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Title: The Turkish Bath
Its Design and Construction
Author: Robert Owen Allsop
Release Date: November 10, 2009 [EBook #30444]
Language: English
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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.]
CHAPTER II.
THE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF A PUBLIC BATH.
In order to avoid unnecessary expense in working and management, a
public Turkish bath should be convenient and _compact_ in plan. It
should be as perfect as possible in regard to heating and ventilation,
in order to insure patronage; and, for the same reason, it should be
made a thing of beauty. A badly-ventilated, inconvenient, and
ill-adorned bath does harm, both to the bather and the cause. It is its
own enemy, and harmful also to all other baths; whereas every
ably-designed bath has in itself the elements of success, and assists
existing institutions by increasing the number of converts to the
process.
A good bath does not necessarily mean an elaborate and expensive one,
but primarily one where the heating and ventilation are on the latest
and most approved principles, and where the shampooing and washing rooms
are kept sweet and clean, the bathing appliances effective, and the
cooling rooms ample, and supplied with an abundance of fresh air. This
is not the result of sumptuousness and elaboration, but of pure applied
science. Amplitude of space, however, facilitates its attainment, as it
is difficult to render a cramped bath beneficial and attractive.
By an attractive bath, I would be understood to mean one in which the
visitor will feel interest in the design; where pleasant objects are
presented to his eye, both in the sudorific chambers and in the cooling
rooms. Artistic decorations have here a commercial value. The bath
requiring time, the bather is compelled to pass some hours in the
various apartments, and it is therefore highly desirable that his
surroundings be rendered pleasant and entertaining. In a Turkish bath,
as in other architectural matters, this is not the result of a prodigal
expenditure on costly decorations and fittings, but rather of a careful
arrangement of necessary and desirable features, and a knowledge of the
methods of obtaining piquancy of effect by their distribution on the
plan.
The arrangement of the modern bath is modified from that of the Ancients
and Orientals to suit the accepted form of practice in this country, so
that the order of the different processes through which the bather
passes governs the disposition of the various apartments. The chief
object to be attained is to induce a more or less vigorous perspiration
by the application of heat. This heat is now generally applied through
the medium of the air, which is raised to a high temperature by being
passed over and in contact with the heated surfaces of stoves of various
designs, or by direct radiation from hot metal or firebrick.
Theoretically, the generally-adopted method of applying the heat to the
bather might be greatly improved, but practically it has been found the
best. Into these questions, however, I shall enter when treating of the
heating and ventilating of the bath. For the present, it will suffice to
say that the chief object to be attained in the bath is the supplying of
an abundance of _pure hot air_ to the various sudorific chambers, and
the rapid withdrawal of the foul air and exhalations.
Since the disposition of the various apartments is governed by the
methods of bathing in vogue, it will be necessary to first give the
reader a brief account of the various processes undergone by the bather.
The object of the profuse perspiration to be attained is twofold--(1) To
cleanse the blood of impurities; and (2) to loosen the dead scales of
the epidermis, or scarf-skin, that spreads itself everywhere over the
true skin or cuticle. Besides this, however, physiologists tell us that
the heat itself has a beneficial effect on the body in other ways, and
is, in cases of disease, a most powerful curative and remedial agent.
This latter fact explains the necessity for the high temperatures
employed, as mere perspiration could be attained with a comparatively
low degree of heat.
The course of treatment to be undergone by the bather, as given by Sir
Erasmus Wilson, is--(1) Exposure of the naked body to hot dry air. (2)
Ablution with warm and cold water. (3) Cooling and drying the skin. In
addition to these, however, there should be added the process of
"massage" or shampooing before washing.
The perspiration is attained in the various hot rooms--the _Tepidarium_,
_Calidarium_, and _Laconicum_. The nature of these apartments--which I
shall hereinafter consider in detail--must be determined by the
pretensions of the establishment.
Perspiration having been induced, the bather submits to the kneading of
the muscles of the trunk and limbs by the shampooer. For this operation,
which restores tone and vigour to the muscular and nervous system, a
separate and distinct apartment should, in high class baths, be
provided. Vigorous friction with a coarse glove succeeds the shampooing.
This detaches the dead portions of the epidermis, and is an operation
generally practised in the _Lavatorium_--a washing room adjoining the
shampooing room. In the same place the bather receives copious ablutions
with warm water. The less robust conclude the cleansing process with a
douche, needle, spray, or shower bath, graduated from warm to cold; and
the strong bather, by plunging into a bath of cold water, the object of
which is to contract and close the sweat-glands and pores of the skin
that have been swelled and opened by the high temperatures of the
calorific apartments. For these purposes a small room, with the various
appliances named, and a large chamber containing a more or less ample
plunge bath, must be provided. In small baths, provision for both these
operations is made in one general shampooing and washing room, where the
bather is "massed," rubbed down, washed, and takes the plunge or shower
bath. The plunge may, if thought advantageous, be placed partly in the
cool apartment and partly in the hot rooms, in which case, the bather
dives under a glazed partition of some sort, which, furnished with an
india-rubber flap dangling in the water, prevents the hot air of the
sudatorium from entering the cooling rooms.
The above description gives an outline of the cleansing and hygienic
processes, and of the nature of the requirements of those portions of
the bath devoted to their attainment. I have named them first as being
the most indispensable portion of the necessary suite of rooms, since
the bath may exist if it be merely in the form of an old Irish
"sweating-house," or a somewhat similar construction of the North
American Indian; but without the heated chamber and its appurtenances
there can be no bath.
The next important features to be considered are the dressing and
cooling rooms. Before entering the bath rooms proper, the bather must
divest himself of his clothing, and assume the bathing garment. The
dressing room or _Apodyterium_, and the cooling room or _Frigidarium_,
are generally made one and the same; but they may, with advantage, be
designed as separate and distinct apartments, the provision for dressing
and undressing consisting of a room or rooms with small dressing-boxes
around it. The frigidarium will then be a simple apartment designed for
the economical reception of the reposing couches, it being absolutely
essential that the bather rest awhile, after the bath, to allow the body
to gradually assume its normal temperature. Neglect of this precaution
may cause a renewal of perspiration, and possibly a "cold."
If a combined apodyterium and frigidarium be adopted, it must be fitted
with a number of divans to accommodate a given number of persons, or be
divided into smaller spaces with dwarf screens, each space receiving a
pair of couches. The divisions may be effected by more or less elaborate
and ornamental wooden partitions. In ladies' baths more privacy must be
observed. Each lady bather should have a private dressing and reposing
room, even if only formed by dwarf wooden partitions.
An arrangement may be designed whereby the bather enters first a room
fitted with a number of dressing-boxes, and then passes through the
frigidarium on his way to the hot rooms, whence he returns after his
bath. Where the establishment is on a large scale, the arrangement may
lead the bather first to a room fitted with dressing-boxes, then to the
hot rooms, and finally, by way of the plunge bath, into a commodious and
separate cooling room.
Subsidiary to the cooling and dressing rooms should be others for the
attendants, manager, and also for the hairdresser and chiropodist, or,
at any rate, some sort of provision made for them. A pay office, with
counter and a set of lockers for the receipt of the bather's watch,
money, and other valuables, should be the first object that one meets on
entering from the vestibule connecting the establishment with the
street. In connection with this office may be the manager's room, and
provision for the supply of refreshments. If the bath be the property of
a company, a board room may be required. As on entering a bath the
visitor must immediately divest himself of his boots and shoes, in order
that he may not pollute apartments that are devoted to the attainment of
that cleanliness which is next to godliness, a raised step must be
provided at the entrance to the apodyterium to warn him to enter unshod,
or a portion of the combined cooling and dressing room may be divided
off by similar means. Provision for the boots and shoes must be in the
form of a set of pigeon-holes near the entrance, where, also, racks for
coats and hats must be placed.
The hair-dressing room and accommodation for the chiropodist--if he does
not practise his art at the couch of the bather--must adjoin the
frigidarium, as also should the attendants' room. A lavatory must be
placed in the frigidarium when used as the dressing room. Closet
accommodation should be accessible from the same apartment, but should
be perfectly cut off from it by means of a passage or lobby. The
greatest care should be taken to prevent these conveniences from
becoming offensive. Returning from the bath, the sense of smell is
peculiarly sensitive, and the slightest odour is detected. The worst
position for the closets is near the door by which the bather leaves the
lavatorium. Defects in this point may ruin an otherwise excellent bath.
If the cooling rooms and hot rooms be on separate floors, the closets
may be designed off a landing on the staircase. In the separate
accommodation for attendants and shampooers the same caution must be
observed.
Adjoining, under, or partly under, the laconicum must be placed the
heating apparatus in its chamber, with stokery and provision for fuel,
&c. The stokery should be large, light, and properly ventilated, and the
attendants should be able easily to communicate with the stoker. Of the
arrangements for heating and supplying the water to the lavatorium I
shall speak in another chapter. Laundry, linen and towel rooms, and a
drying room must be provided. They are important necessities, and should
not be cramped in dimensions.
CHAPTER III.
THE GENERAL DISPOSITION OF PLAN OF PUBLIC BATHS.
Although the process of the bath determines the position of the various
apartments in relation to one another, the exact disposition of the plan
must be governed by the shape of the ground to be covered, the nature of
the site and surroundings, and--if the bath be constructed in an
existing building--the amount of space allotted to it. The _relative_
position of chamber to chamber of the sudatorium, and of the latter to
the cooling rooms, must remain more or less constant; but the angle of
connection with each other, their shape, proportions, and floor levels,
must, together with the positions of the subsidiary apartments, be
determined by the exigencies of the site, and considerations of
convenience and economy. Frequently, the architect will be called upon
to design a bath in a given space in the lower floors of some existing
building. He may be given the ground or basement floor to make the most
of as best he can. His plan is thus considerably hampered. If the site
includes the basement and ground floor of an ordinary house, he may
arrange the offices and cooling and dressing rooms on the ground floor;
and the hot rooms, shampooing room, and bath rooms, in the basement.
Where possible, the hot rooms should be pushed out beyond the back wall
of the houses, and lighted from the top. In cities, the hot rooms will
often have to be in the actual basement. Where space is valuable a whole
house may be given up to baths if the floors be made fire and heat
proof. The basement may be devoted to hot rooms and shampooing rooms,
the ground floor to offices and dressing rooms, and the first floor to
cooling rooms. Ladies' baths, again, can be arranged on the floors
above, and both baths can be heated from one apparatus. In a bath where
three floors are available, the first floor may be devoted to extra
cooling and dressing rooms. In inexpensive sites the bath may be all on
one level. This is the most convenient arrangement, but in large cities
is generally too costly. The Hammam and Savoy baths, in London, are,
however, all on one level, the former being practically all above
ground, and the latter constructed in the basement of an existing
building.
