: or i"ft'nor ""111('1"", .... 1,i,·I, o(l II'n rlt'r", il linukuJII 10 I.ulll. ,. ""*,, ill It .11.(,,", l ime. And Ihi! IJlN'iJlI a.l ht'l'h e j .. UI",,,, u ll lI~ &Inill ~ , II iJi .,~ l,liNI nl Ih,. IfI~I'''"r ",,,1,-11' I.r ...... ur,. "hh 1I 1 .,...a ul ~

en:nnUf • c ' nr tquare irn"h or Ihe linoltoum (rip!! your Roor lil.e a , i§ot.

"1 ... 11. 100. Adlw-..i\ e s..-a\to'l: Linoleum i.8 I.id 00 ' '')' . I1I Oonlh. dry Aour .... illlOUl Idt linin,;. Na lu­r.lly. Ihi-' I!!"~ l intt. Rflflf iii "lui,. (or U~ in 2 10 3 hflul'lI!· &\('8 mont'Y. 100-111' ' 020% o( II~ ("Q!l.1 or. l'ini 1)('(1 joh.

5<-e lhilt 1)IIIf'nlf"(j'" tlll. id liuolr-II",_,LI, ilA allh~~he hack and I ..... ulirul. tu",JfIlh 1"'''''11''''' at your df'Jllu' OI()l)N' (I'om I he m. ny I!!m.rt fleei;" .... t\OI onl y lie,",' t (',lure dTfi:'11l hu ' ~.r ' il« a"J rH-I,lf lIulrhl~i:t.f"' . 1 VI"II on6. Co tOt lay! .. , .... .... , .. ~

~cs-o IOI! $I)~ •• Nan l~Kj_.u1' .J ... b_ IIdIJUt. .".... :G-pqe d Ltn1lnc btc.L, "fl.41'" C ... . &-1 ... =_ '"- the .~ ... 20iIk .. t,.t __ in (ull tokw, ..... , ... .

i", Ai an Int .. "" tl~1 .... , I .. ...,.h.,-rd .J.II Sl.h l..inolru,. n ..... MallY of II....., mil ... • . 1"", ( ... Iure IbtI """,,,,",- J ...... - 1 "'all trN l_I'I'_~"" .. . II-O,,--ffl-«-

The room depicted in the 1936 linoleum ad at left embodies the ideal of the continuous kitchen. A 5il'\,le­hel&flt work surface unites the sink. stove. and a casual ead", area.. wh ile the Willi cabinets "tabUsh another parallel but Independent plane. The refrigerator. which docs not appal' in this ideal view, often failed to coordinate with the .eamle" ensemble of the continuous kitchen, becluse lu height Ind depth didn't much mat of the other appliances. In the fore,round of the ima.a:c is an office thalr and desk. an eJtecudve overlook for maNgin, the labor of consumption,

The pall' of drawln,s be.Jow com· pares a "bicyde en" kitchen with the modern venton. as up-to-date as a "mOtor Clor," ~m~ricGn Archir~d. 193'.

. ~'"

THE MODERN KITCHEN

At Horne in the Factory

The modem kitchen emerged at the end of the nineteenth century out of cam· paigns for sanitary and social refo! m, the expansion of the suburban middle class, the growth of water, gas. and el(:Cb ic utilities. and the rise of the corporate food industry. The flexible but rule·bound grammar established by the end of the '930S can be caUed the continuous kitchen. It merges archi· tecture and furniture once conceived as distinct. oppositional entities-into the new fO'lil of the fixture. a hybrid type borrowed from the modem bathroom. The continuous kitchen aspires to synthesize cabinets and equip. ment into a seamless. coordinated organism: sink, stove. and countertops fO'III a unified horizontal plane. paralleUed by a second layer of wall cabinets. Like a modern factory. the continuous kitchen aims to enable an unbroken series of chores to pass through its sequence of spKialized work stations. The labor performed in this factory. however. centers around consumption rather than production; like a biological organism. the continuous kitchen sup­ports a rhythmic cycle of ingestion and waste: a process oj tliminatulII.

While the ideal of the continuous kitchen remains today a powerful norm. many of its standard featu.res are now being rethought The use of a standard height for countertops and appliances is economical for builders and manufacturers. but creates a hostile setting for anyone but the idealized inhabitant of the modem kitchen: the so-called ' average female." Flush cabinet doors discourage working in a seated position. while corner cabinets create deep. hard·to-organize storage spaces. The insistence on a uniform bank of appliances locates broilers, ovens. and dishwashers uncomfortably close to the floor. making them inaccessible to disabled or less-than-Iimber adults. The compulsion to conceal tools and suppLies behind opaque doors wastes time and energy. as compared to glass-fronted refrigerators, cabinets. and ovens. and open racks for frequently used cookware. The changing social climate of the kitchen caUs for new products and planning- and sometimes a return to old customs banned by the logic of the continuous kitchen.

I 4' nc

Ripu. tiled kitch.n. courtesy HOIIJe GAd

Gorden, copyri,"' 1907 (renewed IUS by Th. Coode· Nut Publi. cadons Inc.).

Rleht. photo, (rom an ad for

SanloOnY". 1928. From the wrn of the century through the 20s. ceramic tile walls, floon . .. nd ceilinp were promoted as a way to bring the hygienic futures of the modern bathroom Into the k:ilchen.

"---,,"'---

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8e~. kitchen in the homtl o( Mrs, Helen TIlT)' Pouer (New Rochelle). 1909. W hil. the earty modern bo"throom was :. lUXUry space (0(' prosperou, households. the AJTII homes viewed the kitdltn IS an exten,kM\ of the sefVInu' quuurI. The kitchen below Is upen. slve yet uncomforuble .. Museum of the Cfty of New Yon:. 8yron Collection.

... ' .... , ... ....

Au J sr 1 Il'd at r al

•

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(.ITC.H ( N

STuDY \.TVING

\00"

One way to mode rnj-z.1! I

kitchen in the 191 Os and 20s was to replice an old pantry with a built-in "breakfast nook" or "Pullman."

Frederick called for reducing the over-articulated kitchen to a single open room, replacing pantries with built-in cabinets and ·dressers" located in the kitchen. She proposed obliterating distinct architectural spaces in favor of centralized storage units: • An improved construction plan would be to take some of the pantry space and use it for cupboards and shelves built into the kitchen itself" (20) . Frederick pointed out that the modem food industry, which encourages "frequent marketing" over buying in bulk, had rendered obsolete the detached pantry for storing large quantities of food_ Although Frederick's book Household

Engineering (1919) includes some house plans having butler's pantries, she argued that proper ventilation in the kitchen, along with built-in dish cabinets in the dining room, would eliminate the need for this protective zone.

In Frederick's plan for a "No Servant" house, shown above, the kitchen has immediate access to the living room, entrance hall, and a dining/living porch, glassed in for the winter months; the plan includes no distinct pantries. The built-in "breakfast nook" makes the kitchen a place for family eating and relaxing as well as working.

Anu

Before-and-a.fter kitchen plans. 1936. show the conversion of ;an old-f.uioncd kitchen and pantry into I continuous kitchen with built-In stOnte and a separate laundry room. American Home.

_ . - Ow . - --. - ;.. . ~-Christine Fred­erick wu I..n

early advocate o f paper towels. What they WI.ste

in materials. she arcued. they "''Ie in time.

t 45 r :t- Ilk be set- rmd (Tal fIaill

Diagramming the Rational Kitchen

Following the example of numerous domestic theorists since Catharine Beecher, Frederick classified the heterogeneous tasks of cooking into general phases, each tied to specific furnishings and appliances. Frederick reduced kitchen work to two basic procedures: preparing and clearing away. The plans shown at right compare an efficient and inefficient kitchen plan, each inscribed with two paths (A and B, one for cooking and one for deaning up). In the inefficient kitchen, the cook must walk greater distances and continually recross her path, while the revised kitchen enables a coherent. linear series of operations: appliances and work surfaces are laid out in a continuous row, like stations in an assembly line.

While grouping work surfaces and appliances according to their use can make cooking easier, Frederick has reduced kitchen labor into an ideally coherent and linear process. By analyzing the cook's duties into generic phases, Frederick hoped to make the unpredictable paths of housekeeping resemble the regulated and continuous routines of factory work. Numerous tasks have been omitted, such as putting away groceries, setting the table, consulting a cookbook, tending a child, stirring the sauce, wiping the counter-tops, adjusting the stove, discarding empty packages, or prepar­ing anything more complex than a single-dish meal.

Christine Frederick's Inefficient Kitchen

PORCH

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Left. diagrams of an efficitflt and inefficient kitchen. in which the chaotic. unpredicn.b1e process of cookl", Is reduced to an iduliz.ed path. pictun", housework as a one~way sequence of choreographed neps.. like a ,rand dl~. the housewife enters and exits her kitchen In a si",le. continuous motion. Before-and~.fter diaarams of irrational and rationalind kitdlens are common in the: domestic desi,n literatur. of the 10, and 30s. Amerkan Ardlitta. 1936.

