PRIVATE BATHS.
The Turkish bath in the house may be designed on any scale, from a
single room heated to the required temperature by a common laundry
stove, to an elaborate suite of apartments, providing all that is found
in the public bath, and even added luxuries. It may be an addition to an
existing building or a feature designed at one and the same time as the
house.
There are, of course, many expedients for producing perspiration by
heated air much simpler than by the special construction of a suite of
bath rooms; but as they will be familiar to all studying the subject of
baths, I will pass them over here as mere makeshifts. For although there
is something to be said in their favour, in that the head is free and
one can breathe cooler air, there are serious objections to their use,
as the lamps employed _burn the air_, and there is also an absence of
that rapid aërial circulation which is so much to be desired. Besides
the actual objections to their use, more or less inconvenience attends
the employment of the sheet and lamp (or cabinet and lamp) baths, and
there is little of the luxury of a true sudatorium about the
extemporised bath, admirable as it may be as a hydropathic expedient.
The bath in the house may consist of one of the following
arrangements:--(1) A single room used as a sudatory chamber and for
washing; (2) a hot room and a washing room; (3) a combined hot room and
washing room, and a cooling room; (4) a cooling room, washing room, and
hot room; or (5) a suite of chambers of such extent as to provide every
possible luxury, such as even the old Roman gentlemen would have
coveted. Where there is no second room the bather must use his bed room
as a cooling and reposing room, as he must also in the cases where only
a washing room and a hot room are provided.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.
Plan of Mr. Urquhart's Small Private Bath and of the Hot Room at Sir
Erasmus Wilson's Bath at Richmond Hill.]
For a simple sudatory chamber, where washing operations are also
conducted, all that is required is a room with brick walls and fire- and
heat-proof floor and ceiling, with an adjoining lobby, a flue to conduct
smoke from a simple stove, and a sunk washing tank or _lavatrina_.
Allowance must be made for a couch opposite the stove. Fig. 22 (A)
shows the simplest form of a bath room possible; it is that which Mr.
Urquhart constructed, and has described in his 'Manual of the Turkish
Bath.' It was erected by him to show how cheaply an effective bath room
might be built, the whole arrangement, with water fittings and building
of three of its walls, only costing 37_l._
The room or rooms forming the Turkish bath in a private house should be
cut off by a lobby from the other apartments of the house, with
carefully-fitting self-closing doors at either end; and in the case of
an elaborate bath, another little lobby with double doors and heavy
curtains, should be placed between the cooling room and the two bathing
rooms, as at Fig. 24. The air of the hot rooms should, of course, be
perfectly and absolutely cut off from that of the house.
The position of the bath in a house will depend upon the size of the
bath and the house and its situation. In town houses, where the bath
consists of only a washing and a hot room, the first floor will be the
most convenient. Where a cooling room is provided, the ground floor is
as handy as anywhere; and this position allows of the easier
construction of the heating apparatus. In the country, the bath is best
built away from the house, connected by a short lobby, which may be
utilised for boots, &c., as at Fig. 24. The main difficulties to be
overcome are the heating of the bath, and the non-conduction of heat to
places where it is not wanted.
The heating apparatus of a private bath may be, for the simplest, a
common laundry stove, as at Fig. 22 (A) and at Fig. 23; for bigger
baths, a small convoluted stove, as at Fig. 24; or a furnace of
firebrick with an iron flue, as at B, Fig. 22--a plan of the hot room
(15 ft. by 12 ft.) of the bath which Sir Erasmus Wilson built at
Richmond Hill. For elaborate baths, a small furnace wholly constructed
of fireclay, such as that of which I have given complete plans in the
chapter on "Heating and Ventilation," would be the best. A furnace of
this description is shown in the design for an elaborate private bath,
at Fig. 25. Should the bath be heated regularly every day, a firebrick
furnace is certainly the best, as such furnaces retain their heat a long
time. It should be "banked" at night. A bath only required at times, and
quickly, is best heated with a thin iron stove. A portable iron stove
and a long length of iron flue will rapidly raise the temperature. The
simple baths illustrated at Figs. 22 (A) and 23, are therefore very
convenient and effective. The principle of heating by the transmission
to the hot rooms of freshly-heated air is also a very convenient one for
private purposes, as on this system the bath may be on an upper floor,
and yet have its heating apparatus conveniently stowed away below, as at
Fig. 24. A small furnace chamber, such as that at Fig. 6, _ante_, must
be constructed, and a hot-air flue of large section built up to the hot
room. If the bath be on the ground floor, the construction of any form
of heating apparatus is rendered easier.