The London Hammam was the first public Turkish bath erected in this
country, and owes its existence to the fervid zeal of the late David
Urquhart. It was erected in 1862, from the designs of the late Somers
Clarke. The bath rooms proper are modelled on the Eastern plan, and have
quite an Oriental effect, with the stars of stained glass sparkling in
the sombre domed tepidarium. In this bath the office is arranged in the
old building in Jermyn Street, adjoining which is the combined
frigidarium and apodyterium, a structure of wood, originally intended as
a temporary building only. This is covered with an open-timbered roof,
and divided into nave and aisles by cut-wood posts, and lighted by a
clerestory. These posts form the divisions of the divans, which are
separated from one another by ornamented wood partitions worked in an
Eastern manner. Connected by double doors with this apartment are the
hot rooms. The main room--a very moderately-heated tepidarium--is a
square on plan, with splayed angles, over which rises a dome of
brickwork. On either side of this square, and connected with it by the
horseshoe arches supporting the dome, are transept-like apartments, used
as portions of the tepidarium, similar adjuncts existing at the ends and
joining on the one hand the frigidarium, and on the other a heated
smoking saloon, which occupies a position corresponding to that of a
Lady-chapel in this very ecclesiastical-looking plan. On either side of
this saloon are two calidaria. A drying room and laundry are arranged
over the smoking saloon, and w.c.'s, &c., are placed at the end of the
latter apartment. In the splayed angles supporting the dome are doors
leading to four apartments--two used as hot rooms of different
temperatures, and the others as a washing-room and a shampooer's
waiting room. Under the dome there is an extensive platform of marble
slabs, beneath which is the douche room, reached by a short flight of
steps. The plunge bath is placed, partly in the tepidarium, and partly
in the frigidarium, with an arrangement to prevent the transmission of
the hot air, such as I have herein before explained. In the centre of
the frigidarium is a little marble fountain. One of the divans is
partitioned off for the accommodation of the chiropodist. A gallery is
provided for the hairdresser, and connected with a shop in Jermyn
Street. The ground sloping considerably, a descent of a few steps has to
be made to reach the frigidarium from the street. A refreshment bar is
placed in the frigidarium. The manager's room is on the second floor,
adjoining the old building, and has a window overlooking the
frigidarium.
The Hammam was the first public Turkish bath erected in this country,
and the Savoy (Fig. 1) is one of the latest and largest, and also on one
level. It was designed by Mr. C. J. Phipps, F.S.A., to suit the basement
of an existing building. Entering from Savoy Hill, a short passage
conducts to a staircase leading to the vestibule, where are provided
rails for hats and coats. The counter of the ticket-office is placed at
the entrance to the frigidarium, and near this office is the committee
room--the bath being the property of a private company. In vaults
projecting under the street, provision is made for an engine and dynamo.
The frigidarium serves also as the apodyterium, and is cut up into
divans by ornamental wood partitions. Connected with it is a saloon for
the hairdresser and chiropodist, and an attendants' room. A lavatory is
provided in a recess. Access is gained to the hot rooms through double
doors. The plunge bath is placed partly in the hot rooms and partly in
the frigidarium. The tepidarium is divided by arcades into miniature
nave and aisles. Two subdivisions at the end of the tepidarium lead to
the calidarium, adjoining which is the heating apparatus, fitted with
two of Messrs. Constantine's "Convoluted" stoves. Access to the stokery
is gained by a passage at the end of the tepidarium. The shampooing
room is placed off the cooler end of the tepidarium, dwarf walls
separating it from the latter apartment, as also from the lavatorium.
Here, there are six marble basins, corresponding with the six marble
slabs in the shampooing room. A small chamber is screened off the
lavatorium to accommodate the douche and spray. A passage leads from the
douche room to the attendants' room, by way of the laundry. Off this
passage, and approached by doors from two of the divans, are the w.c.'s,
&c., for the bathers' use. Provision for the supply of refreshments is
made at the back of the office. This bath is designed in an Eastern
style.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
--PLAN-OF THE-SAVOY-TURKISH-BATHS--
Turkish Baths, Savoy Hill, London.]
In the generality of modern baths, the frigidarium forms also the
apodyterium. This arrangement is economical of space, and has been
found, in practice, the most convenient for bathers; but there is much
to be said in favour of a separate and distinct cooling room, such as
that at the Camden Town Turkish Baths. Erected from the designs of Mr.
H. H. Bridgman, F.R.I.B.A., these baths are specially noteworthy for
their spacious frigidarium and ample plunge bath. Entering from the
street, a corridor conducts to a short flight of stairs leading to the
office. Adjoining this is an apodyterium, fitted with two ranges of
dressing-boxes, one above the other, a gallery forming the floor of the
upper tier. From hence a short staircase leads to the door of the
tepidarium, at right angles to which is the calidarium. Adjoining the
tepidarium is a combined shampooing and washing room, a door in which
opens into a chamber containing a plunge bath of quite exceptional
dimensions. A staircase leads to the door of the lofty and spacious
cooling room. This is lighted from the top, and contains a fireplace, a
feature usually omitted in cooling rooms, and really superfluous, though
adding greatly to cheerfulness of aspect in the winter. From this
frigidarium the bather can return to his dressing-box by way of a lobby.
Thus he makes a complete round, and does not meet the incoming bathers
on the staircase to the tepidarium.
The latest built elaborate commercial baths in London are those of
Messrs. Nevill in Northumberland Avenue (Fig. 2). They were designed by
Mr. Robert Walker, F.R.I.B.A., and comprise both ladies' and gentlemen's
baths, though, as at the old Pompeian _Balneæ_, the former set are
ungallantly cramped into a very small space. They occupy a corner site,
and the entrance to the gentlemen's bath is formed at the rounded angle.
In the vestibule is the usual cashier's office, and provision for hats
and coats. From the vestibule the combined cooling and dressing room is
entered, after passing the boot room on the left and the refreshment bar
on the right. Between the boot room and the staircase is the
hairdresser's room. Dwarf wooden partitions divide the cooling room. Off
a landing on the staircase are a lavatory and w.c.'s and toilet-table.
The staircase leads to the first floor--where are provided extra
couches--and to the bath rooms in the basement. The first floor is
practically a gallery. In the basement are three hot rooms, the
tepidarium being an elegant apartment elaborately adorned with marbles
and rich faïence. A heated smoking room adjoins the second hot room.
There are in this bath three shampooing rooms--an arrangement conducing
greatly to privacy. A douche room and plunge bath are provided in the
angle of the building. Vaults under the street are utilised as a
laundry, attendants' room, meter room, and engineer's shop, and as
store-rooms.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.
Turkish Baths, Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross.]
The ladies' baths partly adjoin the gentlemen's, and are partly
separated by an area. They are entered from the side street. On the
ground floor is the pay-office and cooling room. Additional couches are
provided on the first floor, where is also an attendants' room. In the
basement are three hot rooms and two shampooing rooms. A washing room,
shower bath, and plunge bath adjoin the shampooing rooms. The hottest
rooms of both sets of these baths are within a few feet of each other.
Each, however, has its separate and distinct furnace. A passage formed
by the area allows access to the stokery and furnace chambers.
In Messrs. Nevill's baths at London Bridge the cooling rooms, &c., are
in the basement, and the bath rooms proper in a sub-basement.
Bartholomew's baths at Leicester Square are an excellent example of a
compactly-arranged double set of baths. The various apartments are
designed one above the other on different floors, the area of the
building being limited. On the ground floor, as usual, are the pay
office and a combined cooling and dressing room, and an attendant's
room. In the basement are the bath rooms, arranged _en suite_--first a
shampooing and washing room, containing, also, in a very compact manner,
the plunge and shower baths; next is the tepidarium; then the smaller
second hot room; and, lastly, the smallest hot room of a very high
temperature. The heating chamber is placed adjoining this. The principle
of its construction is that generally adopted in the baths erected under
the late Mr. Bartholomew's direction, viz. a furnace with a coil of thin
iron flue-pipes, radiating, in a measure, a certain amount of heat
directly into the hot rooms. The bath rooms are divided from one another
by glazed wood partitions, as distinct from the solid walls dividing
baths like the Hammam and Savoy. A consideration of these two methods of
dividing the hot rooms, does not, however, concern us here. A staircase
from the entrance vestibule leads to the ladies' baths on the second and
third floors, where also are manager's and other private rooms.
Broadly speaking, baths may be divided into two classes, viz. those in
which the various apartments are arranged _en suite_, and those
irregularly planned. Where possible the former arrangement is
preferable, as, with the hot rooms in a line, the circulation of air is
facilitated. Fig. 11 is a section of a set of hot rooms arranged _en
suite_; and the baths at Figs. 24 and 25, in Chapter VIII., are planned
on this principle.
As I have said above, where a basement and ground floor are available,
and a little space can be gained at the back of the existing building,
the office, cooling and dressing rooms can be arranged on the ground
floor, and the bath rooms proper on the basement level, but with light
and air above. If the site be an ordinary narrow-fronted town house,
and the bath an unassuming one, the plan may be arranged after the
manner of Mr. Joseph Burton's baths (Fig. 3), in the Euston Road,
London. Here a pair of ordinary town dwelling-houses are pressed into
the service of the bath. The basement and ground floors are devoted to
the baths, the upper floors forming a private hotel. On one side are the
gentlemen's, and on the other, the ladies' baths. Entering the former,
we find a space on the ground floor, fronting the street, serving as an
office. Adjoining this is a range of dressing-boxes, and further on a
cooling room, excellently lighted by a large window forming the whole
end of the apartment. From this little frigidarium a marble staircase
leads to the door of the tepidarium, formed at basement level at the
back of the houses. This chamber is lighted by means of a ceiling-light
constructed in the form of a small, flat dome, with stained-glass stars
set therein. A marble seat runs round the whole of this chamber. On one
side of the staircase is placed the calidarium, and, on the other, the
combined shampooing room and lavatorium, a door from the latter forming
an exit for the visitor who has completed his bath. At one end of the
shampooing room is a chamber containing the cold plunge bath and needle
bath. A door from hence leads to a staircase conducting to the
furnace-chamber. A laundry is provided at the head of these stairs. The
furnace-chamber is placed under the further end of the calidarium. The
baths for ladies are arranged on a very similar plan. The gentlemen's
baths are among the earliest erected in this country, and still form a
most compact and convenient institution. They were designed by Mr.
James Schofield. The illustration shows the ladies' baths. The ceilings
of the hot rooms are not indicated on the section.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.
Turkish Baths, Euston Road, London.]
The whole of the baths mentioned in this chapter are the property of
private individuals or companies. The number of baths provided in this
country under Act of Parliament or by civic corporations is so small,
and their size and design so insignificant, that it would be waste of
space to describe them here. They are unworthy of the nation. One of the
best is the pretty little bath provided on the first floor of the public
bath-house recently erected by the Corporation of Stockport. The fine
new baths at Bath erected from designs by Major Davis, the city
architect, do not include a Turkish bath. It must be admitted that some
slight increase in the amount of attention paid by corporate bodies to
bath-building is latterly to be noticed, and a few years may possibly
see a great advance in this direction. That this may indeed be so should
be our sincere hope, since the lack of fine public baths is a standing
disgrace to a nation that prides itself upon its cleanliness.
