How Contagious Diseases Influenced The Design Of American Bathrooms?
In the last 100 years, the focus on health and hygiene has significantly changed, particularly around bathrooms. The evolution of these designs primarily stems from the need to help stop the spread of diseases like tuberculosis and influenza. Bioethicist and journalist Elizabeth Yuko explains that infectious diseases have shaped the design and technology of home bathrooms, from toilets to toothbrush holders. Toilet design is borne out of hygiene, safety, convenience, and accessibility considerations. However, infectious diseases also have an impact on the evolution of toilets and washrooms. Cholera and tuberculosis outbreaks transformed the design and technology of the home bathroom. The episode explores how things such as porcelain/tiling and first-floor “powder rooms” actually served utilitarian purposes, making it easier for people to prevent or slow the spread of infectious diseases. Infectious diseases have also played a role in the design of toilets and washrooms. Wood floors were replaced with easy-to-maintain linoleum, while bathtubs were made with enamel-coated cast iron, which proved to be easier to clean and more durable. Even wallpaper was edited out of bathroom design as people chose to opt for sterile-looking white walls instead. The Covid-19 pandemic has further influenced the next phase of bathroom design, with the need to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and the need for improved hygiene practices.
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Rafaela Priori Gutler
Hi, I’m Rafaela Priori Gutler, a passionate interior designer and DIY enthusiast. I love transforming spaces into beautiful, functional havens through creative decor and practical advice. Whether it’s a small DIY project or a full home makeover, I’m here to share my tips, tricks, and inspiration to help you design the space of your dreams. Let’s make your home as unique as you are!
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23 comments
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Sciencerely says:
As a biologist and researcher, I cannot appreciate the importance of sanitation systems in major cities enough. In the middle of the 19 century, a man called John Snow (yes, John Snow) investigated cholera outbreaks in London. He discovered that cholera is spread through unsanitary water or food supply sources and, after a while, cities started to build extensive sanitation systems which limited cholera outbreaks. Unfortunately, each year there are still 1.3 million to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide (would really love to make a article about that)! I really hope that we could raise more awareness for this issue.
mugwump242 says:
First, the water tanks mounted on the wall high above early toilets (connected by a vertical pipe) didn’t go away because of difficulty cleaning, as you state. They didn’t go away at all. Most residential toilets still have a tank. It’s just now attached right above the seat (or integrated) because the gravity-fed water pressure initially thought necessary to flush turned out to be overestimated. Second, sleeping porches didn’t come to be, as you state, because of a WWI-era flu and TB epidemic “sanitorium design” movement for houses (a term this longtime amateur historian’s never heard before, BTW). It’s true that sanitoriums had these design elements but, long before, sleeping porches were used by families in the summer. Especially in regions prone to hot, humid summertime nights. I’ve visited many historic homes going back to the 1880s that had sleeping porches. There are more inaccuracies but I’m not going to bore everyone. Bottom line: there’s enough questionable info slipped in between the accurate details in this presentation to make me skeptical of the Cheddar website in general. Take Cheddar’s info with a grain of salt, my friends.
yeetghostrat says:
what I’d like to see is apartment bathrooms that are capable of being cleaned, where the toilet, sink, and shower are separated. I’m a tiny person, lived in multiple different apartments, and I could never get between. Let alone behind the toilet. And my dad and brother piss in the dark half asleep. You can imagine the stench
spencerbailey208 says:
I’ve been noticing that the comments on most Cheddar articles point to a lot of negligent mistakes made with the conveying of information in your articles. It feels as if quantity is valued more than quality at Cheddar and I think that is a big mistake. I unsubscribed because I do not support misinformation even if it wasn’t on purpose. If you want to research less, then make different articles, but putting articles together without fact-checking is harmful.