To prevent the transmission of heat to other apartments of the house,
the precautions hereinbefore mentioned must be observed. Hollow walls
must be provided round the heated chambers, to prevent loss of heat on
the external side, and the transmission of heat through internal walls.
The floors above and below should--if not of solid fireproof
construction--be formed as described in the section dealing with the
design of the sudorific chambers, with puggings of slag-wool, asbestos,
sawdust, or materials having similar properties. Windows should be
double. Wherever possible, concrete floors should be provided to the hot
rooms and washing rooms, so that they may be covered with tiles or
mosaics, and on account of the spilling of water. It should be needless
to point out the necessity of having most careful regard to safety from
fire by the stoves or furnaces.
The ventilation of private baths should receive as much careful
attention as those for public use. The hollow external walls may often
be used with advantage for the extraction of the vitiated air, which
must be let into the cavity at the floor level. If the bath be
constructed on the ground floor, with nothing beneath, the system of
carrying off the vitiated air by horizontal conduits--recommended for
public baths--should be employed, as in the accompanying design for a
large private bath, where the whole of the foul air is drawn into one
vertical shaft of sufficiently wide section. Much that I have said on
the heating and ventilation, and, indeed, on many matters in connection
with the design of public baths, applies in the case of the private one,
and the reader is therefore referred to preceding pages for many hints
as to its construction.
In the accompanying figures I have endeavoured to explain the
arrangement and construction of private baths, from those formed by
converting existing rooms into bath rooms, to an elaborate and complete
design. Fig. 22 (A) is a plan of Mr. Urquhart's cheap private bath, an
apartment only measuring 11 ft. by 16 ft., yet forming an effective
sudatory chamber, with simple iron stove, couch, seat, and sunk tank or
lavatrina. On this principle I have arranged the plans of the baths
adapted to existing rooms in a house, shown at Fig. 23. One plan shows a
hot room built on to an existing ordinary bath room. A doorway is formed
in the old external wall, and the new chamber constructed with hollow
walls, with glazed bricks internally. An extra room would, of course, be
thus formed on the floor below. A fireproof floor would be provided, and
the pipes from iron stove conducted to old fireplace in bath room, which
would become the lavatorium, and undressing room if necessary. A
double-doored lobby is formed in the latter apartment, and the slipper
bath used as ordinarily. It will be seen that by appropriating the
adjoining bed room, a frigidarium is obtained, by taking away the
flue-pipe to a new chimney, and knocking a doorway through the old
partition wall, thus making a complete set of bath rooms.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.
Methods of constructing Turkish Baths in existing Houses.]
The other plan, given at Fig. 23, shows an existing room divided into a
combined hot room and washing room, and a cooling room. Three of the
walls being ordinary external walls, the hot room is lined with lath and
plaster on quartering, leaving an air-space between to prevent loss of
heat by absorption and radiation. One or two of the spaces between the
quarters should be formed into lath and plaster flues, for the
withdrawal of the vitiated air, being connected below with the hot room,
and above lead into the open air. A pugged partition and double-doored
lobby separate the rooms. Space is left in the hot room for a
full-length couch opposite the radiating stove, which has a metal screen
around to protect the more adjacent walls from the heat. A lavatrina is
provided, as shown at the enlarged section. A nook is formed for a
shower. This recess could be fitted with enamelled iron screen and hood,
as at the end of elaborate slipper-baths. A couple of couches, lavatory,
and toilet table are compactly arranged in the little frigidarium.
