CREATURE COMFORTS : Watered-Down History of the Bath

Bathing has come a long way. As early as 3000 B.C., some homes in the Indus Valley of Pakistan were equipped with bathrooms. However, it wasn’t until the 19th Century that Americans made bathing a regular part of their lives.

Shifting attitudes, increasing medical knowledge and advancing technology account for the changes that led to our conception of the bathroom as a luxurious private sanctuary from daily pressures.

Ancient Greeks enjoyed public baths as much for social as hygienic reasons. Continued by the Romans, public bathing took on a decidedly sensuous nature, including perfumed massages and steamings. The addition of gardens, art galleries, libraries and markets transformed the baths into social clubs.

Early Christians, mortified by nudity and self-indulgence, saw the baths as pools of licentiousness. Because some even considered filth a penance, bathing became uncommon during the early Middle Ages. England’s King John bathed only three times a year, before major religious festivals; his subjects undoubtedly bathed less frequently.

Still, the practice survived. Apparently the idea that “cleanliness is next to godliness” had taken root, as several monasteries of the late Middle Ages boasted baths with warm running water. Outdoor public baths enjoyed a brief revival in some larger cities. While musicians played, servants offered food to men and women lounging in immense wooden tubs. In England, the immorality and disease associated with the baths led Henry VIII to close them.

As the connection between cleanliness and disease prevention became accepted, bathing grew in popularity, but the idea of discreet bathrooms did not evolve until the Victorian Era. In fact, when Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, Buckingham Palace had no bathroom. The queen bathed in a portable tub set in front of the bedroom fireplace and filled with water by servants. Most well-to-do Victorians followed this practice, considering separate bathrooms to be vulgar.

As technology produced practical plumbing systems, the convenience of having separate rooms for bathing prevailed. Spare bedrooms metamorphosed into bathrooms, appointed in true Victorian style with patterned carpets, heavy draperies and massive dark furniture.

Victorian tubs became a new art form. Made of wood, copper or cast iron, they appeared in fanciful shapes--boots, slippers, hips and lounges; some boasted massive hoods. Although immense, probably a concession to stout Victorian bodies, the tubs stood on tiny clay feet. Delicate patterns graced porcelain-enamel finishes, which chipped easily.

Once rejected as pretentiously ornate, the Victorian-style bath is making a comeback. Perceptions of the bathroom as an in-house haven from the demands of society have caused people to appreciate the opulence of the 19th-Century bath. Manufacturers have responded with reproductions of the massive Victorian tubs and patterned sinks. Popular accessories include ornate taps, Victorian-print wallpaper and lace curtains.

Silver vanity pieces and new lines of bath products, echoing 19th-Century preferences in fragrance, complete today’s version of the Victorian bath.