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

I I

I I I

Christine Frederick's Efficient Kitchen

The refri,erator (which Is not electric) opens from both the kitChen and the porch. so that the ke rru.n can deliver ice without enterin, the house.

Fr.derick's ntionallUtchen desll:" malntllned the nineteenth~entury custom of norln, utensils on open shelves. reslstin, the more " moder n" impulse to concul everythin, behind closed doors, as dictated by the continuous kitchen of the I 930s. The sh:allow open shelves for pou and pans in F-re<li:ric.k's kitchen an modeled after the mech.a.nic's bench: ··Ther. are no doors to o~n and take up va.luable work space . no wute of motio n pulling out drawen, no confusin, or blundn, of one toOl with another" (H ). A stool on wheels a.llows the cook to work linin, down.

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A:

The cabinet or "dresser" combines storlie with a pull·out work surface. Popular from the 1890s throu,h the 19)Os, dressers were a chea.p, factory-made alternative to cuscom cabinets.

I I

The kitchen hu d irect ucess to the dining room, with no intermediary pantry .

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I I I

Most of the furnishln" In Frederick's rational kitchen plan are free-

standine. not built·in. They form a continuous series flnln, the walls: " It Is much better to hive several small suriaces (or each drfferent prCKess or sped.' worle:, than to have one lar,e

surfac. on which mis.ceUOIIneous work is performed" (27). By dividing the kitchen Into work stations. Frederick imitated the assembty li ne of the factory. These domestic tasks. however. are performed by a sinele peNon and address consumption ra ther tMn production.

This 1916 plan is an urly proposal for a continuous kitch.n. The sink. stove. and work s-urface.s form an unbrobn U-shape, The dish closet over the sink has doors opening CM'Ito both

the kitchen and dining room. The desl".er. antitlpatin, th~ endosed base ubineu and ~pplia.nces of the 30s, sugesu raisin, the stove. refri,entor, and cabineu on a solid platform. "to avoid the dust trap which usually exlsu In the space underneath." louise Stanley. "A Conyenient Kitchen," Journal of Home Economics Vol. VIII No. 9 (September 1916): .. 9) .-49 ...

f._._ 47 roaal

Cooking with the Avant-Garde

Frederick's Scientific Management in the Home was translated into Gel man in 1922, where it was enthusiastically received by progressive designers. Several Gelman architects in the 1920S applied Frederick's research to kitchens featuring built·in, continuous-height cabinets and work surfaces organized in a coherent l-shape. The architects who participated in the Geiman Werkbund exhibition The Home, held at Weissenhof in 192.7, were each given guidelines on proper kitchen design prepared by Erna Meyer, a domestic theorist who was probably familiar with Frederick's book.>

'We cannot la ve the pile,"&: of me l ink. sta;.'e, doors. and cupbolrds entirety to the: architect. The reason why so many leitch.ns are work-makirlJ is sol.., because ... equipment is

commonty placed wherever there ~PPtfiS to be space left alter cuttirll out all the doon: and windows. ,. a.ti.<lne frederkl<. 1919 (23).

Whereas in Europe the continuous kitchen was promoted by the design avant-garde, in America it grew out of the writings of domestic theorists and rerOi mers and the subsequent response of builders and manufacturers. American domestic writers commonly viewed the architect as an enemy to good kitchen design, a figure obsessed with walls, windows, and tidy plans, and ignorant of women's work. Domestic literature provoked women to study the latest theories of home economy in order to become more

J. F tt:deliclt' s

prod"" mdOI teroenll IncJ~ Hoos.ler kitch('Tl cabinets

('9' 5) and Vollrith', cnam('JJed cook wuc (1911).

demanding architectural consumers; at the same time, domestic writers fOI iiled mutually profitable relationships with industry. Their magazine articles were published alongside ads for cabinets and appli­ances, bringing theory and products into convenient proximity. The Good Housekeeping Institute, founded in 1900, was a watchdog for effective products, while at the same time validating goods advertised in its own magazine. Christine Frederick worked as a consultant to industry, and she made numerous celebrity endorsements for household goods.3 The modern kitchen in America was shaped by the commercial circle of consumers, journalists, manufacturers, and advertisers rather than by a critical architectural avant·ga.rde.

, I ( /11_ . ;:'

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Christine Fr ederick', dil.lram or the radonal and Im donal kitchen was reproduced by the German ard1ltect Bruno Taut in 1926. Note that the l­Ihaped corner of Fred.rlck's . ffict.nt kitchen plan has bHn (urth.r sJmplified. From Oft Neue Wohnun,: Die F,au All SdlV/lr.rin (Lelpzi, : V..-.., Klinkhardt and Bierman, 1916).

.a, )(arin Kirsch,

.... Wm..niwlf si.tdh.~ &peri. IfImtGI HowsUte of II .. De"'"",, Wmbu ..... S,uttgart, '921 (~ ... YorIc: 1U ... 1i. .9&9). John Heskett

ass! '" the impoc1an« of FmIericlc to

Ewopciln modernism in Irul...,rrW Drsfc7I (~ ... YorIc: Oxfonl Unhusity PreIs,

.9&01_ .. does Spub in Elc<triaoI 11,.,.10_.

AL!e r recto IJk be set' rmc! iTa! naill

• • • • • •

Right. kitchen prototype by the Soviet desi,ne rs Mikhail Barshch. Mosel Gin%bur&. and V)'achulav Vladlmirov. 1928-29. The Slove is wood­bumin&,

y. .. • ••

Below, Frankfurt Kitchen, 1925. Mar,l"ete Schune· Uhouky. Frederick's book The Ne-w House-­keepin{ wu a theor~tical ·'Bibl." for the desl,neN of the modernist " Fnnkfun Idtchen" (Heskett 84). Functional deails include pull-out work suriac't, I bunt-In NIck over the dnln board, and Ie, room for sinlng down while working.

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Right. J. J. P. Oud', kitchen for the Welln-Mhof exhibldon. 1927. Oud', delig" indudes I pl!n-throu,h to the dlnln, room, which can be: dosed off with sliding ,Ius doors. The doors prevent kitchen odors from drift-In, Into the dlnln, area. whil. at the ume time allowin, the mother to watch her children while she wonts.. Ema Meyer prefelTed Oud's kitchen design over all tho$-e desilned (or the Weiue.nhof vchibition (Kirsch) ,

Above. kitchen desi",ed by Erna Meye.r. consulti.Mt to the 1927 Weinenhof exhibition. Meyer shared Frederick's conviction that kitche.n work should be done siuin, down. l ei room is o ne of th. casuaJties of the standJrd American kitchen estabffshed at the e,nd of the 19lOs • which inslsu on connalln, the base nbinets behind a continuous skjn nush with the ed,e of the counter­top,

49 1 k bcsc r r nc

Steel kite-hen ublnet., Blsk. 1922.

Whjte House line stHI kitchen, '930: available by 1918.

Prototype for the Continuous Kitchen: The Kitchen Dresser

Built-in cabinets were part of the Victorian bourgeois pantry. but were limited to those who could afford custom wood­work. The standard continuous !citroen emerged out of factory-made !citroen "dressers: marketed from the r890s onwards. The typical !citchen dresser at the tum of the century consisted of a single vertical unit. divided into a shallower top level and a deeper base; a pull-out counter could further extend the work surface and provide leg room for sitting down.

The Hoosier Manufacturing Company was the most famous maker of!citchen dressers- the name' Hoosier" became a generic name for tall cabinets. The Hoosier reflected contemporary theories of home economy by concen­trating preparation and storage functions into a single unit The cabinets were designed to hold both food and utensils; the more elaborate models were equipped with Hour dispensers and revolving racks for jars of condiments.

Beginning in the late r9los. the concept of the single !citchen dresser expanded to encompass modular systems of combin­able units. The most common arrangement consisted of a wide central cabinet with a projecting work surface. Hanked by two narrower vertical closets. Such designs were classicalJy symmetrical. consisting of a closed A-B-A sequence ofver­tical bays. More complex. open systems of cabinets were advertised in the late 20S. which combined horizontal as well as vertical units in asymmetrical. expandable conJigurations. These manufactured wall systems. whether used singly or in

combination. were usually treated as freestanding furniture. although cata­logues from the 20S include renderings of built-in units as well. connected to the ceiling with dry-wall soffits.

50

Kitchen furniture advertised by Curtis Woodwork. 1924. The ad des(:ribes this cabInet I .' "'abor-<:heerl",. step. saYin, built· ln (urnlture." Other built·;n (uwru in this kitchen indude a fotd-out Ironin, board and a brnklast nook.