Where these plain iron radiating stoves are employed, the fresh air
should be admitted as near the stove as possible, and if the inlet be
connected with a space formed round the stove by a sheet-iron jacket,
the air will enter the room at a considerably raised temperature. The
temperature of the incoming air in a bath where the heat radiates
directly from the stove or furnace to the body of the bather, is not a
matter of such vital importance as it is in cases where the heat is
transmitted through the agency of the air itself.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.
A complete Private Turkish Bath.]
Cost of construction being now so constant a factor in every
consideration, I have been led to give the above plans and descriptions
of cheaply-formed baths as suggestions for the adaptation of other
rooms. But plans of more elaborate baths are occasionally required, and
at Fig. 24 I give the plan and cross section of a bath constructed as an
appendage to, and at one and the same time as, the house. In this plan
all necessaries are liberally provided for, but there is no extravagant
outlay on elaboration of features and decoration. It is arranged on the
first floor of a projecting wing off the main building. The frigidarium
is cut off from the corridor or landing of the house by a lobby, which
provides a w.c. and a space for boots and shoes and linen and towels.
Between the frigidarium and bath rooms is a double-doored lobby of a
kind that is very useful in both public and private baths. Hung with
heavy curtains over the inner face of either door, it forms a perfect
preventive against the entry of the air of the hot rooms into the
cooling room. Between the combined tepidarium and lavatorium and the
laconicum is a glazed partition with a doorway, fitted with a curtain if
necessary. The walls are 18 in.--9 in. and 4-1/2 in., with 4-1/2 in.
cavity, used for ventilation. The bath rooms are lined with glazed
brickwork. The floor is of fireproof, iron and concrete, construction.
Enamelled iron sheets are screwed to the ceiling joists in the hot
rooms, and pugging placed over. Under the laconicum is the stokery and
furnace chamber, fitted with a small convoluted stove, a hot-air shaft
leading to the bath room. Fresh air comes to the stove by horizontal
flues from either side of the building. The windows in the bath rooms
are double. In the laconicum are two felt-covered wooden benches, as at
Fig. 21 (E), _ante_, and a similar bench occupies one side of
lavatorium, opposite which is the lavatrina, 18 in. deep, partly sunk
into the floor and partly raised. The shower should be placed over this.
In the frigidarium are two couches, hooks for clothes, lavatory, and
toilet tables, &c. This would be a very effective plan for a comfortable
private bath.
The ordinary "slipper," "length," or "shallow" bath is out of place in
the rooms of a Turkish bath; but where the bath has to be adapted with
economy to an existing bath room, as at Fig. 23, and in cases where,
say, some members of a family take the Turkish bath and others the
ordinary warm bath, it may remain as at the last-named figure, and serve
the purposes of a lavatrina. The lavatrina, as designed in the plan of
the large Turkish bath appended, however, is the most convenient
apparatus to facilitate the orthodox method of lathering and washing
oneself in this style of bathing, as distinct from the ordinary method
of immersion in a large body of water; and as the former manner is the
most economical of water, it is unnecessary, in providing a Turkish bath
in a house, to make any increased provision for the supply of hot and
cold water over and above that which would be allowed for an ordinary
slipper-bath.
In a private bath the lavatorium will also serve the purpose of a
tepidarium. This chamber should therefore be as large as possible. In it
may be required a shampooing slab, and, possibly, a small plunge bath,
in addition to the lavatrina, reclining-bench, and what water fittings
are to be provided. All that will be required are hot and cold water
taps over the edge of the lavatrina, which should also have a waste and
overflow. Having to be worked by the bather himself, the shower
arrangement should be such as shown at Fig. 17, _ante_. This will serve
all purposes, unless a douche and a needle are desired, when the
regulating valve of this appliance must be placed conveniently within
the bather's reach while standing in the bath.