In Germany, considerable attention has been bestowed upon the design of
the Turkish bath, many excellent baths having been built in the more
complete bath-houses of the Empire. Well-arranged Turkish baths are to
be found in the baths at Nuremberg, Hanover, and Bremen, the latter
planned with both a first and second class frigidarium to the one set of
bath rooms. The plan, however, has nothing to recommend it, and in this
country would be useless. The Nuremberg bath is handsomely planned, and
has a spacious frigidarium. It is placed in a building comprising
ladies' and gentlemen's swimming baths, shallow baths, and a Russian
bath. In many of the hydropathic establishments (_Kurbäder_) of Germany,
will be found excellent Turkish baths. A sumptuous double set of bath
rooms is provided in the _Friedrichsbad_ in Baden-Baden, which was
erected at a cost of about 100,000_l._ The Turkish baths are placed on
the ground floor, and in other floors are provided baths of every kind.
Each set of rooms for the ladies' and gentlemen's Turkish baths
comprises undressing room and cooling room, two sudorific chambers,
shampooing room, douche room with cold plunge bath, and a separate
chamber with warm plunge. Adjoining the shampooing room are the warm and
hot rooms of the Russian bath. Between the two sets of bath rooms is
placed a handsome circular swimming-bath, and adjoining, the
_Wildbad_--a deep, full bath of warm mineral water.
One of the most elaborate Turkish baths erected, in modern times, is
that on the Praterstern, at Vienna, which cost, in round numbers,
125,000_l._ The building comprises ladies' and gentlemen's Turkish and
Russian baths, and includes a residential block for those taking a
course of baths. The whole of the arrangements are on a most sumptuous
scale. The cooling room of the gentlemen's baths measures no less than
35.3 metres long, and 10.5 broad. There are both warm and cold plunge
baths, besides a fine circular _piscina_, in a circular domed chamber.
Similar provisions are made for the ladies on a smaller scale. Though
plain and somewhat heavy in external design, the building internally is
resplendent with tiles, marble, and ornamental woodwork.
CHAPTER IV.
A DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE BATH.
It is scarcely necessary to say anything more as to the subsidiary
apartments of a Turkish bath. Such adjuncts as the entrance hall and
vestibule, the pay office, refreshment department, laundry and
drying-rooms, hairdressing and attendants' rooms, and other minor
provisions, are obviously simple matters, requiring little or no
detailed explanation. Sufficient has already been said about them to
enable the architect, assisted by the drawings given, to design them
with convenience and economy. The features peculiar to the bath are
those requiring careful consideration. It is upon the design of the hot
rooms, the cooling rooms, and the washing rooms that the success or
non-success of a new bathing establishment depends, and too much study
cannot be given to these apartments.
THE SUDORIFIC CHAMBERS.
These are now generally required in a suite of three--"first, second,
and third hot." The first is the tepidarium, and must be by far the
largest of the three, since in it the greater number of bathers will
assemble at one time. The last must be the hottest room--the
laconicum--and need only be a very small one, as but few bathers use
it, and that, generally, for a very short time. The second hot room
should be about midway, in size and temperature, between the first and
the third. Of a given area allotted to the hot rooms, from one-half to
two-thirds may be devoted to the tepidarium, and from one-third to
one-half to the super-heated rooms, always remembering that it is well
to err on the side of providing a large and roomy tepidarium. Of the
space allowed for the smaller rooms, one-quarter to one-third may be
given to the hottest, and the remaining space to the second hot-room,
or calidarium.
The hot rooms, it should be remembered, are strictly bath rooms, and
must be treated as such; that is to say, the whole of the floors, walls,
ceilings, partitions, and fittings, must be capable of being frequently
cleansed with water. The choice of materials to be employed for lining
the walls, &c., is therefore limited. And in two ways. For not only must
they be of this washable nature, but they must be of a character to
resist the influence of the heat. Happily, this is an age of
glazed-ware and vitrified goods of every description. Glazed and
fire-burnt bricks and tiles, terracottas, faïence, and pottery
generally, are now so extensively manufactured that there is little
excuse for not constructing a bath throughout of materials at once
washable and unaffected by high temperatures. Still, in baths where
rigid economy must be studied, and lowness of cost is the great object,
_plaster_ may be placed upon the walls of the hot rooms, and in its way
will answer admirably, and be fairly washable. It has even one
advantage--it does not become unbearably hot to the touch, should the
bather lean against the walls, whereas, with a highly glazed surface the
walls become burning hot, and need lining with a dado of felt or other
non-conducting substance. And since this latter method overcomes the
objection named, the best possible material for lining the walls is
glazed brickwork. In cases where elaboration is desired, they may be
lined with marbles and faïence. With a judicious selection of colours,
however, a very pleasing appearance can be given by the employment of
simple glazed brickwork, and at a very moderate cost.
The flooring in cheap baths is admirably formed by simple unglazed tile
pavement over concrete. A slight roughness is very agreeable to the
feet. Glazed tiles are inadmissible, as they become too hot for the
naked feet; and if the slightest moisture come upon them they are
rendered dangerously slippery. In elaborate baths, marble, and marble
mosaics may be used, but the surface must not be too smooth. In
providing floorings, the greatest care should be taken to avoid anything
liable to become slippery to the tread.
Floors of ordinary-sized baths, where the soil is reliable, may be of 6
in. of concrete, with mosaics or tiles laid in cement. The benches for
reclining and shampooing must be built up from this with half-brick
risers and glazed fronts, having weathered marble slabs with rounded
nosings, as illustrated at Fig. 3.
The ceilings of the fire and heat-proof floors, which, when there are
other apartments above, _must_ be provided over the hot rooms, may be of
plaster. But the heat at the ceiling level is very great, and the
plaster here rapidly darkens and blackens, and in this state looks
anything but attractive in a place where the mere suspicion of
uncleanliness is nauseating. If employed (and this remark also applies
to plaster on walls), it should be used in the simplest manner possible,
without the slightest attempt at modelling the surface. Enamelled iron
may be used, with effect, for ceilings. The little laconicum is best
covered with a flat vault, the soffit being of glazed bricks, and the
springing being brought down below the main ceiling level.
Fire-proof floors over hot rooms may be of any design that is also
heat-proof. The main point is to have a sufficient thickness of
concrete, and the iron joists and cross girders well buried therein.
Ordinary floors may be rendered heat-proof by partially filling the
space between ceiling and floorboards with sawdust or sheets of
slag-wool laid on boarding nailed to fillets on the joists. The sawdust
should be filled up to the top of the joists; over this a layer of thick
felt, and the boarding above. This, however, is only a makeshift when
compared with a solid floor of concrete.
When the hot rooms are in a basement in the open, they may be
top-lighted, and the ceiling above need not be a heavy fire-proof
construction. A sufficient air space, however, must be provided between
the ceiling and roof, to prevent irradiation of heat--a remark that
applies also to anything in the shape of a window in the sudatorium. It
must be double, or look into an area covered with pavement lights. In
the case of a top-lighted room there must be a ceiling-light and a
skylight.
Where the hot rooms are constructed quite above ground, consideration
must be given to the prevention of loss of heat by radiation. This may
be effected by providing thick hollow walls, the cavity being often
usefully employed for the extraction of the vitiated air.
Heat permeating other apartments and neighbouring premises is a frequent
source of trouble to the builder of a Turkish bath, but is always the
result of want of study of the subject on the part of the designer. The
evil may be successfully combated if it be resolved that no hot room,
shampooing room, or lavatorium shall be constructed without a thick
concrete floor above, and that the furnace chamber be perfectly and
completely insulated. Should the walls of the hot rooms adjoin
apartments to which it is urgently necessary that the heat should be
prevented from being transmitted, they may be rendered heat-proof by
building them hollow and filling the cavity with soot.
Double doors and lobbies must be employed to prevent the transmission of
the heated air to rooms where its presence would be injurious. To keep
the hot air of the bath-rooms from the cooling-rooms, &c., should be the
great aim of the architect. Many baths are rendered quite repulsive by
what I may perhaps term the "sudorific smell" that assails the nostrils
of the visitor entering the vestibule.
The space allotted to the sudatory chambers may be divided into the
various rooms, either by glazed brick walls or by framed and glazed
partitions; or again, they may be formed by a combination of solid
brickwork and glazed woodwork. Any piers in these rooms must be of
brickwork, iron columns being inadmissible. Masonry, too, must be
discarded throughout, or used with caution. Some stones--such as red
Mansfield--become black with exposure to the heat, and others fare still
worse. The employment of porous and absorbent materials must be guarded
against throughout this portion of the bath, as it should be remembered
that effete matters, particles of waste tissue, and possibly the germs
of disease, are continually being given off by the perspiring bathers,
and must be prevented from finding a lodgment.
The best woods for use in the hot rooms are close-grained and free from
essential oils. Mahogany is excellently adapted for the purpose, and so,
also, is teak. Pitch pine must be discarded altogether. Deal, when
employed, should be perfectly seasoned, and may then give trouble from
the exudation of turpentine.
The partitions, and the doorways in them, must be so placed as to govern
the flow of hot air. So long as the main divisions be planned with this
end in view, the separate rooms may be divided and broken up as the
architect may fancy. But the constant flow of the heated air from the
inlet in the hottest room towards the lavatorium must not be interfered
with by recesses, nooks, and corners, or anything that would cause the
current to stagnate. And here we may see the practical advantage
possessed by a bath where the hot rooms are _en suite_, and in a line
with one axis. For here the air sweeps uninterruptedly through the
different chambers without eddying around corners and stagnating in
recesses far out of the main stream.
The doorways in the partitions should not be too lofty. They should not
be hung with doors, as anything necessary in this way will be amply
supplied by depending curtains.
_Glazing_ in the hot rooms requires care. The glass will expand
considerably with the heat, and, what is more, if the furnace fire die
out rapidly at any time, will contract and fracture. This difficulty,
however, is the result of bad management, and does not concern the
architect, unless, indeed, it be the result of improper fixing. Even
moderate-sized sheets of glass should be carefully fixed in chamois
leather with screwed beading, _putty_ being wholly inadmissible. The
sheets of glass should not be of too large dimensions. Rolled glass will
be found the cheapest in the end, as inferior qualities, where
homogeneity of texture is wanting, will crack and split in all
directions. Lead glazing should be altogether discarded.
No provision for draining the hot rooms is necessary, as they must, when
in use, be kept free from moisture. The floor may, however, if thought
desirable, be laid with an imperceptible fall the way the water would be
swept when cleansing--viz. towards the lavatorium.
As the best position for a bather to assume in the sudatorium is one
approaching to the horizontal, a bath cannot be considered complete
unless a liberal number of marble-slabbed benches be provided. These
should run round the solid walls, the risers of the benches being formed
of brickwork--glazed, faced with tiles, or plastered--and white marble
slabs set thereon. These slabs cannot be less than 24 in. wide, and must
be of the ordinary seat height--not lower. In the risers must be
provided a liberal number of "hit-and-miss" ventilator gratings, the
vitiated air finding its way from the space beneath the slabs in the way
designed, which may be into surrounding areas, into hollow walls, or
into a flue or flues running the whole height of the building.