imakro69 says:
Lol, what can I say, americans are reopening what everyone else in the older world already went through, the 1920s architecture highly emphasized hygiene in both USSR and Germany, first: everyone takes of shoes at the door, second every Russian washes hands after entering from the street, courtesy of 1920s-1930s campaigns. Also houses built in 1920s-1930s had the air inlet on the facade, which ventilated the floors(wooden at the time) exiting through brass grills at room corners then going through the whole apartment and exiting through central ventilation shaft between the kitchen and the toilet, which became separated from the bathroom as well. Not to mention ceilings being 3.20m (for more air) and later becoming 2.90m. All apartments had to face both sides, for the through ventilation and sufficient insolation, which measured the quality of the design at the time. Another feature was a widespread adoption of balconies and flat roofs, that was made possible by innovations in concrete production which were supposed to act as a solariums for desease prevention. Now because of the concrete floor structures the systems rely on getting the air from holes in Windows and entrance doors. Bidet showers also have become a standard feature in major cities since early 2000s when they started importing them from Finland into Russia Please let’s raise this info, thanks.
irrigationnation4410 says:
Sanitorium style is not a thing? If anything, having one’s house associated with one wasn’t generally an interior design goal. A lot of the changes mentioned here were just due to industrialisation and the mass production of homeware and furniture around the turn of the century. Not fully inaccurate, but a little contrived to connect these changes solely to disease prevention just to make it relevant to Covid, when they were largely technological and also just simply aesthetic in nature. Many of these changes also occurred when domestic staff were reducing in number and many women had to begin cleaning their own houses now, so making things easier to clean made things easier to sell. Also its unlikely Covid will really alter fundamental home design on a large scale at all.
alexwyman8380 says:
Almost all if these have another explanation. The turn from wood to porcelain/ linoleum etc can also be blamed on the cost effectiveness of it. All the sudden poor people in the developed world could afford pre-made stuff. There is also something to be said for womens lib, fancy ornate wooden bed boards have to be cleaned very regularly. If women are no longer live in housecleaners then they have to buy simpler, easier to clean stuff.
tkralva.6668 says:
The only improvements that need to be made in homes are improvements to make them affordable. Get fed up with finding that on a single wage household it will be impossible to purchase a home. There is definite prejudice in the property market against single people, as the prerequisit for buying a house/apartment is usually a double wage.
luke_fabis says:
There has been steady research on healthier houses for decades. But houses are still built as cheaply as possible, arguably worse in many ways. The people living today aren’t like the people living in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There’s deep and growing mistrust of institutions, there’s a stark lack of solidarity, and housing prices are spiraling out of control while wage growth has stagnated. There won’t be a second hygiene revolution. Especially considering how people have responded to the pandemic, the response to any suggestion of new home design and new etiquette, such as washing your hands before entering a home, would be met with harsh disdain.
honey_bee65 says:
What do you mean by “…the ENDS were turned down”, in regards to the changes made to the bathroom sink? What exactly are you talking about. What “ends”? I actually didn’t understand ANY of that about the sink, at all. Can you show RELEVANT photos as a visual aid next time, instead of unhelpful stock images?….Or AT LEAST describe what you’re talking about, a little better, please.
marcylynn3703 says:
Some countries use slippers around the house even for guests, if you work in an office and have flu like symptoms, but not fever you can opt to use a face mask. People having a room for home office, and uv light based cleaners. Also no toaching soap dispencers and trash cans, seems very likely to popularize in the near future
100ThomasFletcher says:
Are there citations for some of these claims? You ignore other obvious reasons for certain aesthetic changes and pin it all on diseases. For instance, the age of mass manufacturing went a long way in simplifying furniture designs. Mass production and ornate craftsmanship don’t always go hand in hand.
JonesP77 says:
Sry, but even more clean houses would make us not more healthy, quite the opposite. Many live already way to clean, this harms us because we have such a weak immunsysem. We cant clean the bacteria away from everything, we have to live with them, we are a part of this whole world, which includes bacteria. Btw, most of them are not bad, quite the opposite. We have to be more healthy, eat better, go into the woods and be sorrounded by a healthy amount of bacteria and viruses. Yes, we should clean our house, but not too much. For many this have already done way more harm then good. So in my eyes, this is totally nonsese here. Thats absolutely the wrong way to go, we cant live in little capsules and never come in contact with the outside world. Because when we live this way, one contact with the real world and we get sick instantly. The right way is being reasonable clean and let kids play in dirt. Thats very good for them (and for us adults too)! ^^
AmberKingmusic says:
I switched to a bidet because it’s so much better for the environment and really great for that time if the month and those days where your tummy doesn’t feel the best. For people worried about the water bill, a months use is less then a single baths worth of water so it doesn’t effect the bill in my experience.