The private bather, unless he can afford to engage a bath-man, must look
upon shampooing as a _luxury_ but not a _necessity_ of the bath. Dr. W.
J. Fleming, in a lecture on the "Physiology of Turkish Baths," read
before the Glasgow Physiological Society some years back, said that the
accessories of shampooing, &c., are, despite the popular opinion to the
contrary, non-essential. A shampooing slab--which must be of marble--is
therefore not a necessary provision in any but very elaborate private
baths.
A complete private bath must contain the _piscina_, or plunge. Unless
space and expense be no object, this cannot well be made capable of
affording a vigorous dive; but endeavours should be made to secure a
bath of such dimensions as will admit of a refreshing immersion of the
whole body. It will be constructed and fitted exactly as a small public
plunge bath.
The frigidarium of a private bath should be as pleasant, cheerful, and
comfortable as possible. It should be a cosy place where the bather may
recline and cool, and smoke and read, or otherwise divert himself to his
heart's content. If so preferred, it might be arranged like an Eastern
divan; or it might be a simple, homely room, fitted with one or two
comfortable couches. A fireplace may here be a desirable feature, for
appearance sake, during the winter months. The room should be _really_
ventilated--viz. well supplied with pure, fresh air, and with effective
means of withdrawing the vitiated atmosphere, since, as I have pointed
out in the chapters on public baths, the cooling process is, in its way,
as important as the heating, it being essential that the bather should
expose the whole surface of his skin to volumes of pure cool air.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.
DESIGN FOR A PRIVATE TURKISH BATH
LONGITUDINAL SECTION.]
At Fig. 25, pages 130 and 131, I give plans of a large private Turkish
bath. It is such a building as would be a most desirable and pleasing
addition to a country mansion; and considering the money prodigally
lavished over the appurtenances of the modern mansion house, it is
indeed surprising that more has not been attempted in the way of
appending a feature that is at once a talisman of health, a cure for
disease, and an untold luxury. The public bath may be a blessing, but
for comfort and luxury it cannot compare with the well-appointed private
bath.
[Illustration: Design for a Private Turkish Bath.]
The design I give as a suggestion, to be modified and adapted to any
style of design. The building could be connected to the house by a
corridor, or by a glazed _xystos_, either abutting on to the main wall
of house or a little detached. Off the lobby to the frigidarium are
recesses for boots and for linen. The frigidarium--about 15 ft.
square--has benches fitted up like one side of a divan, bay windows with
space for plants and flowers, lavatory and toilet-table, and an
ornamental fountain. A lobby separates this apartment from the bath
rooms, and off it are a w.c. and a towel closet, which latter could be
supplied with hot air. The combined lavatorium and tepidarium--14 ft.
square--is a domed chamber, with semicircular recesses containing the
plunge bath and lavatrina. A shampooing bench is shown. A marble dado
surrounds the walls, and marble corbels are provided to pendentives of
dome--which could be of brick or terracotta and concrete--and marble
springers to horse-shoe arches. The shower is placed over the lavatrina.
Plenty of space is left for a bench or chair in this chamber. Adjoining
is the laconicum with a firebrick furnace, after the nature of that of
which I have before given full detailed drawings. The vitiated air is
drawn through flues in the floor, to a shaft on the opposite side to the
chimney. The stokery and coke-store adjoin the laconicum. Fresh air
would be admitted to the furnace as explained in the detailed
description of the furnace illustrated at Fig. 10. If there were no
available supply of water from house, a boiler and tank could be placed
in the stokery, and a cistern on the flat roof. The flat roof, if of
iron and concrete, would form an abutment to dome. If thought desirable,
the same flat roof could be carried over the combined tepidarium and
lavatorium. An air space should be left between the masonry of dome and
covering of copper or other material. The lights should be double
glazed. With the radiating stove there is no objection to the loftiness
of the dome. This bath could be perfectly ventilated and supplied with
pure heat of a most hygienic character.