Classic Detroit residental bathrooms.

I'm looking into the purchase of a home in the city, a home that is nothing but a shell. This presents an awesome opportunity to a crafty young lad like myself. The one thing that I see time and time again in old Detroit homes and apartments are similar tile-work and sinks.

But I'm sure that I don't have the full picture.

So, if I were to create a bathroom in classic Detroit style, what would it look like? Clawfoot tub? Subway tile? Octagonal black and white tile floor? Pedestal sink?

It probably sounds silly, but the bathroom is such an important space in a house/apartment for me. It really can make it or break it a living space.

I'm interested in your thoughts!

I like the old Pedestal sinks myself. If you check out the Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit, folks in the know here could tell you more about them. It seems like they have a lot of fairly inexpensive treasures. If you are looking forPeds and sinks be sure to give them a good inspection for cracks [[hairlines) and be especiallly careful if you need to undo some old fixtures off them. The putty is real hard and you can easily break your porcelain. By all means, get the old stuff and put some new fixtures the problem-free kind. The old sinks are hard to find in good condition here in Montreal. Doors and lamps are less of a problem, but they are very expensive.
http://www.aswdetroit.org/

Hex tiles on the floor, black and white or maybe cobalt blue. White subway tiles or maybe pink 4x4s with black trim on the walls and tub enclosure. A white porcelein sink hung on the wall with chrome legs holding it up and chrome towel holders on each side of the sink held on with tension screws. The window will have a bubbly translucent glass on the bottom pane only. A door about 4 feet up which opens into the linen closet. And a clothes chute. There that should cover a huge percentage of Detroit bathrooms.

Depends on what year the house was built.
I have been a member of this site for many years and it was actually a post about Detroit architectural gems that originally brought me here.

It is mostly about the average person that buys an old house and rebuilds it. Just never mention removing the original windows and replacing them with so called " high efficiency" new ones.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2

I have a photo of the bathroom in the house my dad built in EEV in 1956 on my other computer. Until I get to it, this is a pretty good page for 1920s bathrooms. Richard correctly stated that it really depends on the date/style of your house. You'd want a historically correct style to match the rest of your house. http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/inside/bathrooms/1920s/gallery/index.htm

Most bathrooms btw the 1890's and 1920s featured subway tiles where black pencil lines, black soap dishes and toothbrush holders were the only accent. A black sanitary cove could also be found at the bottom, where the call curves into the floor. All white was also common. The small hexagons often lined the floors. All were set in concrete, usually an inch-to-two thick. Common around the country in houses and especially apartments, both in a complex and an upper flat. A clawfoot tub was usually present, but [[American) Standard made a 72" tub which curved and was exposed at the back, meaning it had front and side tile walls but the back was open, [[for a chair). Many of the tub fixtures for these tubs were mounted on the side wall, and not above the spout. Many of the spouts doubled as an overflow, but only if the water was turned off, so you had to monitor the tub as it filled, [[and not leave and forget about it).

Around this same time 1910s-20s, those on a budget often had clawfoot tubs but instead of tile, the walls were plastered with a faux square or subway tile mold. These are all over Detroit and Hamtramck. Maple floors are common in this era's bathrooms and kitchens. Also common was the "drum-trap" The drum trap was required by Detroit Plumbing codes, and was a clean-out between the tub drain and the main 4" stack where you could clean out hair, scum, jewelry. Usually accessible from an access panel or the basement, a few had a big, shiny, six-sided nickel plated cover [[which actually looked good next to the floor tile) that would unscrew. You could run your snake down these, [[and they often required it because the slow pitch and distance btw the stack). Many of these still exist and are a source of frustration because most tops haven't been opened in 50 years, and running a snake down them often results in the snake breaking, which means you gotta rip the whole thing out, including the ceiling. I take many out when I have the chance.

The shower stall started making an appearance, mid teens. Once again, the subway tile and hex tile scheme dominated. The tiles on the wall, if different colored, would wrap to just inside the jambs of the stall itself where all of the walls and the ceililngs were subway or square tiles. Speakman Brass, a company in Delaware, and Kohler-Neidecken came up with a shower mixer around this time. Shower stalls frequently featured multiple heads. The Mix-o-Meter adjusted the temp and often the heads, and other knobs in the shower controlled the volume, more heads, or even a shampoo hose. By the mid 30's, the shower stall was as much a fixture in a Detroit Bathroom as a tub. Tubs were no longer claw foot, and had made their way to a three sided tile wall by now. The tiles themselves also changed color, as did the trims. Black tiles, blues and greens, yellow, and as mentioned, pink. Floors often matched, and the hex tiles became rectangles, basket weaves, herringbones,often mixing black and white, and occasionally another color other than black. They are extremely common and the most desirable Detroit Bathrooms. Often, there is not even a crack in the floor.

There are also a few luxury bathrooms from the teens around here. Early shower stalls featured the hex or herringbone floors, but the walls were marble, often solid slabs or marble, 36 " wide, an inch think, and 7 feet high. Some bathrooms feature 2 of these stalls, side by side. But if that wasn't enough, in addition to the shower head was a ribbed shower. The ribbed shower is often nickel plated brass and has a center tube that mounts on the shower floor. "Ribs" attach to the center tube. A four rib shower has four ribs on the left and four more on the right. You walk in between the ribs which have multiple needle valves in them and literally get a separate stream for every inch of your body.

You could check the flickr groups, too: http://www.flickr.com/groups/vintagebath/

These luxury bathrooms also featured claw foot tubs, bigger and more elegant versions, with the handles and spout located on the wide side of the tub. Drain overflows were exposed and the fixtures were beautifully crafted chrome or nickel plated brass.