alc.8415 says:
Built-in tubs are much less sanitary than freestanding ones. Think about all the points of potential seal failure and moisture seepage…along the floor, along the perimeters that meet the walls, the drain… caulking is only effective IF it’s properly installed (most isn’t), caulking is a breeding ground for bacteria, and it splits if there is ever a shift in the surfaces it’s attached to. You won’t be able to tell if moisture is seeping in behind the tub or if the drain is leaking until it’s too late and you have problems like mold and rotting wood. Additionally, the empty cavity between the inside of the tub and the wall is a perfect place for pests to hide. The same goes for sinks, the most sanitary choice by far is a pedestal sink; cabinets with sinks set in caulking are disgusting, especially when they’re made out of particleboard.
anthonydelfino6171 says:
Wardrobes weren’t eliminated because “wood is hard to clean” a lot of bedroom furniture to this day is still wood. Wardrobes existed due to much older laws that taxed people by how many rooms existed in the building, and a closet was taxed as an additional room the same way as a kitchen or bedroom was. And to keep from paying that tax while still having a place to store clothing, the wardrobe gained popularity. Closets are a convenience of the modern era where people are more likely to move homes, and built in closets are both a selling point for new houses as well as a benefit for the mover since that’s one less piece of furniture to bring with them.
lzh4950 says:
Public housing in my country is designed with the bathroom(s) adjacent to the kitchen, probably to minimise the length of plumbing required. Until the mid-2000s the design was such that the bathroom (except the master bedroom bath) is only accessible via the kitchen. I was wondering how significant an impact this might have on hygiene
NuncNuncNuncNunc says:
Some pretty broad strokes without support, but the leap on the closets really got me. Closets replaced free standing armoires for their ease of cleaning? A powder room near the front entrance is already fairly common in the modern American suburban home. Alter, in general seems to be describing trends well underway before 2020 with except perhaps a future high demand for fiberglass-faced drywall. It seems a tough sell to justify the cost both on the front and backend for a shift to fiberglass everywhere over paper.
TheBeardedDog says:
That guy at the end who indicated building would get more expensive, probably didn’t realize how correct he would be. We have seen some building materials quadruple in cost over the last year. Of course this could be due to businesses realizing that they could reduce labor costs by creating less and increase profits. A win-win for them, but a loss for the consumer.
martinschmid797 says:
It is evident that kitchen and bathrooms change during outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. A lot of diseases come from fecal-contaminated water or food. For this current respiratory disease, the changes would be a little different. Where I live, it seems most probable that the shopping experience and the public life changes. Maybe hand sanitizers in front of the supermarket will stick, or maybe people will keep using face masks in the metro, like it has been common in a lot of asian countries. I also think that companies now see the possibilities of home office and might let their employees stay at home for part of their work. The way we socialize could also change. People have been dependent on article-chat apps. There are definitely some older people who wouldn’t have learned how to use those features if it wasn’t for covid. Now that they know how to use it, there’s the added possibility of having a article chat with your grandma every once in a while instead of having to visit.
ginnyjollykidd says:
We are recognizing copper and other metals as antibacterial. Instead of modifying plastic parts, we might be incorporating copper, say, as the metal a shopper usually touches, the front pushing bar. It doesn’t have to be a copper pipe. An anodized copper pipe can be used. After all, copper is an expensive and sought – after metal.
Adoffka says:
Bedroom part seems controversial from both sides, as bedrooms changed decades/centuries earlier, materials choices are generally same, design is hundreds years old especially in mosques infested regions (that is pandemic reasons, but they are older and you generally confuse people on this) and when I see beds in US they are generally mattresses on floor
UmmYeahOk says:
So why was wall to wall carpeting in bathrooms ever a thing? I remember it being real trendy in the 80s and 90s. Ignoring history, pandemics and such… …it should have been obvious to any builder or home owner that mold, urine, and other such atrocities would occur! For those without wall to wall carpeting, you could buy matching bath mat, toilet mat, and toilet seat cover that was carpet! Sure, you could throw away and buy new, or maybe even throw it in a washing machine, but how many people did that?
Source: https://emtudodesign.com/how-contagious-diseases-influenced-the-design-of-american-bathrooms.html