Al.tCl.r _ ccrtell k bcSCrCr'llClI" atenaal

...

left.. ki tchen cabinet adver tised by Hoosier Manufactu ring Company, 1916. The "Hoosier" wu the moS t popul~r brand of kitch en Stonge furn itur • . A 1915 product endorsement by Chris-tine Fredcrkk asserted. "Th. HOOlier hu no frills. It is a scientific labor· uvln, kitchen machine." You ond Your Kitchen (N. w Cude. IN: Hoosier Manufacwrlnz Company. 19I5) . 29.

I I

Left. Kitchen M~ld c:ablneu , 1929, assembled out o(

seven unlu. Siegfried Gledlon credlu the firu su-ndardlud, combinable Cablne" In the US to Kitchen Maid. be,lnnlng In 1922·23. "the .same time lj the 8ilUhlus It Weimar 'NaS bUlldlnz IU '(.It(.hen orpnlte:d around the work proct'..$s u H~us·.am·Horn" (61-4) . He dIscounts the Importance of the Amen· an precedent. claim,", It (tU, to consider the "work process." In QeL however. It embodied the theory of concentratln, kitchen labor around spec,aliled work/storage Station\:

... . • I •

left.. the '"Vlrl·Unl ·Cab," adverbsed t" 1928 by the Variable Unit Cilblnet Company The produc-ll~ described u "a new idea in kitchen cabinets Made up In units puked knock·down, In "nun) wood " Modular. factory·made nbtnet systems, desl,ned to be 2oS,em~.d ag~ln$C. a Wilt. expressed the dOmeStiC theories of the 1910s ~"d 20s They also reflected modem prlMlpfe:s of s-tJnd~rdlUbOO ~nd modutarlty. ah:houah by the end 01 the 30, they were iupe.neded by the norm of hOrizontal bne ablneu ~nd wall ublneu

Al tel r cencll k beser r'llC1 r- 3tenaal

R.iJht. kitchen furniture advertised b)' Cnne. 1920. indudin, vertical workl SLOn,e cabinets.. The die WIlls and exposed plumbin, emulate the ethos of the modem bathroom. with "Its allurin, clunliness and •.. carefully designed unitary features."

Above. kitchen rurni-turc advertised b)' Napanec. 1928. Although the all cabineu flanking the sink Ire built·ln to the wall. each cabinet is cOf'Iceived as a .ertu:al ..,n't~e top and bottom elements are hnked by side plnels.

RI,ht, kitchen pictured In

Ame/l(on Home. 1930. Alain. the twO

tall oblneu are desi",ed u vutical uniu. (One of them is onl), plrtially in view.) The! sink is equlpp.d WIth a Kohler e lectric dishwasher, Inlroduced In 1925.

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54

l eft. Idtchecn featuring Mon.1 M.tAJ sink. advertfsed by the International NIc-keJ Company. 1930. The sink forms a horizontAl brid,e between the twO vertlal cabinets. The sink and countertop consist o( a sioa1e. seamless pien. Monel Metal sinks wer. henity advertised throu,tt. out the 1930s.

• •

Above. kitchen furniture (rom an Oxford MlllWOf1c O,tllocue. b(. 19'20$. A porulaln-ename4 metAl sink forms a horil;onQI brid,e berween the rwo y •• dully alip ted cabinets. The plumbinC Is enclosed behind screenld doors. Yendbtinc the S~C. beneath the sink while conceallit\clt (. om view. Collection of Baltimore Gas Vld Eluoic Company.

left. kltctlen furniture advertised by Hoosier Manu· facturioa: Company. mid· I 92Os. The sink is dl'DpF ed Into a continuous countenop. Collection 01 Baltimore Gas and Elt(tric Company .

Ikbcsrr n III

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left. dr.lwing of a "kitchen to come." from House 8eourJ(ul. 1934. Captioned as "a new an,le on placing equipment." the desien depicts base ca.binets and wall cabinets as (WO independent. horizonul planes. The sink. nove. d'shwuher. and bue cablneu Ire united b)' a continuous· helghL work surface.

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• .-U • • • • • • • • • • • • • .. ~ .. .. • .. , •• • • •

• ., , · • • • • • . , - • - • •

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• • •

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I

Above. Weuinshouse kitchen interior. (.1'"0. Whi(e metal bue and wall ubincu form cwo independent series. AJI the cabinet doors are finished with the nmc material. unlike the ensemble ,hown on the fae-ing pale. wht1'e 'C1'een doors venellue the 'pace beneath the sink.. The onl)' item whkh fa-ils to ~ interrated is the reMcerator.

Left, Idee".n Incerlor ad ... ertill"1 Armnron,', HonowaU. I 'H2. The panelled wall and cellln, a'r'Iphulze the modvlarlty of the furniture and appliances. As Ulull. the r efrigerator sticks OUt as a misfltted box.

55 Ikbcsrr

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I n III

The split level stoVe was the bub for numer· ous desl," varia. dons.

Ri,ht, the open 'pace benuth the Ie,s is enclosed for nor.,e.

Far nih" the stove is a cubic ... olume clad In faux marble. StOrti,. is pro­vided beneath the cook tOp,

The Stove as Furniture

After 1914. the most popular type o( ran,e exploited the lI,h~ compact. mechanle:s of ,as technology: the burner and oven s.tand on slender abriole Ie,s. modelled after domestic (urnlwt'e (below le.tt). Ear ly electric stoves followed the same putern (below rlpu). Unlike the slnJle. level Sto ... es which beame standard by the end of the lOs.. the split-level no .... allows th. cook to open the ovtn and broiler without Sloopln, over. Adve.rdsed by Excelsior Stove and MJnu(acwrlnt Compan)'. 1931 .

-

left, compact unit combinin, &n "e.cuic cook·top. o ... e.n. and r.fri,.rataf'. l 'lO. CoUectI"" 01 aaJdmore Gas and Electric Company,

- -

cc~ II k b scrcr'llC1 r'" at r

The Refrigerator

TOMATO JUICE

By 1940, mechanical refrigerators were installed in 64 percent of elecUified homes.6

The electric refrigerator was preceded by the ice box, deemed more necessary in the hot and humid US than in cooler Great Britain and northern Europe. To this day, Americans are known for their conoisseurship of the

Above. an ad for CampbtJl', Tomato Juice ( 19-40) links the

product to its refri,erated environment.

ice·cold drink. Commercial ice-malcing machines were introduced in the 1860s, enabling the rise of cold-storage warehouses, refrigerated railroad cars, and the delivery of ice for home use. The non-mechanical refrigerator was an insulated chamber made of wood or meta.l stocked with melting ice; cold air circulating through the box absorbed heat from the stored food. The mechanical refrigerator evaporates and recondenses a liquid such as amonia or alcohol to cool the air inside the box. Domestic mechanical refrigerators were introduced in the US in 1916; at $900 per unit, they were beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest families. As mass manufacturers such as General Electric and General Motols (parent of Frigidaire) ente.red the business, prices dropped, ensuring a growing market for mechanical food coolers in the 20S and 3os.

The styling of the refrigerator more or less followed that of the stove: cabriole legs and furniture-style fittings were gradually absorbed into a white monolithic box stamped with the motifs of streamlining. The tall, massive refrigerator failed to conform, however, to the seamless hori~ontality established by the cabinets, sinks, and stoves of the late 3os. Upscale kitchen manufacturers recently have discovered the market appeal of flush, built-in refrigerators with custom doors fitted with the same material as a kitchen's cabinets.

Non·mechanial reftigentors e)C.ploit the natural circulation of hot and cold air. As the CUt·

awa)' dnwin& of the Gnat Wh1te FrOst refrl,erltor (c. 1908) e)(pla,lns at left. air enters the lOp of the re:frl,erator, where its warmth is absorbed by the melllnilce, This COld.

heavy air then travels downward, where It absorbs heat from the stored food material. /Iu the ;lir ,rows warmer, It rise. b;l(.k up to the ice chamber, and Is cooled a,pln.

60

6. c.roIyn Bdl Sh.aw, Co"sumu

"""" "' th< Amaito" EcoltOft'l)'

(N.,.Vork: Random House. '96713" On tho I<Chnolosro( mrigtratlon, lee

Gicdion, 596-60> HMdymmt. 117' '+!: and Sparl<t. pclu im, ~ also c .... T. Hadley, • Refrisention at Home: Hou. .1'd C.""" VoL J7 No. I Oanua.ry ' 9'0): 59. 66.

AJthouah simple In princlpl .. the Ice box could become an elaborate, hlth·nuinteMncl appliance with many pam requ1rina fre..­quent deanina.

Left. the White Mountain r.frfcerator. 1900.

AL lEU rE r 1 k be sc r r'TlC llnlll

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,

GE's "wall refrigerator:· marke.ted In the. mld ·SOs , was iIIn incenious if absurd attempt to moake the refrictrator conform to the horizontal, modular Idul of the

c.ontinuous kitchen. The Ice bo)( Is InsUlied like a wall eabinu. pladn, -all foods at eye level." The ergonomics of the desi,n are dubious-as in woall abineu, the top shelve.s of the nfrig.ruor would bt tOO high (or a child or small adult. Collecdon 8a ldmore Gas and Electric Co.

