THE
TURKISH BATH:
ITS
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION;
WITH
CHAPTERS ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE BATH TO
THE PRIVATE HOUSE, THE INSTITUTION,
AND THE TRAINING STABLE.
BY
ROBERT OWEN ALLSOP,
ARCHITECT.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS AND SECTIONS
_From Scale Drawings by the Author._
[Illustration]
E. & F. N. SPON, 125, STRAND, LONDON.
NEW YORK: 12, CORTLANDT STREET.
1890
PREFACE.
The present work originally appeared in the form of a series of
illustrated articles in the columns of the _Building News_. It has been
carefully revised and enlarged with the addition of much new matter. The
object of the author in publishing the work in its present form is to
provide, in addition to a text-book for the architect, a treatise which
shall enable the public to form their own judgment as to the relative
merits of the baths that compete for their patronage. The principles,
herein enunciated, upon which good baths should be built, will be easily
grasped by the ordinary reader; and the detailed plans and instructions
will, it is hoped, supply such information as will enable the designer
of baths to cope with the exigencies of any and every case with which he
may be confronted.
37, NORFOLK STREET,
STRAND, LONDON.
_March 1890._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER II.
THE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF A PUBLIC BATH 9
CHAPTER III.
THE GENERAL DISPOSITION OF PLAN OF PUBLIC BATHS 17
CHAPTER IV.
A DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE BATH 32
CHAPTER V.
HEATING AND VENTILATION 59
CHAPTER VI.
WATER-FITTINGS AND APPLIANCES 87
CHAPTER VII.
LIGHTING, DECORATING, AND FURNISHING 102
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TURKISH BATH IN THE HOUSE 118
CHAPTER IX.
THE BATH IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 134
CHAPTER X.
THE TURKISH BATH FOR HORSES 141
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE
1. Turkish Baths, Savoy Hill, London 21
2. Turkish Baths, Charing Cross, London 24
3. Turkish Baths, Euston Road, London 28
4. A Plunge Bath 50, 51
5. Methods of arranging Couches in Cooling Room 56
6. View of a small Furnace Chamber, with portion of wall broken
away to show the "Convoluted" Stove 65
7. An Air Filter 67
8. Plans and Section of a Furnace Chamber, &c., for a Bath on the
ordinary Hot-air Principle 68
9. Section of Hot Room, showing Foul-air Conduit 72
10. A Fireclay Heating Apparatus 74
11. Longitudinal Section of Sudatory Chambers 84
12. A Shampooing Basin 90
13. Valve for Regulating Temperature of Water 91
14. A Needle Bath 94
15. Spray, Wave, and Douche Baths 95
16. Regulating Valves for Needle, Douche, &c. 96
17. Bather's Shower Bath 99
18. Section and Plan of an Enamelled Iron Ceiling 107
19. Plans of Plunge Baths 112
20. Section of Benches in Hot Rooms, and in Cooling Room Divans 115
21. Furniture of a Turkish Bath 117
22. Plan of Mr. Urquhart's Small Private Bath and of the Hot
Room at Sir Erasmus Wilson's Bath at Richmond Hill 119
23. Methods of constructing Turkish Baths in existing Houses 124
24. A complete Private Turkish Bath 126
25. Design for a Private Turkish Bath 130, 131
26. Plan of the Baths at the Hotel Mont Dore, Bournemouth 135
27. Plan of the Great Northern Railway Company's Turkish Bath
for Horses 142
THE
TURKISH BATH.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Since the revival of the bath of antiquity, and its introduction into
this country under the name of the Turkish bath, this method of bathing
has become very generally adopted; and although onward progress is
rendered less rapid than it might be, by the wide-spread popular
ignorance that ascribes an element of danger to the bath, erroneous
impressions are being gradually removed, and the continual building of
new baths testifies to the manner in which the institution flourishes on
British soil.
To what extent the delusion concerning the supposed danger connected
with this form of bathing is to be ascribed to popular ignorance and
prejudice, or to the fact that baths of unsuitable design and
construction, and of faulty heating and ventilation, are put before the
public, it would be hard to say. Certain it is that the latter cause has
done much--very much--injury.