The sinks were equally impressive. Pedestal sinks, vitreous china or cast, became really big and really heavy. They got to be three feet or more across and 30 inches deep. The pedestals varied too. Some look like baseball bats and hold up a 20x30 sink. On extrememly rare models the baseball bats are made of glass.

The most common of the early Detroit sinks was the cast iron 24x20 pedestal sink. Many are dated, and Standard made tons of them at foundries in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Most have damage in the pop-up area, the overflow area, or where water was allowed to drip for decades at a time.

As also mentioned in a previous post, Standard made a porcelain sink that mounted to the wall but had chrome legs, often with towel bars attached. These show up around the late 20s early 30s.

Sinks were rarely the four inch spread you see on most sinks today. The faucets could be anywhere from 8-20 inches apart. Occasionally the spout was fired into the sink itself.

Lots of good info there Hamtragedy,

If you can find a early vitreous china pedestal sink they are going for around $1500 to $3000 dollars.

"and the hex tiles became rectangles, basket weaves, herringbones"

About six months ago I had somebody call me to repair that style floor ,they had changed the commode location and busted out big chunks of the floor removing the tub a good 40% of the floor was damaged. I fixed it though cleaning and replacing the basket weave so it was not noticeable, it took me two weeks but it was nice.

That style of flooring seems to be more of a marble type of material very brittle on the edges and not having the consistency of ceramic,they seem to more popular in the late 30s early 40s bathrooms.

Thanks for the info. This has been a more detailed version of what I expected to hear.

It seems like vintage subway tile is hard to come by. Is it tricky to try and re-use old tile? It seems like the mortar would be difficult to remove without damaging the tile itself.

At least you can get nice subway tile these days. 20 years ago nobody was making it.

The difference between the original subway tile and the ones available on a large scale is that the original had square surface edges where now they have a slightly rounded edge.

You can get the original style here http://www.subwaytile.com/ and they have now started remaking ones with a slightly yellowed patina for the repair aspect.There is a reason for them not showing a price on their website,it is very expensive and unless you are doing a restoration on a $500,000 and up home or doing a National preservation style restore it is not worth it.

You can salvage the old subway tile it is very time consuming and in my experience there is a 30% loss factor. But in the past I have paid upwards of $45 per tile for salvaged tiles to match existing when there was a plumbing repair.They tend to have a yellowish tint with age and putting a new one next to existing definitely stands out ,you would never know by looking at them.

It kills me when I see the pictures of the abandoned buildings and see walls of original subway tile still there.

Classic Detroit? Pewabic tile. I know it's expensive, but it's some gorgeous stuff. When we renovated our bathroom, I used Pewabic tile. In fact, for a couple of the tiles, I used their frog and turtle paperweights. When the nephews and nieces come over, they're always looking for the 'animals in the tub'.

My bathroom in my old home in Lawton St. in Detroit. Has hexagonal white porcelain tiles with black hexagonal porcelain tiles. The walls are covered with white square tiles all over. My bathtub is white, metal with metal claw sized faucets and on old hook showerhead and a shower curtain pole. The toilet is porcelain white and so is the sink with white knobs. No pull stopper, but we have a rubber stopper instead and the metal anti-particle catcher. And it as a laundry chute and a radiator. And my family keep it clean every day and told our guests to clean the the toilet seat, too.

https://www.google.com/search?q=anti...&bih=672&dpr=2

I am a perv,I like looking at vintage bathroom porn.

The French really had it going on with elaborate bathrooms and it was common to have a hand sink in the bedroom.

It gets even more interesting to see how they transitioned from the outhouse to indoor bathrooms,many were originally installed in closets where you had to step over the toilet to get to the tub or shower.

I got a call last week to remove some equipment from a tiki bar of a ocean front hotel that they were getting ready to demolish.

Built in the 1950s as a luxury hotel all of the bathrooms still had their original tile which was a pallet of the different colors available at the time,they had replaced all of the fixtures but the original tile was still in excellent shape,which is a testimonial to the quality of work and materials back then.

The sad part in all of that was the place had just gone through a multi million dollar renovation 2 years ago,all new vanity’s,tubs,lighting,ceiling fans etc all real wood with granite countertops.

Guy said $100 and you can take what ever you want ,unfortunately I only had the crew for the day to get what I was there for,but did manage to grab some 1950s concrete patio tables and benches that had the different color tiles inlayed.

It took 3 guy just to move one.

Today it is a pile of rubble.

My current bathroom is subway tile,claw foot bathtub,basket weave black dot floor tile,1910 pedestal sink with a 1800s tin and beveled mirror medicine cabinet,that I pulled out of somebody’s trash pile along side of the road.

I wonder what the OP ended up doing with theirs?

My friend was renting a flat on St. Paul and Seminole mid-1970's, he never cleaned, I had to "hold-it" when I visited him, I kept this old photo to show why!

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Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

My friend was renting a flat on St. Paul and Seminole mid-1970's, he never cleaned, I had to "hold-it" when I visited him, I kept this old photo to show why!

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Heh, that's from Desperado.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HALqEQAHsdo
Desperado piss joke story and hilarious toilet scene.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

My friend was renting a flat on St. Paul and Seminole mid-1970's, he never cleaned, I had to "hold-it" when I visited him, I kept this old photo to show why!

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Question: when you have to wipe off hairs from a Pewabic tile, do you change your perspective and refer to it as Pubic tile?

Good ole claw foot bath tub