• •

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- .=

• AVAILABLE IN GENERAL ELECTRIC M IX-OR- ATCH COLORS

I I

--

"old" " new"

Model LW-tt~

Shown in P~t'l Pink

-•

,

I

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I

'k beset"

I

I I II

1l1"..t. non-me<h2nk al refr l,erators advenised by See,e,., 1915, The,. tou~ be: hooked up to an extemll compressor, 1000ted In the basement.

Below, GE Introduced the Monitor Top In 1926, BeC2use the COMpressor Is located above the bOle, the refrigerator could stand off the floor on ubriole Ie,s. The MonJtor Top wu rmnufactund until the mid·f910s.

Rl,ht. Ketvinator r.fri,efator. adve"ised In "30. Th. compressor is located In the ban.

62

Below, General Motor's Fri.&lcbJre, advertised in 1918. Penny Sparke has pointed out thlt • refri,erator. like a car, '$ a bulbous metal box with • motor (10).

II k beser r'llC1 r" 3tenaal

The Refrigerator and ItS

Environment

The dlmenstOns of the refrlientOr '" the lutehen it rlzt", 19"t0. fail to co· ordinate with the modulir elemenu of the intertOr

The c.Ol.btnet system below, advertised by Oxford MIUworlc In the late 20s. Includes a built-in reJn,eruor It Is, however. a non­mKha.ntcaJ ICe box.

RI.a:hc.. Frlgida\.-e. advertised In 1'20. The compressor is kxued In the lar,e bau, brin&i~C the refri,erator c:ablnet to rou&hly the same heiJht II the bue kitchen cabinets. The ovenJi heJeht, however. II unrelated to the surround,n, cabineu.

. ~ --

•

•

•

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Au J

•• • •

-

Left, Frllidaire. "lS. A conven­tlon ... 1 Ice box could be fined with an U1.erna I mOtor. Installed In the bue-ment Ind connected to the r.'riser­Itor throu,h the ftoor. Fticidair. offered ether to sell onty the mechanism, or I campltl. sys­tem. The cabinet and the mech­Inlsm were conceived as ,e~ral. units.

Left, Kelvinuor. 1928, insulled flush with the wall: ... n unusu ... 1 ... ttempt to mu. a bullt· !n electric refrl,erator .

Ali lmates on this pa,e, coUection of Baltimore G:u and Elecuic Co.

dater aal

1. II' YOU SAW "lnt"nnf'Uo." .. Reoo' .... ur""C.one".lh Ib.:-\\ md." '"'U .tli retn("mlH-r ,f,., bNtlhful roo "r I'lla \\ nf'of'lrr. Art Dlr~ I", of.- ,wu..-lc.. l litl'rn,luu.w.

()n tLk ~.I .,Jf!V; 1~'M".h""'5 }OU be:. I 1"-0 -I ".-"". noc.r." of

inn Int ••• J I.itu.lo>utn •• le it lI!uJ (I)ryou .et khin cd,.raurul and »n YAI. df'f"( It.#1rn in t..'7'III'1C·ti1 utility 1Oo.'~ Rta .... "' • P .. bc-o "La.ury nuon" of ial.aiJ 1JI'tU&rM. (., 1.1," til ... ill J ...... ntl\o"tr .. "("oat act more II ..... or.lill...., hOlJ"""",

2, " 'HI liGHT ILUl oando_ooden ((W. I..c.hroom.,· Myw 1~r.l0 " "heder. "I<IOO k. how Pllllko· .... ltl marb w MlU&1'8 hiPJishl lhe cha&te beAut, of 1M. ~broom. The NInO rich blua Hool eum C'lOm'l the un pi", .ahle. f.a-uro ... rir' .... I'-.boo' •• ,hillt lilt~eum."

,

l. "IVIN YCM. nUl., 7'1"" have ,llLInCKIr." .. ,. Lyl. Wheelrr. "lItte I 1K1«led J".bco'. ..... l lIIW'bIN .. uarra(lhclSllvuFos pauem) -beaul i rul,NIW1. and prltdieal. Feu\l.le litrip " P.bro', whit. l inoleum." A. 1t )"OUr df!a1cr for p·w', our "DecoRdvCI Uinta" booklet.

•

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.... "IT MAT .... DAIINO," .. " Lr lo WhocIer. "but here' •• white Unoleum thai ,011 (Ilq pil i 011 J'OW' Utt:bn. IGor. It'. Pabto'. 'Whitfill White' (No.. 2623) with ~ huIlt.i111 hf'odeU. Ie; eta.. h d~fl" .N. '(lOt marb like ordiury liDOku. ..... 1 MYlil ... e! lb. pUlt"'rD ",ith • tNIV ... atrip or , .. t.q.'. red 'iDo'~'m c.~o.12-') ud 00'f1l!d IlP'e of Nr lt liac'llI .... ". ,".'chi., linoleum warklac -.ad •••• pni"td ~I\. louch-aad 61"""11'.1,. poa:tlnl •

LUXURY FLOORS

AT RECULA R

LINOLEU~I PRICES

11

The d .. e.am kitchen shown in the 1940 Id It 'eft confronts In user with the confU«ln, Ideals of the modern factory and the private home. The .. oundad forms and consistent metal surface o( this kJtchen suUe" a.n orzanlsm CUt out of .. sin,le mlilteriai.

B.low. dia,,.am 0( strum­lined and non­streamlined (orms movin, throu,h a fluid. From Donald Bush. The Streamlined Decode.

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STREAMLINING

The Aesthetics 0 Waste

During the 1920S and 30S. the modem bathroom and kitchen consolidated out of disparate collections of furniture and appliances into coordinated structures built-in to their surroundings. The bath­room became a compact organism lodged at the core of the home. while the kitchen became a minia­turi2ed. open plan factory. The bathroom and kitchen fOI med twin temples to the processes of elimination. offering technological environments for the care of biological and economic consumption. We suggest that streamlining, the design style which enveloped innumerable American products in the 1930s. took shape out of the compeUing ethos of bodily hygiene and domestic discipline embodied in the modem bathroom and kitchen. The industrially finished yet organically modeled fOI ms of streamlining functioned. in part. as an excretory aesthetic. a plastic celebration of waste.

The technical telm streamline refers to the path of a particle in fluid as it passes beyond a solid body. The study of streamlining began in the late nineteenth century as part of the new science of aerodynamicS. The verb to streamlilll!. dating from 1913. means to design or construct with a streamline: to modernize. to organize. to make more dlicient and simple.'

Streamlining initially was applied to aircraft, ships. locomotives. and automobiles in order to reduce the friction encountered as the vehicle passes through air or water. It quickly became a stylistic code evoking ·speed" and "modernity," applied to immobile objects for whom aerodynamic engineering is more fictional than functional. Raymond Loewy's teardrop pencil sharp­ener of 1934 (above) became a mythic object lesson in the misapplication of streamlining, cited by later critics as styling at its most absurdly theatrical.

Raymond Loewy. patent drawln, for a streamlined pencil sharpener. (9)' .

I . On the origins of rt~m1inin8- see Donald ,. BUlh. n.e SlrtGmJiMl Dralck (New York: Ceorae Bra:ri Uer. 1975) and Harold van Ooten. lMUSlrW Desir: A Praaiall Gilult (New York: McGraw· HiI1800k Company. 1940). 1)7o ,S'" On Amman Industrial dnlan .... Ridu.rd CuyW'lJon , Dlanne H. Pilgrim, and Okkl1n Tashjian. nt MGdtiIV .... ilt Amt'r1ca. 19,8.1941 (New York:

The Industrial des1c"er Henry Dreyfuss looked Nck at stnamlin irtJ IS a "stran,_ detour" In modemls.m. and he . Inlled OUt loewy's pencil sha .. pener for nude: "Hul'Su and fountain pens and p.ncil shar-peners were stupidly modeled after the teardrop ... Some crldcs pointed OUt that fountain pens and ... baby bugies seldom n lr up much o( a breen.

S"""yn M"""",,- -986) md )bdlIr."", L Me:ikk. Twcnllctk un,ury UmIkd: htd .. urlGl ~ tit Amtrit4l , '92j'19J9 (PhlbdeJphb! Temple Univusjty Pms. 1979).

and I streamlined pendl sharpener couldn't ,et away If It tried ..... His draw;n, emphubu the ,crews holdin, the object to the uble. Desirnin, (or People, 19S5.

