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Out of nowhere it started raining here in Portland and so we had to find something to do indoors. Here are some pictures of our visit to the Pittock mansion here in Portland. It was built from 1914 to 1919. The main house is over 16,000 square feet and it sits on a 46 acre forested lot on a hill overlooking downtown Portland and the Willamette river. There is also a second house for servants and a three car garage, as well as a large garden area.
This is the "state of the art" shower in the Master bedroom. each of the rings sprays water so you are surrounded by a shower from head to toe. There is also a shower head on the ceiling like normal, and a bidet like shower head that sprays up from below. Now that is high society at its best.
Also one of those levers is marked "Liver Spray", I'm not sure what that does.
3 comments:
We really need to go see that place. Lets meet there sometime soon.
I did some research about that shower.........
Showers had been in use in barracks, gymnasiums and bathhouses since at least the 1880s, but those places were generally inhabited by men. The shower was strongly associated therefore with athleticism and men. Women were considered the weaker sex, delicate and fragile compared to men. The streams of water were widely felt to be harmful to women. Home décor authority Charles E. White wrote in 1914 that "……some constitutions cannot stand the rigors of shower bathing, a practice which should be resorted to only under the advice of a physician." So, well up until the 1930s, most women would not consider showering, so what need was there for a shower fixture in the home? Bathing was done in the tub. But showers did have a purpose in the home for those who felt the need, and the purpose was medicinal or therapeutic. Shower sprays were believed to stimulate the action of the skin, and make some people healthier. Not until the late 20s and 30s did new ideas regarding germs and hygiene trickle into the public consciousness and begin to have an effect on how people outfitted their bathrooms.
But, there were some people who specified showers for pre-1920 homes, and those people tended to be wealthy. The showers that had the most therapeutic value were the ones that had multiple sprays that would apply jets of water to specific parts of the body. These showers were called needle showers, since the fine jets of spray would strike the kidney area, ribcage, liver or spine like fine needles. These elaborate showers were very expensive, commonly costing from $300 to about $500
Thx for the info. cool pics Bennett. Have you ever considered putting them on iStockphoto.com? i think you could make some Mula
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