I cannot but think that one of the chief obstacles to the progress of
the bath in this country, is that little or nothing has been written or
said about its proper design, construction, and working, and that no
full inquiry has been made into the best possible method of supplying
heat to the bathers. As a consequence, we have had, and still have,
placed before the public, and meeting with undeserved success, "Turkish
baths" which are such only in name--unhealthy, ill-ventilated cellars,
where the air, deteriorated at the outset by the heating apparatus,
stagnates in the sudatory chambers, and becomes loaded with the
exhalations and emanations of the bathers, and not unfrequently charged
with a nauseating and disgusting odour. What wonder that we so often
hear persons remark that they have tried the bath, but neither enjoyed
it nor did it agree with them! The damaging effect of "baths" of this
type on the prospects of the true bath is incalculable.
In the absence of enlightenment, however, thousands, convinced of the
value and benefit of the bathing, periodically attend these miserable
substitutes for properly-planned, hygienically-heated, and
effectively-ventilated Turkish baths. Viewing any self-evident
shortcomings as irremediable evils, ignorant of the true principles of
bath construction, and knowing little or nothing of the physiological
action of the bath, they have neither the means of ascertaining, nor the
power to detect, the genuine article from the harmful substitute. With
the public the best bath will be the most elaborate and most flashily
decorated, and the moth-and-candle principle comes into play with
striking semblance to the original type.
So much has been written and said about the arrangement, design, and
working of the baths of the ancient Romans, and of the Oriental nations
of to-day, that it will be superfluous and unnecessary here to enter
upon the subject, fascinating though it be to any one interested in the
building of modern baths. An intelligent study of old plans, and of the
writings of those who have given their attention to the elucidation of
the special purposes to which the various apartments of the Roman
_Thermæ_ were devoted, serves in no small degree to a complete
understanding of the problems involved in the perfecting of the bath in
modern times. So also with regard to the Hammam of the East, an
acquaintance with its plan and working is equally instructive. But to
fully elucidate the history of thermo-therapeutic architecture would
require a volume of itself, since the many questions that present
themselves to the student of ancient baths cannot be properly understood
without considerable and lengthy description. Those desirous of studying
the subject of the design of ancient and Oriental baths will find many
works within easy reach. In his 'Manual of the Turkish Bath,' the late
David Urquhart has given a most complete account of Eastern baths; and
in Sir Erasmus Wilson's 'Eastern or Turkish Bath,' will be found a
popular account of the sumptuous baths of antiquity, which will serve as
an introduction to further researches with the aid of more abstruse
works, such as Wollaston's 'Thermæ Romano-Britannicæ,' Cameron's 'Baths
of the Romans,' and particularly the careful description of the Pompeian
_Balneæ_ in Sir William Gell's 'Pompeiana.' In the admirable works of
Samuel Lysons, the Gloucestershire antiquary, will be found interesting
accounts of the remains of old Roman baths in this country; and in
Daremberg and Saglio's 'Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et
Romaines,' is a most capable essay on ancient _Balneæ_. In Eastern
travellers' books, desultory descriptions of the Oriental bath will be
found; and in Owen Jones's work on the Palace of the Alhambra, at
Granada, plans and sections are given of the elegant little bath that
the Moorish builders erected therein.
For the purposes of this work, and for the sake of brevity and
convenience, I have thought fit to adopt the following terms from the
old Roman vocabulary, to designate the apartments of the modern bath. I
respectively term the first, second, and third hot rooms, the
_Tepidarium_, _Calidarium_, and _Laconicum_. Although the exact nature
of the ancient Roman _laconicum_ is still a question in debate, I have
chosen to employ the term to designate herein the hottest of the hot.
The washing room I call the _Lavatorium_; the cooling room, the
_Frigidarium_; and the separate dressing room, the _Apodyterium_.
The modern "Turkish bath" is rather a revival of the Roman bath, than
that of the East. Among the Orientals, the air of the sudorific chambers
is charged more or less heavily with vapour. In the ancient Roman bath,
the atmosphere must have been more or less dry. And it has been decided
by physiologists and physicians of the hydropathic school, that the air
of the bath cannot be too free of all moisture. With a perfectly dry
atmosphere a high degree of heat can be borne, and the dryness moreover
is conducive to perspiration. This absolute need for a dry atmosphere
in the bath will be found fully explained in an admirable work by Dr.
W.B. Hunter, M.D., entitled 'The Turkish Bath: its Uses and Abuses.' But
notwithstanding the fact that the type of bath employed at the present
day resembles, in point of dryness of atmosphere, that of ancient Rome,
the name of Turkish bath, originally given to it by Mr. Urquhart, has
held good, and must now be accepted as the correct modern designation.