AJ u srec'l - dater aal

~. Clark N. Rob­inson, AIM rite PltHric (New Yorle MacMillan Company, '949) and ,. s. .... r .. d· Evans, -British IndustrW Mattia Umi.ed.- !><sign 1'10. 60 (Dtamber 195)): f' ·'1·

J

Walter Oorwin Te1cue, car dell,n, I9l8, TeI""e wrote. "No maner how compUcntd ovr products may be. .. thtlr parts mUlt relate themnlv" so closety that o ur minds need not deal with them u separate detail-s. but can perceive them aU It once as a body kav!n, an Indivldu.allty and Identity or Its own," OtS;ln thit Do.,. The Technique or Order in !he Modi;". A,e (New Yorlt: Harcourt. Bl'lce. 1940), I CH,

The continuous, sculptural forills of streamlin.ed objects seek to minimize mechanical joints and eliminate visible hinges, bolts. and screws. This aspiration towards seamless construction was achieved by applying the processes of stamping, molding, and extrusion to metals and plastics such as steel, aluminum, bakelite, and beetleware.2 Each of these techniques depends on the existence of a "body" from which the finished product will take its shape. I n stamping. a sheet of material is struck against an exterior form; in molding, a fOlmless substa.nce replicates the interior contours of a vessel; in extrusion, a malleable material is forced through a shaped aper· ture. Stamping, molding, and extrusion each impart a clear, definitive fOlm to a shapeless material.

Streamlining generalizes an object, enveloping its constituent parts in­side a continuous body. The industrial designers of the 1920S and 30S

sculpted shells to conceal the mechanical organs of objects, initiating a dis­tinction between inside and outside, structure and slcin. Numerous examples of product design primarily engage the outer casing of a device, not its worlcing parts; many industrial designers be.gan their careers in packaging. a medium whose built·in disposability offered a model for the planned obsolescence of sO<alled "durable" goods. The continual stylistic update of consumer items such as refrigerators, toasters, and cars shortened their life span and ensured their rapid replacement by new models.

By maslcing the machine's internal operation, the designer domesticated and humanized it. Raymond Loewy was certainly aware of the bodily, anthropomorphic quality of his design; in his autobiography he invokes the body of Betty Grable, ·whose liver and lcidneys are no doubt adorable, though

66

I would rather have her with slcin than without" (220) . Loewy courts a coy Freudianism by titling a chapter ofhis book ' Sex and the LocG-

Ltft. Gestttner duplicatOr. redtsl,nt-d by Rlymond Loewy In 1929: Introduc .. d In 19l1, I oewy's rede.slan seNed to endose the worki", parts or the equipment inside a container or shell. In his autobiolnphy, h. describes ,waddllnl the d"nt's .. Isdn, device with a hundred pounds or model In, day. creadn, the prototype for the product's new industrial skin and inuoducln, I. distinction betwe.n ins.id. and outsld, (81..84).

Above naht. stages In the stampl", or an aluminum funnel. 1921.

AL lEU rE r I k be sc r rOlC llnlll

Graphic from .1ft ad for Fels-Naptha Itlundry soap. 19l1. The copy exhom. "Sounds funny, maybe. to buy soap with your nose. But millions of wome.n do. They smell the big ,olden bar-smellthe ,enerous amount o f "apma In It-and .. eallte that Feh Naptha soap offers not one helper. but two. Not soap alone.. but soap and napth-a .....

two words hot ha.,. d m ilhons This ad appe.ils to the sublimated. bodity sense of smell, '0 0 bor<join rather thin to the Intellectual faculty of sieht.

linen to wasted time. In behavior, the hatred of filth manifests itself in extreme stinginess, fastidiousness, and organizational compulsiveness-a general "witholding" or "holding in: This firs t reaction to dirt is expressed in modern design's imperative for cleanliness and enclosure, as evidenced, for example, in continuous kitchen cabinets, built-in bathtubs, seamless food packages, and streamlined office equipment. The modem obsession with dirt ajJimls filth even as its seeks to eradicate it the attention to dust, sweat, bad breath, cooking odors, and the innumerable gel illS hiding in the cracks and crevices of the home was a process of objectification as well as elimination, making visible what had once been invisible, bringing to the surface impurities that once had passed unnoticed ..

lones describes a second response to anal eroticism, which acts upon symbols of waste in a productive manner: here, waste becomes the material of art, generosity, and a general "giving out." Similarly, in the enthusiastic vocabulary of consumerism, phrases like Christine Frederick's "creative waste" elevated the rhythmic disposal of goods to a form of positive making. The seemingly "natural" life cycle of objects was propeUed forward by streamlining, whose organic yet industrial fOl lllS marked the coexistence of a fetishized cleanliness with an economy dependent on waste.

As Stuart Ewen has pointed out, the marketing and advertising industry was familiar with Freud's manifesto of sublimation, Civilization and its Discontents_ For example, Egmont Arens noted in his 1932 text Consumer Engineering that rouch is one of the "sublimated" senses of modern culturee­touch is a primitive faculty that has been culturaUy supplanted by the more inteUectual, "objective" senses of sight and sound. Arens encouraged designers of products and packages to appeal to the forgotten pleasures oftactility.5 The sense oftouch demands direct contact between body and product; like taste and smell, touch incorporates the object of perception­physicaUy consuming it-rather than observing it from a neutral distance.

Recalling a child'.,pleuure in playinl w ith day (and urti.r fecti) . the induJtrial designer H .. rold Viln Dore n Identified the preferred subsance fo .. modelling :u a .. '"ylsh .... een clay which works readily in the fingers." Favoring manual tactility over the InlelleC(ual ab.stractlon of drawing. Van Dore n described the desien procus U <Ii movement J W1Y from the o bjec:tlve sense of sight to the forgotten sense of touch: "20.$ you rain e.-perlence. you will find yourself dependinJ more and more on day and less and lou on P-i-per'· (2oa). At ri,ht. variations On the "a irfoil solid," created by sUtln, the volume with cutS parallel to iu lone axis. rndusmol Dc-tiln. ""0.

5. Stuart Ewcn. AJJ Con.slolmJ", '''''''': J' ('New York: Basic

Boob. '9881. 49.

68 Al I l r CC~ II k b scrcr'llC1 r- 'II naal

6. S."do< Fcorenai. "Th~ Ontosenesis of the IntertSt in Monq: in Fcorencn ind Otto I4nk. Sai" ",.,-"",,/ysi. ( OW Voric: Dovt:r, 19S6: first publish~ 1914). 269-217-

We argue that modem design's appeal to the sublimated sense of touch participated in a 'Iarger excretory aesthetic. As described by Sandor Ferenczi, tactility is part of a ch.i1d's pleasure in handling his or her own feces. Excrement, a convenient but socially offensive toy. is displaced during the child's development by a series of progressively abstract substances: from clay, sand, and rubber to pebbles, marbles. and coins.6 The organically curved yet slick. inpenetrable surfaces of streamlined merchandise embody a similar progression from soft to hard, dull to shiny, porous to non·porous, formless to fOI mal. The prototypes for streamlined products typically were molded out of day and then cast or stamped out of metal or plastic. Each object thus narrates a transformation from pliable, organic matter to a rigid, inpenetrable COl ill impervious to change and resistant to grime. The hard surface of the finshed product retains the direct trace of its soft, globular origins, lodged in its contours like a childhood memory.

Raymond Loewy's much maligned pencil sharpener expresses a contra· dietory aesthetic of waste: its bulbous f011ll reflects a pleasure in manipulating plastic matter. as well as a fastidious interest in hiding a messy interior be· hind the hard, clean physique of a ' streamlined" body. Loewy's pencil

GENTLE AID

sharpener, born out of soft. dull clay and then cast into a hard, shiny rigid. recalls the biological extrusions of feces. the child's first work of art; by engaging the policy of To Rl", .. lur E l imind ti on

I " nut_ ............. -~.. _na;: .. _tz 7. £' ' ._ .... ' 75 __ ,; ....... ' 4' _

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planned obsolescence, the pencil sharpener participated in the cycle of economic consumption as well. Streamlining conflates the life of the product with the life of the body, compacting into one fO[1II the processes of elimination: biological. economic, and stylistic.

Stre.amlinl n,. as an aesthetic and an ideolop'. conftned hYaiene. waste. and effidency. a nexus o( Y10Jues brou,ht to,ether In thl, 1937 ad (or Petrola, ar. a ,ende laxative. The t U t descrlbe.s a modern me.tropolls where "hl,h speed Uvin,~' and "u"(avora~e eJtin& and worldn& condi. tions" make unhe.aJthy demands on the hum.an body: "The bowel, like a modem railway. must have. a re&ular schedule of opera don,"

The Metabolic House

WILLIAM STUMPF

The Mlnneapolls&based ndunNal desianet W illiam Stumpf published this proposal for a " Meubolic House" in 1989. Stumpf hu been nthinlUnJ the conventioru.1 American home In terms of a renewed aesthetics o( wane. He expll ini. "Our bodies do a ,ood job of akina in oxycen. (ood, ilnd water. ,euin, nutrition. and dispellin, wute .. Our houses don' t do that very well. They should have a d l,_ltive system just like we do." The kitchen In Stumpf's Metaboli c House is a hl,hly artJculated ,arba.e center. with chutes (or sortin, recyclable and mulchable tnsh; paper Is burned to heat the buildin,. The bathroom features a "paperless toilet," 01 bldet·like fixture available in Japan OInd Swiaerland.