The air at the floor line and that at the ceiling level being of vastly
different temperatures, it follows that an arrangement might be designed
whereby the benches might be stepped in three or four rows, and, by
ascending, the bather could select any temperature he might choose. Such
an arrangement was often employed in the baths of the ancient Romans,
and has been tried in modern institutions; but it should be avoided. The
expirations from the lungs and the exudations from the bodies of the
bathers _fall_, and it therefore follows that all below the first tier
would be breathing air polluted by those above them. The system,
therefore, stands condemned.
As regards height, the sudorific chambers should not be too lofty, or
they cannot, on the ordinary hot-air plan, be heated with due economy.
The vastness of the old Roman tepidarium would have been impracticable
under this system; but with the heat radiating direct from the walls and
the floors, there was no difficulty. It is far better to have a
comparatively low chamber with a constant stream of freshly-heated air
passing through it, than a lofty one with a sluggish current. From 10 to
15 or 16 ft. may be taken as moderate extremes of height in a public
bath. The small third hot room will be less lofty if the heating-chamber
be placed under it; for by raising the floor of the laconicum a few
feet, so as to necessitate ascending to it by a few steps from the level
of the tepidarium, one can more economically construct the furnace
chamber.
This latter, which I have more particularly described and illustrated in
the chapter on heating and ventilation, should, if the system adopted be
on the ordinary hot-air principle, be so placed that an abundant supply
of fresh pure cold air can be obtained for the furnace, which, when
heated, can be delivered into the hottest room above, not less than 5
ft. from the level of the floor of that chamber, and, also, where a
smoke flue of ample section can be constructed. The heated air may be
delivered through the gratings in the walls of the laconicum, or a shaft
of glazed brickwork, of rectangular section, may be constructed against
the end wall and coped at the required level--5 ft. or more above the
floor line. Should the exigencies of the site separate the furnace
chamber from immediate connection with the hottest room, the heated air
must be conducted from the former to the latter by means of a large
shaft or shafts of glazed brickwork. Similar means may have to be
employed to bring the cold air to the heating-chamber, and at the mouth
of this shaft some provision must be made for filtering the air before
it is brought into contact with the heating surfaces of the furnace.
Horizontal and inclined flues for conducting hot or cold air may be
carried from point to point on rolled iron joists having tooled York
slabs set thereon, the flues being constructed of 4-1/2 in. brickwork
with glazed face internally, and covered with tooled York slabs.
Provision must be made, in such flues, for effective cleansing, by means
of iron air-tight doors.
THE LAVATORIUM AND SHAMPOOING ROOM.
The lavatorium and shampooing room now engage our attention. In
elaborate baths they may, for the sake of effect, be distinct
apartments, while, where strict economy must be studied, they may be
comprised in one room; and where, again, space is extremely valuable,
the plunge bath and douche may be also included. If the first
arrangement be adopted, the shampooing room must be connected with the
tepidarium, and the lavatorium placed next. Where the combination
apartment is used, it will take the position of the shampooing room.
Practically, the combination arrangement is the best. It is putting the
bather to needless and undesirable trouble to require him to move from
one apartment to another during the washing process.
The suite of washing and shampooing rooms may be arranged in either one
of the following ways, according to the pretensions and requirements of
the establishment:--(1) A shampooing room, a lavatorium, a douche room,
and a plunge bath chamber; (2) a combined shampooing and washing room,
and a combined douche and plunge bath chamber; (3) several small
combined shampooing and washing rooms, a douche room, and a plunge bath
chamber; (4) an apartment comprising shampooing slabs, washing basins,
douche, &c., and a plunge bath.
A single shampooing room does not present a very complicated problem to
the designer. The chief object to be borne in mind is that the
shampooers require "elbow-room," and their patient in a convenient
position to allow of their practising their art. As this is no light
task--if properly performed--it becomes of urgent moment that the
apartment should be no less perfectly ventilated than a sudorific
chamber. In a vitiated atmosphere, no shampooer can work well for a
prolonged period, and, moreover, pure air is as necessary for the
bathers when in these places, as when they are in the hot rooms.
The shampooing benches may be similar in description and size to those
in the hot rooms. A width of 2 ft. is an ample provision, since the
shampooer can more conveniently work with the bather as near him as
possible. The benches may be constructed in a similar manner to those
before described. They must be arranged on plan so that the shampooer
has ample room, whilst at the same time space is not extravagantly
wasted. The benches must be topped with white marble slabs. They may run
round the wall, or be placed at right angles to them; or, again, if
found more convenient, they may be altogether isolated. Similar means of
ventilating the shampooing and washing rooms as the hot rooms must be
provided. The vitiated air must be extracted at the floor level, as the
temperature here must be maintained considerably above that of respired
air.
Movable wooden-framed marble-topped benches may be substituted for
those of a permanent type; but the plan has nothing to recommend it
except lowness of cost.
The separate lavatorium need not be so large as its adjoining shampooing
room, as here the bathers will not recline, but sit or stand before
washing-basins, to which must be conducted the flow pipes of hot water,
and branches from the cold water supply pipe. These basins--which may be
of glazed earthenware if solid marble cannot be afforded--should be
large and capacious. Of water-fittings I shall speak under the head of
"Appliances."
In a combined shampooing and washing room the benches and basins will be
required together. The basins may be fixed under a hole in the marble
slabs, or affixed to the walls, as may be convenient. Whilst arranging
the position of the benches with regard to the room, and the basins with
regard to the benches, it will be as well to remember the postures that
the bather assumes whilst being shampooed--viz. 1st, sitting; 2nd, on
the back; 3rd, reverse. The basin must be so placed with respect to the
slab that the shampooer may, without altering his position, take water
from the basin with his handbowl, and pour it over the bather. A
shampooer cannot well work with less than 5 ft. 6 in. between his slab
and that of his adjoining fellow, when the slabs are at right angles to
the wall and the adjoining shampooer is also working in the same space
between the two benches. Where the room is long and a row of benches are
placed at right angles to the wall, the shampooers have each their
separate space to work in. Each one can then manage in 4 ft., and the
slabs can be set out 6 ft. from centre to centre. Where the long sides
of the slabs are against the walls and the basins are sunk into the
slabs, there must be at least 7 ft. 6 in. from basin to basin. In the
case of slabs at right angles to the walls, the basins are best placed
between the slabs.
It is an excellent plan to provide a slight screen in one corner of the
washing room, behind which the entering bather may, if he chooses, have
a warm spray from a large rose before proceeding to the hot rooms.
In ladies' baths it is well to provide private shampooing recesses by
means of partitions of sufficient height, which may be of wood and
obscure glass. In this way any shampooing room may be rendered more
private. Upright marble slabs will often be found useful in dividing the
benches.
The walls and ceilings of the apartments now under consideration may, so
long as there be a dado of glazed ware, be lined in the same way as the
hot rooms. But as regards flooring, still more care is required to
prevent slipperiness. The soap and water that will be plentifully spilt
around, renders this precaution needful. Moreover, provision must be
made for drainage.
The flooring may be of rough tile mosaic, or simple tiles. Marble is too
slippery, and glazed tiles are wholly inadmissible. Marble mosaics,
roughly set, may be employed. The fall to which the floor is laid must
be determined by the position of the gullies.
The drainage system of a hot-air bath is a most important consideration.
In a place where the occupants are, literally, _breathing at every
pore_, it is obvious that too much care cannot be taken to prevent all
possible odours, and the slightest suspicion of an escape of deleterious
sewer gases. The traps employed in the washing rooms should be of the
best possible design and material, and proof against the evil known as
"siphoning." The gullies above them are best placed adjoining one of the
ventilators in the walls, at the floor level, as then a current of air
sweeps over them and up the extraction flues. It is not always that an
opportunity is afforded to cut off the waste water from the drainage;
where the bath rooms are above ground, however, this should be done if
practicable. Where possible, an excellent plan is to construct a culvert
under the basement floor. In this the whole of the pipes can be
placed--the soil-pipes, the lavatorium and plunge bath wastes, &c., and
access gained to them by a manhole. By this means a cut-off could be
effected between waste-pipes and the sewerage system. The culvert itself
could be ventilated by connecting it with an extraction flue. This is
all costly; but the builder of a Turkish bath will do well to be
prepared to lay out a liberal sum to perfect the system of drainage of
the establishment, and in the end, when the public have appreciated the
attention bestowed, he will thank his architect for having impressed
upon him the necessity for this extra expenditure.
THE DOUCHE ROOM.
The douche room should be a small chamber adjoining the lavatorium, and
fitted with a circular needle bath with shower or douche above, and any
other kind of spray bath that may be required. It should not be a dark,
cold, uninviting hole. For this reason, and also because a corner is
admirably adapted to receive an appliance of the shape of a needle bath,
it is better, often, to fit it up in an angle of the lavatorium. But of
these additions I shall have much to say anon, as one of the most
important points about a bath is the arrangement of the water-fittings.
Needle baths will be found indicated, on the plans given in these pages,
by an incompleted circle.
THE PLUNGE BATH.
Though, according to medical authorities, this does not form a
_necessary_ appendage to the hot-air bath, it is yet a feature that
_must_ be provided in the least pretentious of public establishments.
Ever since, and long before, Cicero observed, in a letter to his brother
Quintus, "Latiorem piscinam voluissem ubi jactata brachia non
offenderentur," men who have taken the hot-air bath have loved the ample
plunge. But although it should be sufficiently large for any bather to
take a dive, and for an expert to take a true "header," it is a vast
mistake to overdo it, and construct a small swimming bath, out of all
proportion with the other features of the establishment. One does not
look for such an adjunct: it is a great expense to keep up, requires a
lot of space, and tempts many to stay too long in the cold water. All
purposes will be served by a bath which will allow the bather to swim
without touching the sides with his hands, and to dive along under
water without danger of striking his head at the other end before he
rises to the surface. Wherever possible, the bath should be quite 25 ft.
in length and at least 7 ft. wide. In inferior institutions it may be as
narrow as 4 ft. and proportionately shorter; but in such a bath one can
only flounder about, and healthy bathers will go elsewhere.
In deciding the position of the plunge bath there is one point to be
strongly guarded against, and that is, that it be not stowed away in a
damp, cold-looking, cellar-like place. Such a position may be all very
well when the proprietor wishes to conceal dirty water; but from every
other point of view it is highly objectionable. The wise man will bring
his bath forward into the lightest possible position, where its clear,
limpid waters will look enticing instead of repelling. For preference,
it should be placed where the bather will take it naturally, _en route_
to the frigidarium, as at the Charing Cross baths, previously
illustrated. In baths all on one level, it is convenient to place the
bath partly in the lavatorium and partly in the frigidarium; but, to
most persons, the necessity for passing under the inevitable partition
and flap spoils the full enjoyment of the plunge. If placed within the
frigidarium, and approached by a door from the lavatorium, some sort of
a screen should be provided over the bath, as, at times, the apparition
appearing at the above door, in full view of the occupants of the
cooling-room, is somewhat ludicrous.