Neither the term "Turkish," however, nor the designation "hot-air" bath,
convey to the uninitiated any idea of the true principle of "the bath,"
as I shall hereinafter call it for brevity's sake. More properly it is a
"_heat_ bath"--a _thermal cure_. In the ordinary hot-air bath, the
heated air is simply a medium; and, as I have endeavoured to explain in
the body of this little work, the heat is best supplied to the body of
the bather by direct radiation. By the "Turkish bath," therefore, I
would be understood to mean a method of supplying pure heat--not
necessarily hot air--to the surface of the human body for hygienic,
remedial, and curative purposes.[1]
In the following pages, however, I have, in this respect, treated of the
subject from the broadest point of view, and have explained the method
of designing the _hot-air bath_ pure and simple, looking upon the
convected and radiating heat principles as both good of their kind, and
perfectly admissible modes of applying heat to the human frame. I have
adhered to this plan throughout, because, even supposing that it were
shown conclusively to-morrow, that the principle of heating by
convection is absolutely wrong, baths of this type would, owing to the
slow march of improvement in this country, still be built and require to
be planned. Moreover, it has been in the past, and still is, the
generally accepted idea that the Turkish bath is a hot-air bath pure and
simple.
Medical men of eminence who have studied the question have thought fit
to retain the term "hot air" in descriptions of the Turkish bath. In
deference to their opinion I may hereinafter, in places, speak of the
_hot-air bath_. The arguments put forward in favour of radiant heat,
with a comparatively cool atmosphere, in the sudorific chambers, are,
for the most part, the result of my own experience and study.
I treat of my subject in two sections, dealing with public and private
baths respectively. Chapters II. to VII. are devoted to the elucidation
of the principles to be observed in the building of public baths, either
for true public purposes or as commercial speculations. It is
unnecessary to speak of these two classes of baths under separate heads:
what is required of the one is required of the other. The only
difference is that one is the property of the people, and may be
required to be designed in a block of buildings containing other kinds
of baths; and the other is owned by a company of persons or by a single
individual as the case may be, and is generally an establishment
complete in itself.
It is not to the credit of the English nation that so little has been
done in connection with Turkish bath building for the people. The
attention given to the question of supplying bath-houses of any kind is
of the most meagre character. The provisions of the Public Baths and
Wash-houses Act are entirely inadequate. In these matters the German
nation is far ahead of us. Fortunately for the general health, the
Englishman is renowned for his morning "tub." But the cold tub is merely
a tonic bath, and the Turkish bath cleanses both the inward and outward
man, besides constituting a most perfect tonic. The cleanliness of the
vast body of the English depends on the warm shallow bath, an
ineffective means at the best, and, often, when taken at a high
temperature, fraught with a real danger to certain constitutions. Used,
as customary, without a tonic application of cold water, it is eminently
conducive to cold-catching. But one cannot blame the average Englishman
for his neglect of the health-giving habit of scientific bathing, unless
he sees the advantage of, and has means to afford, a Turkish bath in his
own house. He looks in vain for an appropriate, comfortable, and
attractive bath-house provided for him by the Legislature, and he
dislikes the thought of the impure atmosphere and odours of the
so-called "Turkish baths" provided by enterprising business men. He can
do nothing but fall back on his warm water bath and cold morning tub.
In the second section, comprised in Chapters VIII. to X., I have dealt
with private baths, including the bath in the house and mansion, in
institutions of one kind and another, and in connection with training
stables. In the chapter on the bath in the private house, will be found
plans of baths of several types, from the smallest and least expensive
to the most elaborate and costly.
It is my hope that this little work may lead to some attention being
bestowed on the question of providing public Turkish baths worthy of the
country; that it may add a stimulus to the building of high-class baths
as commercial speculations; and that, from its pages, those desirous of
experiencing the luxury of a model Turkish bath in their own homes, may
learn the best methods of its design and construction.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: The Germans, with more perception and accuracy than
ourselves, term the therapeutic agent that we called the Turkish bath,
the "Roman-Irish bath"--the _Römisch-irische Bäder_. Both the ancient
Roman bath and the old Irish "sweating-house," gave out radiant heat
from the walls to the bather, and did not depend on the supplying of hot
air.]