Stumpf looks back It pre-rwentleth-century archi­tecture 1$ one source of Ideu. Sefore the a,e of dispos­able products, houses were equipped with buik -in laundry chutes. dumbwa iters, and elaborate pantries. The modem continuous kitchen repbced many of these distinct architectural elemenu with manufactured cabinet systems, des~,ned for usy access to pacQ,ed goods. The .... rtical and horizontal con ... eyor belts shown h.re were borrowed from the 5habn. S .. Purkta Lel,h Srown. "Space (or Trash: A New Desiln Frontier," Th~ N~w York IIt'nfi Outy 27. 1989): C I. C 12.

I

A Key to ttle Metabolic HOUM:

A R.ecyclin, chute

• Mulch processor

C Mulch col"ctor

D Mulch pickup

E Mulch

F Paper/fuel processor unk

G FurnaceJboiler

H Pi~d-in biod.,r-acbble

deter&ent

A

..

f---. •

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I

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I Water recydin,lnd d ln llNnl system

J Plperless toilet

K Vertical conyeyor

L Horltontal CORYeyor

H Polludon contrOl filters

besc.h IT'd alar aal

·th~ bathroom and kitchen are considered not limply within the: context of Amencan attitudes but as a representation in the btoadHl sense of the culture's (Hcmation

with danllness. bodily processes, and contumption- the desire both (or (ood Ind In endl .... upply o(

new products." ALICf. T FR lf DMAN, DU IGN BOOK REVI(W

Between 1890 and 1940, America's culture of consumption took its modem form: products were mass produced and mass clistributed, designed to be purchased and rapidly replaced by a vast buying public. The period saw the rise oft.he modem

bathroom and kitchen as newly equipped spaces for administering bodily care. The bathroom became a laboratory for the management of biological waste, and the

kitchen became a ite not only for preparing food but for directing household consumption at large. By the phra e process of elimination, the authors refer to the overlapping patterns of biological cligestion, economic consumption,

and aesthetic Simplification. In dear and vivid prose, they argue that the streamlined style of modem de ign,

•• fiestlofl"los •• rophia. IlIustrations.l"ndl phot"lraphs_ Lupton il.nd Miller Ire

compelled by the way bothrooms ~nd kitchens connect to our f.tscinltion/repulsion With

consuminl and pelting." KATHER IN ( DIECK MANN Vl LAGr VOICI "The mail)( contribution.";s its

persuasive .'Bumenl that the modern Am rian bathroom

and kllchen were sh.ped much more by con$umers, journalists, manufacturers, and advertisers (han by profHsionilllrch'tects

and designers ."

which served the new ideals of bodily hygiene and the manufacturing policy of planned obsolescence, emanated from the domestic landscape of the bathroom and kitchen.

AN~MA. R lf ADAMS. 'NINHIf HI"IIII P()fIIHOUO

DISTRIBUTED BY PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

nlN 1 50 .. ''', 0 ..... S

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THE BATI-IROOM. THE KITCHEN,

AND T HE AESTHETICS OF WASTE :

A PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Writtett ;md designed by Ellen Lupton and I. Abbott Miller DES I <;,., / '" It) TI N <;/ It E S EA ac H . ,., Y

Printed by Studley Press. Dalton. MA

Typeset in Scala. designed by Martin Majoor. and Gill S.ns. designed by Eric Gill

Origin.lly published in conjunction with the exhibition

T HE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION:

T HE BATHROOM . T HE KITCHEN .

AND THE AESTI-IETICS OF WASTE

held at the MIT Ust Visual Arts Center May 9-lune 28. '992

The publiation and exhibition weJ(~ supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Design Arts Program. and The Graham Foundation. Chicago

Published by KIOSK

.. 4 Sullivan Street New York. NY J 00 l :l

Distributed by Princeton Ardlitectural Press 3 7 East 7th Street New York. NY '0003

Copyright C> ' 992 Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller and MIT Ust Visual Arts Center Cambridge. MA

'$8 N 0-0938437-42'9 All rights reserved Second printing. October '996

LENDER S TO T HE EXHIBIT ION

The American Advertising Museum, Portland. OR

American Museum of Sanitary Plumbing.. Worcester. MA

B.ltimore Gas .nd Elect.ic Company. MD

Cooper-Hewitt. Nation.1 Design Museum, NY

David Erickson. Uttleton. MA

Don Hooper/Vintage Plumbing. Northridge. CA

Kohler Company. Kohler. WI

Metropolibn Museum of Art. NY

Museum of the City of New York

Museum Village in Orange County. Monroe. Y

Peale Museum. aaltimore. M D

Trenton City Museum. NJ

•

AL.teL.rSrecrtelilk bescrer'TICl r-atenaal

MONTCOM ERY WARD & CO.'5 CATALOCUE No. 57. 437

Boss Lemon Squeezer •

46108 Tbe" Kin," U!mon Squee.er , Thl.llfi t!l.e l ale.l mOd~m Invention, elt&f to hand k . will not corrod~. iU ('C all t he ju l(.'(l. a nd I de­.I,,,hle In t,l v(>rr l)Artlcular. Th4l- N'Cr!,'er f (t f the juloo lJ or FI."II 100 Ihlclt to br8k.

.... 610 .... )'ladflOr "lie nullh ... ble I ron, h~&'tlly tt n oClII , t:a.eh ........ $0. ) l'.i I 'er dOUlR, •• 1.02

and I. rf.mo1". ble (or el .. anth!r. WeI.'Il, 2 lbo!. " nt.. t:acb ..•........ ... . •....... 10.2[1 Per docecn ....... . .. .. . ... ... ................... ... :t.;0

Dust Pans.

Ul!:2 OWl' 1'&11. ('unu"ated. not CDTOred .

...... $O • .,S IOef do~n .... .... .. 10.90 '"l"ln lIrow-n . covered . P.-eh. .12 . •.. •.•• ••• . •. . . ..•. ... ...... ... 1.:18

..... nCJ:· lUij()tted ~olor'!C . wllh ••...•.. '0.6'2 ~t do;J:en .••..•. 6.00

.. 6 12:' 1'M Uownlna: Ou!. I'all h rhU tltal l,. on the door and ,. peTIeeO,. IIm(,(ltb em Ihl! botlbm. ft bUA ~eivlngboll.ltbe boIek inlO ""hlc;b 'he (In;;' I!I I_elu. and can be mov· ed rrom oue place to an· other with tbe fOOl ",-I\.b· out danker ot spllUo« tbe «!Onle-nu. wh ich 1.I .r;:reat Iml'rou!.mcnl on Ihi!! or·

d luaryklllli. each. SO. I :! Perdcuen •• • Sl.~.a

Dredge Boxes. 45 156 JIlp!lnned. l&rxt •• I~ 2",.&3".

F ... ch ..... , .............. ' .. . .. .. .. 10,0 4 I' er d~~n .. ".. .. . .. •. . ' •. . . .."

"",, :.: .... .. SO.I·! ._ .... .. I:tO

Round Spice Boxes.

Jllp.umM . ootllaJnlnr nf4) lauLli boar- and ."' ter.

"rkot'. per tlt l . .. :;100 ""1ft'. 4~x:t'i lu .. ...... O.:I:.

Bread Boxes. .u."AII~XU.

" Alii Palent (roo Meu\lru. Crumb Pans and Brush. ' apallnw .

J\JW Wel. ht . " bUlibel. .... ,..... aiL • . 1601. I'~ k.. . .......... . !! I t. . II mr.

F..eb . 10.38 •••

Pantry Cabinet. T he Ra),mo ud P'ItI If)' Ilbl

tb lnK: _nod "Cfrlhlng I n ILl! d ried r!'\llt , rie.-. elc. 1I1lde <NIII ftame. I'ull dnw lI thtl blke out wbll1,ron Wltot AAiI lI epl f~(I frum d u~. d./lm(l.Ir. eC(.l ,

40111 ~o. '1, '1()lUul •• h:e o r e.bloel. 48 illchell hlxb, !!:! IIlCbH . ' Ide: J I lncbK d Hp . . ......... '6.5-0 "f. 1 fa ~o. :1. U CIlUW: IIbe or ... blnt l. &8 lncbe. hbch , OJ!! Incbes wkle. 11 10Gb" deep .... ... . .. . 8.00

Flour Bin end Sieve.

.,

welgb.25 ItII . ...... ......... .... 12 10

welab. 10K lbe . ....... ... . .... . ...... 1.50 ,1.., wellhs 13" JbI ..... ..... .. ......... L30

SEE ALUMINUM KITCHEN

WARE QUOTATIONS.