The demands of decency must be borne constantly in mind by the architect
of a Turkish bath. If the bather, on leaving the plunge bath, finds
himself in the frigidarium, he must ascend the steps under hanging
towels. The arrangement that will be found the most convenient--a direct
importation from the East--is to suspend a hoop from the ceiling, and
from this hang cords attached to towels. The hoop can be swung by an
attendant over the end of the bath, and in it the bather can dry himself
and be wrapped in towels before proceeding to his couch.
Whether the plunge bath be placed in a separate chamber, in the
lavatorium, or partly in the frigidarium, its construction will remain
essentially the same. If not in shape and size, in other respects it is
a small swimming bath. The weight and pressure of the water must be
remembered. A good foundation must be prepared for the bath, with a
thick layer of concrete passing well under the side walls and covering
the whole floor. The side walls should be built of concrete and lined
with white glazed bricks. In certain soils, the excavation for the bath
may be puddled with advantage, but if properly constructed, this should
be unnecessary. The bottom of the bath need not be flat, as the most
economical method of constructing a plunge bath is to make its deepest
part about two-thirds of its length from the end at which the bather
enters. This may be about 4 ft. 6 in. in depth from bottom to
water-line. From this point the floor will slope towards either end,
gradually towards the entering end, and more rapidly towards the exit.
At either end, where the depth of water should be about 3 ft, must be
provided steps for ascent and descent. If the bath be not more than 6
ft. wide, these should occupy the whole width, and be of marble or slabs
of some cheaper material on brick bearers, or they may be built solid.
A coping of marble, stone, or purpose-made bricks must be placed on the
side walls; and, if the bath be in the cooling room, this may
advantageously be raised several inches to protect from splashing. On
the coping may be required metal standards and a neat hand-railing. A
water-supply pipe and screw-down tap, an overflow and a waste-pipe will
be needed, all of which I have more particularly specified hereinafter.
The plunge bath is at times a source of two difficulties--it may leak,
and it may be below the level of drain. The first evil is the result of
an error in design, or of bad workmanship; the latter is unavoidable.
The following method of constructing a plunge bath has been adopted with
perfect success:--On the bed of concrete prepared for its floor, erect
side walls of concrete, and on the floors and walls thus formed spread
two distinct layers of asphalt, covering all and running up to the
underside of coping. Against the sides build half-brick walls in cement,
with glazed face, and lay the floor with glazed bricks flat. The general
principles of this construction I show in the accompanying illustration.
Where the bath is lower than the drain, all that can be done is to drain
out as much as possible and pump the remaining water from a "sump"
provided in a suitable position. By raising the plunge bath chamber a
few feet, the bottom of bath may, in some cases, be just kept above the
drain level; but steps must then be placed between it and the
washing-room, and steps in such places are dangerous, being very liable
to become slippery.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
[Illustration: A Plunge Bath.]
THE FRIGIDARIUM OR COOLING ROOM, AND DRESSING ACCOMMODATION FOR BATHERS.
Dressing and cooling accommodation in a public bath may be provided in
one of the following ways:--1. A separate frigidarium and distinct
dressing room, arranged (_a_) in direct communication with one another,
or (_b_) connected by a lobby, corridor, or ante-room;--2. A combination
apartment arranged (_a_) with dressing-boxes around the walls, and
couches in the centre, or _vice versâ_; (_b_) with Oriental divans;
(_c_) with couches screened off in pairs or singly by dwarf wood
screens; (_d_) with a few private dressing-boxes, a few couches, and a
few lounges, and easy cushioned chairs; and (_e_) as a simple room with
couches placed therein, by the side of which the bather will undress,
and on which he will recline after his bath.
The first of these arrangements may be admirably adapted to
unpretentious establishments, where, however, it is wished to employ
separate rooms; the second (1, _b_) is only suitable for elaborate baths
of the highest class, in which it may be adopted with excellent and with
practical results. Of the combination arrangements (_a_) has little to
recommend it; (_b_) is expensive and extravagant of space, though it may
be made very effective in appearance and very pleasing and comfortable;
(_c_) is suitable for ladies' baths; (_d_) is very practicable, and
gives the apartment a pleasant, homely look; and (_e_) is best for cheap
baths, being the simplest arrangement possible, wholly unsuited,
however, to establishments of any pretension.
If the plan include a separate cooling room, it is nothing more than a
spacious, cheerful apartment, designed with a view to the reception of
couches, and the usual accessories designed in connection with it--the
refreshment room, hairdresser and chiropodist's saloon. If this separate
cooling room be provided, a distinct apodyterium, with little
dressing-boxes, must be designed. If the bath be small and easily
managed, curtains may be employed to screen those undressing; but if it
be a large establishment, with a number of bathers constantly dressing
and undressing, doors must be provided, and these must be under lock and
key in charge of an attendant. Each dressing-box must be fitted with a
seat, rack, and shelf; and looking-glasses, toilet-tables, and
lavatories for general use must be placed in the room, which must be
designed in direct connection with the frigidarium.
This should be spacious, light, lofty, and perfectly ventilated, the
vitiated air being here extracted at the ceiling level, since the
temperature at which the apartment will be kept is an ordinary
one--_over_ that of the exterior air when the weather is cold, and
_under_ when it is at all hot.
Where the cooling room and dressing room do not immediately adjoin, the
means of communication should be carefully studied, so that it may be
free from cross draughts of cold air, and so that it may be dignified
and room-like--not a mere passage. It may have the air of an ante-room,
but must not be crossed by entering bathers who have not divested
themselves of their boots or shoes. Slamming doors should be avoided,
having regard to the exposed condition of the bathers.
In spite of the theoretical and sentimental advantages of separate
cooling and dressing-rooms, a combined frigidarium and apodyterium seems
to have found favour latterly.
Personally, I would gladly enter a protest against the employment of the
combined cooling and dressing room as a decidedly uncleanly habit. It is
certainly not pleasant to know that, having obtained perfect physical
cleanliness, both inwardly and outwardly, one must return to couches
whereon previous bathers may, as likely as not, have, however
temporarily, deposited more or less of their underclothing or
superimposed raiment. But economy of construction is nowadays a question
that must be considered at every step, and the combination apartment
saves both space and materials, and is also economical as regards
attendance. Moreover, it must be confessed that a cooling room provided
with elegant and spacious divans, wherein the bather dresses and
undresses, may be made very pleasing to the eye and withal comfortable
and convenient. The dressing-boxes, too, of the separate apodyterium are
not conducive to the general sense of comfort.
In arranging the plan of a combined cooling and dressing room it is
necessary to first decide as to how the apartment will be
furnished--viz. which of the plans above mentioned shall be adopted.
This is much a matter of individual taste, though, as I have said above,
the divan is to be preferred in many cases. It is often well to provide
a cooling room of what may be called the "picturesque" order, or the
reverse of stiff formality. By this I mean such an arrangement as 2,
_d_. The bather can then choose between reclining in semi-privacy or in
the open, or, again, resting in an easy chair. With a handsome plunge
bath and a pretty little fountain, such rooms may be rendered very
attractive.
Whatever be the plan adopted, it must, I repeat, be carefully thought
out previously, and not left as an afterthought. The size of the
reclining couch will be found to be the governing feature. This should
be 6 ft. 6 in. long by 2 ft. 6 in. wide, or 6 ft. by 2 ft., according as
luxury or economy is the end in view. Next to this must be considered
the space allowed for each bather to dress in, and also the routes for
bathers and attendants. Four feet between the couches is a sufficient
space where couches are screened off in pairs.
Couches may be arranged in pairs or singly. _Two pairs_ of couches
screened off with only a small space between of 4 ft. or so is an
objectional arrangement. It is difficult to explain why this is so; but
the bather who has made one of four strangers thus closely penned up
will appreciate the objection. An arrangement of four couches must
expand into a spacious divan.
At Fig. 5 are shown different ways of arranging couches in the
frigidarium. A shows the objectionable arrangement spoken of; B is the
comfortable, spacious divan; C the method of placing couches in pairs;
and D is a private couch suitable for ladies' baths.
The floor of a cooling room must be boarded. In a bath where cost is
subordinate to excellence, a parquetry floor may be provided, and mats
employed, as cleaner than fixed carpets. The walls and ceilings may be
treated in any manner that may be chosen--plastered, papered, or
decorated with colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.
Methods of arranging Couches in Cooling Room.]
Any shaped room may be adopted as a combined frigidarium and apodyterium
so long as it fulfils the essential points--i.e. that it be spacious,
capable of easy and perfect ventilation, and of being kept cool, light,
and cheerful. In the cooling room the bather will often stay longer than
in any other apartment, and no pains should be spared to render it
healthy, comfortable, and attractive. The hygienic points to be attended
to are, that there be an abundant supply of fresh cool air and an
effective withdrawal of vitiated air; for the _cold-air bath_ in the
cooling room is, in its way, as all-important as the bath of hot air.
The freshness of the air is of equally vital importance, as much of the
_invigorating_ effect of the bath--that effect which to the minds of the
uninformed is _weakening_--results from submitting the heated skin to
volumes of cold air.[2] In arranging any screens or screen walls in the
cooling room, therefore, regard must be had to the method of
ventilation, that there be no stagnant corners and recesses. The scheme
of ventilation must be decided by the nature of the apartment and its
position. In most cases the air is best admitted through the windows,
fitted with fanlights falling backwards from the top, and extracted by a
powerful self-acting exhaust at the ceiling level. In some positions
extraction flues will have to be built, and, in others, flues of large
area must conduct to the source from which the fresh air is drawn. Under
certain circumstances perfect ventilation will not be obtainable without
the aid of a powerful blowing fan-wheel driven by a motor of some sort,
and running so as to exhaust the vitiated air. The means does not so
much matter so long as the end be gained, and an ample supply of cool
air obtained. A warm, close "cooling room" is worse than useless. In
such places the bather will break out into renewed perspiration, and lie
perspiring for hours, and become greatly weakened thereby, with a good
chance of taking a chill on leaving the establishment.
Cooling rooms will always remain sufficiently _warm_ in all weathers if
they be in any ordinary relation to the heated apartments; but in the
height of summer care is required to keep them sufficiently cool. Where
simple, everyday precautions will not suffice, the air itself must be
cooled, either by passing it through a cold chamber or over ice-boxes in
inlet tubes, or through a water-spray. Only in exceptional cases,
however, is it necessary to resort to such measures, as, contrary to the
teachings of theorists, it has been found in practice that the proper
temperature for the cooling room of a hot-air bath varies in different
states of the weather, and should not remain constant all the year
round.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: Not _draughts_. The ancient Romans, it is curious to note,
would walk in the open air after the bath; and both the _Frigidarium_ of
the Romans and the _Mustaby_ of the Turks were, and are, open to the
heavens.]
CHAPTER V.
HEATING AND VENTILATION.
Of the many questions that merit attention and study in connection with
the Turkish bath, all sink into insignificance by the side of that of
the _heating_ and the _nature of the heat_ supplied in the sudatory
chambers. Other things being equal, it is, after all, the _heating_ that
distinguishes one bath from another on the score of excellence. The
heating of the "bath" is the Alpha and Omega of the whole matter.
There are two ways in which heat may be applied to the body--by direct
radiation, as from the sun or an open fire; and by convection, as
through a volume of air.
The ancient Roman bathers, with floors below them which rested upon
_pilæ_, or little pillars of brick or tile, around which the flames and
hot gases from the furnace played, and surrounded by heated, hollow
walls, evidently submitted themselves to the action of a heat that must
have been of a purely radiating character.
So, also, in a less perfect manner, the Turks, who employ flues running
beneath the floors, and the Moors, who adopt stoves visible to the
bathers.
Theoretically, radiant heat in a bath is vastly superior to that which
is transmitted to the body through the medium of the air. Its virtues
have been extolled by David Urquhart and other eminent authorities on
the bath. "There is a difference," says Mr. Urquhart, "between radiating
and transmitted caloric.... I cannot pretend to treat of this great
secret of nature; to work out this problem a Liebig is required. This I
can say, that such heat is more endurable than common heat. There is a
liveliness about it which transmitted heat lacks. You are conscious of
an electrical action. It is to transmitted heat what champagne is to
flat beer.... Let us drop, if you please, the word 'bath': it is 'heat.'
Let us away with that absurdity 'hot-air': it is the application of heat
to the human frame." Elsewhere this writer has pointed out that the
terms _thermæ_, _sèjac_, and _hammâm_--the names given to the bath by
the Romans, Moors, and Orientals proper--mean _heat_, and not "hot-air"
or "hot-air bath."
My own studies, observations, and experience lead me to the conclusion
that the direction in which we shall improve the "Turkish bath" will be
in the way of providing sudatories that shall give off pure, radiant
heat in such a manner that the whole surface of the body may be sensible
of a degree of heat, while the lungs may breathe comparatively cool
air--air that has not passed over the sides of a fiery furnace and been
suddenly raised to an enormous temperature, but which has received its
heat by a gentle and gradual process of warming. Under this system the
heat of which we are sensible is as the gentle Zephyr to rude Boreas or
the biting eastern winds. If we go into a kiln of brickwork, such as is
employed in firing clay goods, after the charge has been removed and
all fumes and odours have disappeared, we shall note the soft and balmy
nature of the heat that radiates directly from the walls and vaulting.
We are, to all practical intents and purposes, _in a Roman laconicum_.
The thick walls have been highly charged with caloric during the firing
of the bricks or other articles. They have absorbed vast quantities of
heat, and are now giving off the same to the enclosed air and to
ourselves standing within. In the old Roman bath the walls were charged
with caloric by means of innumerable earthen tubes lining the sides of
the laconicum, and covered with a peculiar plaster. But in both cases
the nature of the resultant heat is identical. It radiates to one from
all sides. There is no acrid biting of the face such as one feels in the
worst type of _hot-air_ baths; no unpleasant fulness or aching of the
head; and no panting or palpitating. Such is the "bath" of pure radiant
heat, a thing totally distinct from, and altogether of a different genus
to, the bath of heated air. And one might be pardoned for the enthusiasm
which would lead one to suggest that it is only in the supplying of this
kind of radiant heat in the modern bath that true and rapid progress can
be expected, and possibly that not until this great or
partial--according as the system of radiation and convection pertains in
existing baths--revolution has been effected, will the bath, at present
used by the few, become the custom of the many. Some day, peradventure,
this hypothetical method of employing pure radiant heat may be rendered
possible and practicable, and we may be placed in a bath where we shall
receive great heat whilst breathing a comparatively cool atmosphere,
and thus receive a measure of that electrical invigoration we experience
when, in some sheltered bathing cove, we have exposed our bodies to the
fiercest rays of the morning sun whilst yet we breathe the fresh, cool,
ozone-laden air.
Till modern invention, however, has provided us with this desideratum in
the heating of the bath, we must be satisfied with existing methods. And
unless something really practical is perfected, it is far wiser to rely
upon the system of heating by convection through the air--the principle,
generally adopted, of continuously passing large quantities of
freshly-heated air through the sudatory chambers; exposing, however, the
heating apparatus, so that a maximum of radiant heat may be obtained;
and carefully guarding against injuring the air whilst raising its
temperature. If only existing baths were in perfect harmony with this
principle, one would have little cause for complaint, and might the more
leisurely await the perfecting of the true radiating principle of
heating, which I am satisfied is the one upon which we must base all our
hopes for the future of the "Turkish" bath.
For practical purposes, it will suffice if the method of heating and
ventilating a bath on the hot-air principle be explained. This I shall
now do, and subsequently give plans and instructions for methods of
heating and ventilating on systems where, by the exposure of the heating
surfaces of furnaces, a large proportion of radiant heat is thrown into
the hot-rooms.
The necessary appliances, and arrangements for the heating and
ventilation of a bath on the ordinary hot-air principle comprise a
furnace in its chamber, with flues or shafts supplying cold, and drawing
off the heated air, and a stokery with provisions for firing and storing
coke, &c. Too often the stokery is unscrupulously cramped, and the life
of the stoker thereby rendered anything but pleasant. Its design is a
simple matter, and perhaps for this reason neglected. The arrangement
and construction of the furnace chamber requires care, and the selection
of a stove or furnace great judgment. As regards the latter feature, the
most important point to consider is the nature of the heating or
radiating surfaces. What will raise the air to the required temperature,
without in the process depriving it in any way of its vitalising
elements, and without adulterating it with either smoke and fumes from
leakage, or with particles of foreign matter given off from the material
employed in its construction?
There is nothing really better as a radiating surface than ordinary
firebrick. From this material a soft heat is given off, differing in
quality from that obtained from iron. An iron furnace, however, requires
less thought in design, gives less trouble in fitting up, and is cheap,
economical, and expeditious. Stoves, therefore, with an iron radiating
surface, have been largely adopted in the past, in spite of the
objection that, when super-heated, particles of metal are thrown into
the air of the hot rooms. Of iron furnaces there are many placed before
the public; but though all are doubtless suited to ordinary
requirements, there are few that are capable of creditably fulfilling
the conditions indispensable for the hygienic heating of the air of a
Turkish bath.
These conditions may be summarised as follows:--
1. A maximum of heating-surface, with a minimum of grate space.
2. Perfect immunity from the danger of leakage from the furnace into the
hot-air chamber or conduit.
3. Freedom from the defect of liability to overheat the air.
4. Inability to adulterate the air by throwing off matter from the
heating surfaces.
Such primary essentials must be constantly borne in mind by the designer
of furnaces for the Turkish bath. Their importance must be obvious to
all.
Of the many iron stoves, Messrs. Constantine's "Convoluted" stove has
been adopted the most frequently, as an eminently practical furnace for
the effective heating of the sudatory chambers. The appearance of this
stove is familiar to all architects, and it will be unnecessary, in
these pages, to minutely describe its construction.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.
View of a small Furnace Chamber, with portion of wall broken away to
show the "Convoluted" Stove.]
The method of constructing a furnace suitable for a small public bath
is, however, shown at Fig. 6. The excavations for stokery and heating
chamber being completed, and the position of the furnace determined a
solid foundation of concrete must be prepared, upon which the brickwork
to support the stove must be laid. At the same time, the foundations for
walls of furnace chamber, stokery, coke store, and the side walls for
the horizontal cold-air conducting flues will be prepared. These latter
must then be built in half-brick with glazed interior face, and the
furnace inclosed in similar work, as shown in perspective sketch. The
flues must be covered with York stone slabs 3 in. thick, up to within
three inches or so of the convolutions of the stove, at which distance
the side walls of the furnace must be erected, the back one similarly,
and the front one round the four projecting doors, which are,
respectively, the ash-pit door, the fire door, and two doors for
cleansing the horizontal smoke-box and interior of convolutions. The
furnace walls must be continued up to a few inches above the bend of
iron smoke flue, and then--if, as shown, the furnace be small--covered
with a 4-in. York slab in one piece. If the furnace be large, a flat
brick arch must form the covering, as at Fig. 8, where this arch
supports the flooring of the laconicum. The openings for the admission
of the heated air into the conduit leading into the hot rooms may be
either directly above, as shown in the last-named illustration, or in
the side, as in Fig. 6, with inclined flues. As a rule, it is more
economical, in heating on the principle now under consideration, to
place the furnace below the level of the hot rooms; but if desirable to
place both on one level, the back wall of the furnace chamber becomes
the party wall of the laconicum, and it must be stopped short of the
ceiling, and the air debouched over it.
In cheap baths the interior face of furnace chamber may be of stock
brickwork; but best glazed work should be adopted in good ones. All hot
and cold-air ducts should be similarly lined with glazed ware. In
first-class work the floors of horizontal and inclined flues should be
of white glazed tiles set in cement. Manholes must be provided for
cleaning when necessary. Every portion of furnace chamber, flues,
shafts, and conduits for hot and cold air must be "get-at-able" either
by means of manholes or by long brushes. Air-tight doors must be
indicated on the plans wherever this necessity demands them.
The iron smoke-pipe from furnace must be conducted to the smoke flue,
and the connection between furnace chamber and flue hermetically sealed.
The walls for a small furnace chamber need not be more than 4-1/2 in.
thick. Large furnaces require walls one-brick thick.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.
An Air Filter.]
The cold-air flues leading from either side of the furnace must be
conducted to their respective inlets. If possible, at least two inlets
should be provided, facing different ways: this with regard to the
possibility of certain winds drawing the air out where it is wanted to
enter. The openings should be vertical, like windows, and, in cities,
furnished with a solid frame and casement, fitted with louvres of plate
glass with polished edges. Between the rebate and the casement it is a
good plan to leave a space of an inch and a half for a movable
stretcher-frame holding several layers of "cheese-cloth" to filter the
air. The construction of such an air filter is shown at Fig. 7. The
glass louvres keep out the wet, and throw off coarse particles of
falling soot; and the provision of a movable stretcher permits the
cloths to be frequently changed for clean ones--a very important point,
though little heeded, if not, perhaps, wholly ignored.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.
Plans and Section of a Furnace Chamber, &c., for a Bath on the ordinary
Hot-air Principle.]