4.3 1 :!~:o .!a~lj .... ' \J mb I,*n. ~"l1 b b"' ~LI . I' lai n j.ptl.nn~d .. . $O .. .!O • . 51 !.~ t· ... nCY.IAt .. nOed I, n, .d lh brullb, iinliboo

ntcer lban . ":I'; t:. h .. ....... ,. ........ .. . ... .40 4£;1'21 !CUbl! ~ ' rumb 'I'-ra), alld brl..l~h . t-~~ch .. .. . . .GO .61tH I'olblloo llra~. n ickel " bHed . ~~ch .... .!!to

Candlesticks. ". 136 audlf:&.I ICks. )a ,,,nned.

t:u.ch . l""rdOli . 81.te. '; In ......... $(103 $O.a.:J

Tea Tray.

•

, 4."I ,n:, )ledlullI ! lJ:e. 1:.xUM 11111',: ,,·ell\:lll . 4 " J ... '.lit'}' ................... 10.60

. ..... 4.) JljoJ lA.rp : '~R. lUal3\ftx: )1.1. ', ; ""t'taM, ~ JJoOUnd.,

l '·:..rh .. ............... $0.16

Folding Cash Boxes. 4 6136 'r ~ a ope.lI. n

'I' rays. 0 v • 1. '.,JiI.uned.

xttl .. Jte ',: Inehell! elo!led. 014,1[oI'i x", t. Inches. 4r..J7:. The "okSln" t~h 150.. It I. mlldc of b(!Av), dD, . '(,11 ~nu~I •• ood ")Cit. I l_Vtll Ume Jueh~_ .. . .. to ,s eo

t;. eh .• ••• to. 1111 so ' ''1 . - ' $O.:!a I'er \10& .... . , 1.00 ... "1:1 .. - 2.60 lu(!bell. .. :!4 C ... 28 l.;..cb .. ..... . a' • • .41 ..-.• J. I'~r do .. ..... 3 •• :' 4."75 5.7,')

CHILD'S

... '0.18 Knife and Fork Boxes.

Canisters.

Bach • 1 pound ...... ... 50.07 2. pound......... .00

T • • ""n'

~ .. l'erdoa.

SO.16 1.0':;

• .IId Fork ·o,;en tOP. tille, ... .. •. • . 10.33

!lIe"-. ~:~:~:: :::. , .......... .. ...... ...... $0.10 I .. ...... .... . .. ..... ..... . IS

l u ",. k lilit ~b .. "" Itlld III Vc tlrllotflhe ..,..10:11, Il mil)' be ul!lCd olulIIblcorl.n • (If .... ·,,r: loetC!d. I"'\- In Il ... r . OT Vllull .nd bel IUdJ lor lbe Belt'l ('ny an,l It

Deed Boxes •

Chamber Pails. Will hOld 12 QU.~ 9.ob.

4~ l fl.' P.lnlc!d, aMQMecI COlON. T·:.eh .............. .. ......... .. SO.30

4:UM Oa l.-.nl«d Jroh Chamber van . made or be.,.)' lroo. l::! qUIlm. "~b.. ... .. .. . .. ... ... .33

to 2 pound .. V..cb •

8M! ... IO.SO 10... ... 0 U .. .. .4.6

. SIH ~':'IOO Ahte Iron W.,..

SoaP IJlih 6~x4d'" Pr1e., e.eb ..... 1O.2i

REPORT ANY ERRORS. WE WANT TO OORR160T THIEM .

All food wuu in GoSdbeck's kitchen is (omponed. An open­Inl ln che coonter Iuds to a gubaee u.n. accused from the outside of the hou.se. Drawln, by Merle Coscrove.

•

The Smart Kitchen DAVID GOLDBECK

Duid Goldbeck hu chaJlenled the conventional modern kltchon by incorporatinl principles of recyclin,. compostln-&. resource conser'V1t1on. and universal access In his "smart" desi,ns. Shown above is the kitchen in his own home (photoCraphy by Robert Perron) : 1t left Is a demon· stration kitchen desicned fo r the Health Valley (ood company in Irwindale . CA (phOtographY by OJ.vld Go ldbeck) . 80th rooms relect the ideal of continuous cabinetry in favor o( adjustable·hel,ht countertops and a mix of open and closed storage; a reve.l at the bue of the ubinets permlu wheel·chair access. The recydin& bins In the Health Valley kitchen rest on :I pull-.out pbtfor m. See David Goldbe<k. The Smorc Kirchen: How ro Oedln a Comfortable. Safe. EnerrY-Emcknr. and Environment· Friend". WO,ksPCKt (Woodsloek. NY: Cef'ts Press. 1989).

73 Ikbcsrr I n III

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8anham. Rf')'Uef. 1M Ardsitufu-re of rht wtU·Temptttd Envi",,"mem.. ClliQgo: University or Oticago Press, 1969. 198.J.

8C'rht1de, Cathttint White. and Sarah FensterrTUw Bert and Richard A. Berk.. "Household Work in the Suburbs: ~ Job and ita Participants." Ptuific ~, Rtvkw VoL 19 No . .. (October 1976): 491.1'8.

Iktther. Cathirine. and Hirriet 8e«ber Stowe. AmtricaJI Woma..t's Hol'Kl. Hartford. CT: StO'llo-e-Day Foundation. IC}8S.

Berch. Bettina. ·Scientific Manage­ment in the HOrM: The Empress's N", Oaches." jowmaJ of America ... Cwltwn Vol. } No. } (Fall 1980): 440-44S.

Bock. Gordon. ·Stove t.o .. -.:," Old Howse jOlAmol Vol. 4' No . .. (JulY/ August 19~): '7-}1.

Bose, Quistine, and Philip L BcJeaoo and Mary Malloy. "Household T cchnology and the Social Construction of Housework." TtdiMlotY OM CuJtJ.rt Vol. 2S No. I (January tC]8.,: 5)-8a.

Brown. NOC1llin O. Ufo Api"st DeGth: Tke Ps)'choo.rtal)Ck MtlJ"i". of History. MiddJeto""m, 0 : Wesleyan University Prns, 19>9.

8rown, Patricia L.t:igh. ~Spau fo r Tr;lSh; A Nt\\' Dt:lign Frontier.· Tht New yort Times (July a7, 1989) : e l , cu.

Brown. Ray. "The Seat of Democracy: The Privy Humor of 'Otic' Sale." )tHmud of Ammc.o" S,wlks Vol. ) No. } (Fall I~O) : 409.416.

Burnham. John C. Hmu SlApth~illo" Won aNI Sc~u LDsl: PofnJariri"l ScW:ItCt alld Ht4Wt in Ike U"iud S"u.cs. Nt'W Bn.mllwidc Rutgtrs UniYtllity Pw.;s. 1987.

8usc.h, fane. "Cooking Competition: Technology on tM Domelltic Marktt in tht- 19)os." Tuhnolev Gild Cadtun Vol. '4 No. , (April 198}): ''4·45-

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74

Bush.nu.n. Rich.ard l. and Claudia L Bush..nun. "'The Early History or CltanUnns in Americ.i." )ourrJ4J of Amtric4tl History Vol. 74 (March (988): 131) '1 :1)8.

uplan . Itilpb... ~Circumstantial Evidence.' IM"",riAI o.s~ Vol. )1 NO. 4 IIu1Y/AuguS1I~4) : 8-11.

CN:ndJer. Alf:rm D. Tke Visible HaM: The MQl1agvJal Rn.ooludon '" AmDic.G" Busin.c.ss. umbr~ The Bdwp Prus of Harvard UniYersify P"css. 1971.

Cowan. Rulh Schwartz.. "'Tbt' ' lndustrial RrYoIution' in the Home: Household T«hnolojry and Sod al Change in the Twentieth Century." TuknologyaNl CNltun: Vol '7 NO. 1 Oanuary '9']61: 1'3}.

- . More Work for Moeh.cr: 1Jae ltOftin of Ho.sdIoid T"h.oI<owl' from 1M 0,.... Hcalth &0 Jhe MiaowalOe. Nf'W York:: Buk Books. I~}. -. 1'wo Washes in tM Morning and

~ Bridge Polrty at Night The Ammcan Housewife Betwe<"n the Wil1$. ~ WO""," '$

Shod;" Vol. } (1976): 147-17'. Delaney. Janice. and Mary Jute

Lupton and EmUyToth. nt Curse: A CulJuml Hi.Bory of Mt:"slrwaJion_ Urbana.: University of Illinois Prell. J 988.

Douglas. M.ary. PlArity and Donerr. An AM/)'Sis ofu.. Conapu of Poll", ... OM Taboo. wndon: Ark Pape:rbadc:s. 1~6.

D,ryfus •. Henry. o.,ip""p ptop/<. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1955.

Ew~n. Stuart. All CO"swmina: 11ft01t$: 1M Poliria cf S~t: i" Contemporary Cultvn. New York: 8 .... k Books. 1988.

Fere:nczi. Sandor and Otto Rmk. Sex i" Ps)dIo-AI'l4l)'Sls. New York: Dover. 1956.

Fony. Adruin. ~ of Dcw.. Now York: Pantheon. 1986.

Foucault. Mkbcl. DbcipJi~ Gnd Puni$lt: The Birth of rlu Pri$Oll. Alan Sheridan. trans. New York:: Random House. 1979.