The position of air intake is a matter of great importance, especially
in large towns. It evidently is bad to draw a supply of air from the
bottom of an area. Even the position shown in Fig. 8 is not good: the
shaft should be carried higher. The best places for the intakes are
where there is always a current of pure air blowing, and away from smoky
chimneys. Theoretically, it would seem that the higher the level of
intake the better; but in cities, by going high we get among the
belching chimney-tops, even if we escape the stagnation below. Moreover,
a high inlet with a strong wind tending to exhaust the air in the shaft
might find the architect with the cold air sweeping through his bath,
and all the heated air rushing up the supply-shaft. A large
"lobster-back" automatically turning _towards_ the wind, would in many
cases prevent such a disastrous result. Even in low-level intakes, as I
have said, trouble will sometimes arise from the same cause. This may be
remedied by providing more than one inlet, so that only the one facing
the current of air will be employed, the other being closed, which could
be effected by fixing the glass louvres, spoken of above, on pivots, and
connecting them with a rod and adjustable rack. It would be a very
simple matter to make the wind itself automatically open and shut the
louvres.
The theory of the heating and ventilation of the hot rooms requires most
careful study, and the particular scheme to be adopted in any new bath
must be well considered with respect to the restrictions of the site. At
Fig. 8, I have endeavoured to show how to make the best of what is
perhaps a bad job: the site only admits of ventilation at a back area,
it is impossible to construct flues anywhere else, and the fresh air
must be drawn from the same area. On the ground floor are cooling and
dressing rooms; the bath rooms are in the basement and the furnace in a
sub-basement, reached from a passage at the end of the stairs for the
bather. Two convoluted stoves are shown in a vault; three air-inlets are
provided, and the foul air is drawn up into the smoke flues, two in
number, which, above, could join one another. Let us follow the air in
its passage through the bath. Entering at the intakes, any coarse
impurities are thrown off by the smooth louvres, and the tendency of
finer particles to rush in is checked by the stretched canvas
cheese-cloths. Thus deprived of its actually visible impurities, the air
passes through a longer or shorter conduit of glazed brickwork until it
reaches the horizontal flues running to beneath the furnace walls, along
which it is rapidly drawn, and, ascending between the walls and heating
surfaces and between the two adjacent heating surfaces, absorbs the
radiating heat and enters the laconicum by way of the rectangular shaft
constructed above the vault spanning the two stoves.
Questions of temperature I will omit for the present. The air, on
passing through the laconicum, will be practically pure, as it is in
such great bulk compared with the number of occupants of this
highly-heated chamber, and it will not be absolutely necessary to
provide ventilators. These should commence in the calidarium, and
should, in the scheme of ventilation here considered, be so disposed
that the nearer they are to the lavatorium and shampooing-room, the more
frequent will they become. The object of this disposition of outlets for
vitiated air is, that the cross currents thus created may not interfere
with the main flow from the heating chamber to the lavatorium. Were too
many ventilators to be placed near the hotter end of the sudatorium,
this stream would be diverted. Too much of the freshly-heated air would
flow out at these points, and the onward movement of the air would be
enfeebled. There would then be difficulty in maintaining the temperature
in the tepidarium and lavatorium.
In passing onward through the various rooms, two changes are wrought in
the air: it loses so much of the caloric with which it is charged for
every foot it travels, and it becomes laden with the exhalations from
the lungs of the bathers. A large proportion of carbonic acid is thrown
into the air, and as the normal temperature of the human body remains,
in a healthy person, at about 98° Fahr., and rises but a few points even
when submitted to the action of heat, these exhalations, in addition to
being heavier than air, are very much below the average temperature of a
sudatory chamber. Consequently they fall, and must be extracted at the
floor level.
The total area of the outlets for vitiated air should be about equal to
the area of the narrowest part of the shaft that conducts the fresh, hot
air from the heating chamber. Thus, supposing the latter to be 5
superficial feet, and the size of outlet ventilators a clear 12 in. by 3
in., there may be 20 ventilators disposed round the bath-rooms, say 4 in
the calidarium, 7 in the tepidarium, and 9 in the combined shampooing
room and lavatorium.
In the diagrams at Figs. 8 and 9 the foul-air conduit is the space
comprised under the marble-topped benches running round the hot rooms.
At the end of the laconicum they enter flues, which I have shown as
running side by side with the smoke flues.
Other methods of heating the air, besides those mentioned, include coils
of iron flue-pipes in a brick chamber--a principle that has been
frequently adopted in the past--and plain cylindrical iron radiating
stoves, such as employed at the Hammam in Jermyn Street.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.
Section of Hot Room, showing Foul-air Conduit.]
In the latter plan, however, a great expense is created by the large
number of furnace-fires to be kept constantly burning. An exposed stove
in a hot room, has, moreover, the objection to its use that it re-heats
the air in the bath, which should never on any account be done.
If the iron stove-pipe system is adopted, a furnace similar to the one
shown at Fig. 10 must be provided, and after an additional few feet of
brick flue the iron pipe would commence and turn back upon itself much
as the flue in the fire-brick furnace. Proper supports must be
provided, and the pipes must be stout and jointed together with
expansion joints, otherwise considerable difficulty will be found in
keeping a long length of flue pipe perfectly free from leakage. Furnaces
on this principle may be designed so that they throw a certain amount of
radiant heat direct into the hot-rooms, and they possess this advantage
over a mere stove, that they warm the air more gradually. The furnace
should be built adjoining the laconicum, the partition wall being of
4-1/2-inch glazed brickwork, having a large number of small openings
made therein by leaving void spaces as described further on for the
fireclay heating apparatus. Behind this wall the iron flue-pipe should
be placed, turning back upon itself, as described above, for perhaps
half-a-dozen times, and ending in the vertical brick flue. The furnace
itself should be of fire-clay, and so designed that its utmost heating
power may be economically employed in warming the incoming air, which
should pass over the furnace and iron flues, through the holes in
partition wall, and thus into the hot rooms. The flue, if of wrought
iron, should be rectangular in section, but if of cast-iron it should be
round.
The most economical way of obtaining a high temperature in a small,
inexpensive, and unpretentious private bath is by means of a common
laundry stove, with a longer or shorter length of iron flue in the
apartment. This is the cheapest and quickest method of raising the
temperature of a room for sudorific purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.
A Fireclay Heating Apparatus.]
To turn to methods of heating from a radiating surface of firebrick, at
Fig. 10 I have given the plan, elevation, and sections of a fireclay
heating apparatus. It is constructed wholly of fireclay--fireclay
bricks, quarries, and cement. In the main it consists of a long flue of
firebricks and slabs, which coils backwards and forwards over itself
till the desired amount of radiating surface is gained. Between the
coils are spaces for super-heating the air already warmed by passing
over the actual furnace and into the warm air chamber, the air passing
through by means of perforated bricks. The illustration shows a simple
furnace; but it would be an easy matter to improve upon this by
providing iron air-tight doors lined with fireclay, for cleansing flues
and air-chambers. The example given is only suited to heat a small
public bath. For a large set of hot rooms, a compound apparatus could be
constructed by placing an additional furnace in a sub-basement, the one
on the level of the sudatory supplying radiant heat, and the lower one
hot air. Two such apparatus might be placed one behind the other, end to
end, or might form the _sides_ of the laconicum; the last plan, however,
being the least to be recommended, as in such positions they would not
directly radiate their heat into the adjoining hot rooms.
The advantage of such a furnace as that shown is that it supplies
radiant heat of a most exhilarating kind, besides a proportion of heated
air, and from a fireclay surface, the employment of which renders it
absolutely impossible to overheat the air, or to contaminate it by
deleterious particles resulting from the decomposition of metal.
Moreover, the stoking of this class of furnace requires less arduous
attention than an iron stove. Its disadvantage is that, should the
temperature of the bath be allowed to fall markedly, it requires some
time for the extra heat to be made up again. Inasmuch, however, as fires
at public baths must be kept banked up overnight, this is not a matter
of importance. It is this very slowness of increase in temperature that
constitutes the safeguard against that overheated air, the presence of
which we can, with practice, detect by the smell in so many baths. The
difficulties involved in the construction of a furnace of this nature
relate to the prevention of cracking and consequent escape of sulphurous
fumes and carbon into the air. The very simplicity of the construction
of the flues and air-chambers constitutes the chief danger, as the
chances are that, unless the architect stands by and sees every joint
made, the work will be done badly. Absolutely faultless workmanship must
be employed throughout, and the fireclay materials must be literally of
the very best and soundest description. Every single joint must be
perfectly made with fireclay cement or paste. The fireclay bricks, &c.,
must be selected with regard to the amount of indestructible silica in
the clay, consistent with hardness and toughness. Homogeneity of
material must be obtained, having regard to expansion and contraction.
The same material used for the bricks, &c., worked into a paste, must be
employed for the joints.
The design for a furnace on the principle shown at Fig. 10 must be
prepared with constant regard to expansion and contraction in heating
and cooling. Should this warning be disregarded, fractures will result.
It will be seen, upon reference to the plans, that the block of flues
and air spaces is left quite free, to allow of any expansion, the
connection with the smoke-shaft being by means of an iron flue-pipe,
which, being provided in considerable length before passing through the
party-wall of laconicum and stokery, by its flexible nature permits any
slight movement in a vertical direction. If an "expansion" joint were
provided, there would be a sufficient length of iron pipe if it passed
direct from the junction with the heating apparatus into the stokery. So
much of the iron flue as is in the laconicum must be coated with
asbestos or some composition, or the heating will not be wholly by
firebrick. The junction of iron flue and heating apparatus is shown by a
cast-iron cap sliding over a projecting rim of fireclay, moulded into
the last quarry cover, similar to the way in which cast-iron mouthpieces
are fitted to retorts.
This heating apparatus is shown visible in the laconicum, but if thought
desirable it could be screened by a wall of glazed bricks--9 in. and
miss 4-1/2 in. The 4-1/2 by 3 in. holes can be arranged in diamond
patterns. This screen wall, however, cuts off a large quantity of
radiant heat.
The first flue past the actual furnace--shown with ordinary dead-plate,
raking fire-bars, ashpit, fire-door, and ashpit door for regulating
draught--has walls 4-1/2 in. thick; above, smaller bricks, 3 in. wide;
but in a larger apparatus, 9 in. and 4-1/2 in. respectively would be
required. The quarries between flues and air spaces are 24 in. by 24 in.
by 3 in., with rebated joints. Larger covers would be more liable to
crack at any provocation.
In addition to heating by means of furnaces, steam-heating may be
employed, if found, as in many cases it would be, convenient and
economical. The chief disadvantage of this method of heating Turkish
baths, is the constant danger, however slight, of bursting a pipe in
the heating coil, which, by immediately filling the highly-heated
atmosphere with vapour, might prove most disastrous to the occupants of
the hot rooms, who would be seriously scalded. Nevertheless, the
principle has been largely employed in the heating of the most recent
Turkish baths in Germany.
If adopted it may be either on the hot-air or radiating plan, as in
heating by means of furnaces. In the first method the fresh air is
introduced into a chamber containing a coil of steam-pipes, and passes
thence into the laconicum by a shaft or conduit, as in the case of air
heated by a stove. In the second method, steam radiators--compact
batteries of pipes--must be placed in recesses in the hot rooms, fresh
air being introduced over them. The steam-pipes employed should be of
the "small bore" type, about 5/8 inch internal diameter, and of wrought
iron or copper. In order to ensure as far as possible against the danger
of explosion, the system of pipes should be tested, when fixed, by
severe hydraulic pressure.