Fox. Daniel M. Hccr"h Policies 0Jtd H~4d,h PoliIia. 1M 8ritislt ond Amtric:on &pai.ena '9JH!)6J. Princdon: Princtton Unhusity Pros. 1986,

Franken. Richard and CAroU 8. Larrabee:. PGckar JMt Sdt New York: Halper and Brothm.1918.

Franld. Paul T. "Baths and Bath­Olta,ng Rooms. ~ HOWN aNI Carden (AuguS1 19>7): 51.55.

FJ<de,kk.. O>ristine. H_1wIId Encin«ri11(: Sdutrific MGruJBCmml in 1M Homt. Olicago: Amman School of HOrM Economics. 1919. -. Sdli,., Mrs. Connunc'f. New Yorlc

1be Business Bourse. 19a9. F~, Sigmund.CMliUrio" aNI its

Di5CO'tUFW. JaJlk!$ Strachey. trans. New Yade W. W. Norton. 1961.

-. Tkn¥ Essays Oft 1M Theoty of SuauWI}'. New York: Bask: Books. 196~.

-. TOkm and TalJoo. James Stracbty. trans. New York:: W. W. NOrtOD. 1950.

Calbraith. John Kenneth. EconomiQ: .nd IN Publk ""-rpou. 8orton: Houghton.MUllin Company. 197)-

Clectlon. S~ried_ Muhoni%odon Tllw Commend: A Comribaaion Jo_n A"onymous HJSkWy. New York:: Oxford University Press. 1948.

Cilbmh. UUi.n. "Efficielcy Methods AppliN to Kitchen Dtsign." NdlUcaurai R""N/ VoL 67 No. , (March 19)0): :191-2.94.

ClassberS. lRvid. "The Public Bath Movement In AttKrica.· Amtrican Stud~ VoL XX NO. 3 (1979): S-~I .

C1ne. ·Malbin. Mona. "Houst'WOrk.· Sips Vol. I No. 4 (19']6): 9OS·n .

Goldbeck. D~Yid. 1M Smart Kitdm: How 10 Dufp G ConiforlaWc. $Gfo. EnDIY" ~J. lind Environme.m.FritndJy WompGu. Woodstock, NY: CeJf'S Presl-. I~.

Cowans. Abn 1M Comforud,u HotUI: Norah Amukan SufJlUNft An:hikallrl. 1890-19Jo. Cam1>riciv. MIT Prell. 1986.

HardYlllettt, Christine. From Ma+ to Miuowove: n.c Mtdlaniz.ar. of Ho.S<iooI4 Won. Cambridgo: PoUIy Pres •. 1988. Ha~. DololCL TN era"" Domt:stic

Rn;.olvdolC A His&ory of FcmlnUt Daips for Amt:ricoJI Homn, N.~ (And Cilia. Cambridge: MIT Prtll. 1981. -. RidairUtc the American DrtAm:

1M FUI&IJl: of HOW5~"," Wort. Gnd FamiJ)'. New York: W. W. Norton., 1984.

Heskttt. John. 1M",,"", Des .... N ... Yorlc Oxford University Press. 19.80.

H inn. "Thomas. RkhArd Nt:utrd .nd tM $urch for Modem ArdWtdwre. New Yorlc: Oxford Uni\'eJ'lity Press, 1982.

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrerrnClr-atenaal

Horowjt1. Daniel. n.t MorolityctJ Spm.dl",: AuiJiUks Toword the.COIISIImn" Soc:Iay in Amt:riat. ,87j·'9-f0. 8altimort': John. HopkinJ University PrHl. 1985.

Jacbon. Kmndh T. Crabanw Fro",itr. The SubutWnU411.on o/IM Vnlud Stotes. N~ York: Oxford Univtltity PrHs,

'98s· Jon". Ernnt. pQpaj 11ft PJ}dw­

AJlGtvsiS. f:W York: Beacon. 1961. Kilroy. Rogt':r. 1M Compleat Loo:

A WlIGtorial MooUa"y. London.: Victor Collano: LuL. '984'

Kin. A1twlder. Tht &uhroom. Nev.' York:: Viking Press.. 1976.

Kirsch. Karin. The WeU:st"hojiddlu",: Expo"_'" Housi.glfu.. D<vllthu wnthuml, Slu".,.. . J9z1. New Yorlc Rlzzoli, 1989.

Kleinegger. Ouistine. ·Oul of the a,ms and inlo the Kilchen,: Transformationl in Women'l Fi.tlDwork in the First Half of the Twentieth CtnIUlY: In Barban Dlygulsld. «I. W""" •. W<><t ..... Tm",ol"ll': Tro"¥Ol'f1tQlions. Ann Arbor. Uni\'ersity o(Mithipn P ...... ,987, ,6.·,8,.

Kli~. Kit)'. 1M Atstht:tic.s of Prognss: Fomu o/(~ Future i" Amtrial" Design, 19JO$/'980$. Camb~ MIT WI Vntu for the Visual Arts. 19'84'

Kourik. Roben.. *1 hlCldng &he Big Drip: C.,bog< Vol. III No . • (Mlrth/Apro 1991): as·)o.

umbton . LudndL TtmpkJ ojCOt\.. W"Knu. London: Cordon Fraser. 1918.

leus. T. Jackson. ed. nat Cultun: ofConslnnptitm: Critiml Essays"" AmuicGn Nnw,.,. ,380-'930. t'W York: Pa .. heon. ' 98).

Levc:nltcin. Harvey A. RellOl"r~ or 1M Tobit: 1lst TI'Q~nnaJiM o/the Amtriall1 Dia. Nrw York: Oxford University Press. '988.

Lewin. Susan Crant. FOfmw GAd Ouip: from COIUJ"rwp to HicJI Art. New York: RiZ'ZOIi. 1991.

Undstrom. Ikkka "&throoms." 0lIl House joum4J (Novcmbtt/OetembcT '987): S6.

Loewy. Raymond. Nnttr Uow WtfJ EMu", Aloltt. New York: Simon and Schustt':r, 195.1,

loos. Adolph. Spott" '"to W: Void: Colkcud Essays J8g-7~1900. umbridge: MIT PretI. '98 ••

- . ·0......,.", and Crime In Ulrich Conrads. eel PIOiIGrt'lS wt.d MGnift:u«:s ofTwtPlliah·CmtNI')I Al'dlittCfU.rt. Cambridge: MIT Pms, 1986. 19'~'

~brc.hind. Roli.nd. Adwrrisi"l 1M AIf'ICIiaI" Dmlm. Berkeley: Uni't'Cliity ofCaUromil PIus. 1985.

McCwy. A.ncInw. ·Cenns a~ E~re 1bt Ct'rm Threat a. Sun in Maguine Articles. 1890-1910 .• ,.unuJJ cf...",.,;a,. Cultur, VoL.) 0.' (Spring '980): )1'<6.

McCraclctn. Grant. C"b ... rt Gild ~rt'll'do,.,; Ntw AptnTJ uM ro 'he Symbolic C.korocur ofCoods and ACfill'ida. Bloomington: Uni'+bsityof I ndi.Jna Pros. I~.

Meiklt:. Jrifrey L TllIitJItieth Ct"'u"y UmJted: I ruiUJtri41 ~ ill AmuitG. '9'5·'9J9 Phlladelphla: Temple Un~rsity Press. 1979.

Miller. HHter Le:nl. A SociIIl Hucory of 1M A.moicon &It'IIOC ..... Unpubli.hed masters thesis. Ithaca: ComeU Unmr· .ify, 1960.

"Modern Plumbing,· ArdljttcfuraJ Rmwd Vol. 8 (July ,898.: 111' 11).

MolTat, Gary. "Bathroom Fixtures." Old Holtlt Joumol (NO'o-ember/December 1988): 18-21.

Palmtr. Phyllis. Oomcsddryand Din; Housewiws Gild Domestic St.mlIIts in .he U"lW Stf1tes. 19100J945- Philaddphla: TempJe Un~rsity Press. 1~4'

Pommt1'. Richard. ·Loewy and lM Industrial Skin Ca..mr," An in A~ (Morch/April'9761: 46.47.

Poore. Jonathan. ·Kitchm Design for Recycling.· Go,.." Vol. I 0. ' (Seplember/OcIobeT '989): ,8"4'

Pulos.. Arthur. American DcJi", ErA", Cambridge: MIT P ...... '98,.

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Schultz. Sunley K. and Clay McShane. 1"0 Enginttr th~ MetropoUs: ~, s.nitation . and Gt)' Pbnning in the late­Nlneteenth-Century America.- joumol of AmeritCl" History VoL LXV No. ~ (s.p<ember ' 9781: )8g·411.

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Chamber pot dislulsed as a stack of books. fTc-neh. el,hteenth·eentury.

From Lawrence Wr,&ht, Oeon ond DecenL

Al.tCl.r _ ccrtelilk bcscrcr'llClI" atenaal