It is certainly a great advantage, in point of ease and economy, to be
able to warm a building, drive machinery, and heat Turkish and Russian
baths from one boiler, which can readily be done, very ordinary
pressures of steam giving sufficient heat to keep the radiators of the
requisite temperature. But the nature of the heating accomplished by
means of steam-pipes is very inferior to that from large radiating
surfaces of firebrick.
The average temperatures of a public bath should range from about 110°
in the shampooing rooms to 250°-260° in the hottest part of the
laconicum, taking the readings of the thermometer at a level of 6 ft. 6
in. above floor-line. Between the entrance of the heated air and its
point of furthest travel in the shampooing rooms, the bather should be
able to select any temperature that may be most agreeable to him, and as
many find by experience that a certain degree of heat is best suited to
themselves, it shows attention to the _habitués_ of the bath, if the hot
rooms are carefully maintained at the same uniform temperatures
throughout the year. This may be 110°-120° in the shampooing rooms, 140°
in the tepidarium, 180° in the calidarium, and 250° in the laconicum.
These must be the maxima of the average temperatures of each room at 6
ft. 6 in. above the floor. In a pure atmosphere the highest temperatures
are comfortable, but in a foul one they become insupportable.
In a good bath, where there is a rapid and continuous flow of air, there
will be comparatively little difference between the temperature at say 4
ft., 6 ft., and 8 ft. above the floor. In badly-ventilated rooms, where
the air stagnates, there will be a considerable difference. And here we
may note a serious objection to the heating of a bath by convection; for
while the head may be in a high degree of heat the feet are in
comparatively cool air, whereas, if possible, it should be just the
reverse. In convected heat, this of course applies in its entirety, as
where so-called radiant heat is employed the evil is not quite so
marked. And here, too, we may note the admirable nature of the Roman
system of heating, where the floors radiated the majority of the heat,
and the walls a slightly less amount. The fresh air under the ancient
system must have entered through the cooler rooms, and being drawn
towards the _calidarium_ found its exit through the ceilings, at times
by way of the regulating device mentioned by Vitruvius. Thus the ancient
bather would not suffer the inconvenience that accrues to the bather in
the modern hot-air bath, whose head, when he is standing upright, is in
a considerably higher temperature than any other portion of his body.
The temperature of a bath should not be regulated by the firing of the
furnace. This should be regularly stoked, and kept at one uniform
heat-giving condition. Bad firing and forced firing may crack the stove
should it be of iron, and the air may be overheated. The temperature
should be regulated by means of the hit-and-miss ventilators at the
floor level. Fanlights between the various hot rooms, with screw-rod
adjustment, serve as a means for regulating their relative temperatures.
The heating power of furnaces must be studied. Having calculated the
cubical contents of the rooms to be heated, and given the heating power
of the stove or apparatus to be employed per cwt. of metal or
superficial foot of radiating surface, we arrive at the necessary size.
Messrs. Constantine give the following tables to show the heating power
of the "Convoluted" stove. The figures give the requisite size of stove
to raise the air to about the relative temperatures I have mentioned
before, and with ordinary firing.
Weight of Sq. ft. of Area capable
metal. heating surface. of heating.
--- --- ---
cwt. sq. ft. cub. ft.
14 35 500
20 55 1,200
22 69 2,000
34 119 3,500
36 139 5,000
45 180 8,000
50 231 12,000
56 296 16,000
When different kinds of heating apparatus are employed, their heating
power must be carefully ascertained and calculations entered into, or it
may be found necessary to resort to the costly and humiliating process
of dragging out the stove or pulling down the furnace and refitting a
larger one. This point is worth attention. Such mistakes are not
unfrequently made.
As regards the amount of air that should flow through the hot rooms, an
allowance of 40 cubic feet per head per minute should be the minimum, if
purity of atmosphere is to be maintained. In a bath, the importance of
perfect ventilation cannot possibly be over estimated, as not only has
the respired air from the lungs to be removed, but also the deleterious
exhalations from the skin which are produced by perspiration.
The allowance of 40 cubic feet per head per minute should not, if
properly distributed, cause an unpleasant draught in any part of the hot
rooms; for it must be remembered that even in a highly-heated atmosphere
a waft of air of the same temperature is felt to be cold. The main thing
to be studied in this provision of a large volume of air is that the
cold inlet be ample, and the passage from this intake to the point
where the air is debouched into the laconicum equally roomy and
unobstructed. The rapidity of flow will depend upon the means provided
for the extraction of the foul air. With large horizontal flues, and a
capacious and tall shaft, the so-called natural system of ventilation
will be as effective as could be desired. Greater extraction power is
gained if in the brick stack a smoke-pipe can be placed running up the
whole height. In many cases mechanical ventilation could be employed
with the greatest benefit. A powerful air-propeller fixed at the end of
a system of horizontal flues under the floors of the hot rooms, and
running so as to exhaust, would do away with all the objectionable
odours and nastiness of many baths.
The purity or foulness of the air in the hot rooms forms all the
difference between a good bath and a bad one, which latter is infinitely
worse than no bath at all. There exist, at the present time, scores of
baths where the odours of the sudatory chambers are nauseating. Such
foulness arises from stagnation of the air. There is no continuous flow,
and the respirations and exhalations of the bathers are not removed. A
system of ventilation may be pointed out, but it is on the wrong
principle, and does not act. There is no change of air. The atmosphere
of such places becomes pestilential.
Owing to the expansion by heat, a relatively greater volume of air
enters the laconicum than the cold intake. This fact, however, does not
practically affect the arrangements for ventilation, &c. Theoretically,
however, it would seem to demand that the shaft conducting from furnace
to hot rooms should be of greater sectional area than that to the
furnace from the intake--about one-third larger--and that the total area
of outlets for the escape of vitiated air should be about midway between
the two.
The whole principle of the ventilation of the hot rooms of a Turkish
bath resolves itself, primarily, into the fact that we have to
continually remove _the bottom layer of air_. The provision of the
foul-air conduits below the floor level is equivalent to providing a
suspended floor with a hollow space under. This is just the reverse of
the principle of ventilating rooms of ordinary temperature, where we
require to constantly remove the top layer, and often actually do so
when we provide false ceilings to passages, &c.
The ventilators placed at the floor level of the hot rooms should be
actually so, and not 3 in. or 6 in. above. Long, wide gratings 6 in.
deep are preferable to those of deeper and narrower design. In theory,
indeed, the whole circumference of the hot rooms should be lined round
with gratings, thus making the sudatorium like a lidless box inverted,
into which hot air is thrown and escapes all round the bottom edges.
There is one point about the circulation of air in a set of hot rooms
that requires considerable attention, and that is the _back-flow_ along
the floor. In any bath where hot air is supplied, if the bather will
hold his linen "check" across the top of the doorway between the rooms
he will find that the air is flowing from the laconicum to the
shampooing room. If, however, the sheet be held across the lower
portion of the doorway, he will find that there is a current of air
setting in an opposite direction--from the shampooing room to the
laconicum. This is shown at Fig. 11.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.
Longitudinal Section of Sudatory Chambers.]
It will be seen from the diagram that the bather is really in this
back-flow when he is standing between and in a line with the doors of
the hot rooms. All the air appears to be travelling along the top of the
bath, and the bather reclining on the marble-topped benches would seem
to be bathed in air that has passed along the top of the bath, round the
shampooing rooms, and back along the floor. In reality, however, it is
only from door to door that the currents exist exactly as shown at the
diagram, Fig. 11, there being a secondary circulating process in each
room.
This circulation of air will exist in any bath heated on the modern
system--that is to say, where freshly-heated air is passed in in
sufficient quantity. It is a natural result, and tends to distribute the
heat more equally. The back-flow is only objectionable when a door is
opened direct from the heated shampooing rooms to a cooler apartment, as
the plunge bath chamber. The bather standing in a line between the
doorways may then feel a cold draught. To guard against this, double
doors, with a small lobby between, should be provided to any means of
communication with a cold chamber.
A set of hot rooms could be constructed so that the bather would be in
the top current of air that flows from the heating apparatus. By
reference to Fig. 11 the reader will understand that by the provision of
a platform or grating midway between the floor and ceiling this end
would be attained.
The atmosphere of the sudatorium must be perfectly free from vapour.
"Perfect dryness of the air," says Mr. Urquhart, "is indispensable to
the enduring of a high temperature.... This dryness is further requisite
for electrical isolation. With vapour in the chamber an atmosphere is
created injurious to health and conducive to disease. It is the very
condition in which low, putrid, and typhus fevers flourish. The
electrical spark will not ignite in such an atmosphere, and the magnet
will lose its attractive power. We all know the difference of our own
sensations on a dry and on a damp day."
CHAPTER VI.
WATER FITTINGS AND APPLIANCES.
The water-fittings of a Turkish bath include a boiler of some form for
heating the water, a cold-water cistern, and a hot-water tank;
supply-pipes, flow and return pipes, and branch pipes; lavatorium
fittings, comprising bowls, basins, and cocks; douche room fittings, as
the "needle" bath, shower, douche, spray, and "wave" baths; a warm
shower-bath for bathers entering the bath, or desiring such a shower at
intervals; and the fittings of the plunge bath. In addition to this
there may be required a drinking fountain in the tepidarium, and an
ornamental fountain in the frigidarium; lavatories in various positions;
and, possibly, fittings and appliances for the laundry.
Premising an ample supply of pure water, it must be brought into the
building through a water-meter to the cold water cistern, which should
be at a sufficiently high level to obtain a good "head." This cistern
must be capacious and properly connected, on the ordinary circulating
principle, with a hot water tank and boiler. Of suitable boilers there
are several in the market, of many and varied designs. Simplicity of
construction should be the guide to a selection. The boiler will perhaps
its most conveniently placed in the stokery, and have be separate
furnace and flue, any scheme for combining the heating of the hot rooms
and of the water being out of the question. In small baths, however, the
hot-water tank may, for economy's sake, be placed near the ceiling in
the laconicum. Where waste steam can be obtained, a water super-heater,
with steam coil, may be employed with advantage; but in the majority of
cases the ordinary circulating system will be found the most suitable.
The supply-pipes must be of large section, and indeed, the whole scheme
of water-fitting should be liberal. It must be remembered that, in
addition to the wants of the lavatorium and douche room, plunge, &c.,
there will be a large amount of water required for laundry purposes, if
washing be done upon the premises.
The cold supply cistern may, by the exigencies of the case, be kept down
as low as the ceiling of the bath-rooms, and be placed over some
subsidiary apartment. This does not give much pressure of water. For all
purposes it is best to have the cistern at a minimum height of about 20
ft. above the draw-off taps and valves of the various bathing
appliances. This will ensure a good head of water, and make the douche a
formidable affair.
The pipes, unions, tees, valves, and cocks should all be of the best
description in so important a work as the fitting-up of a public bath.
Ordinary bungling plumbing is here out of place. Lead piping should be
discarded for all but very cheap work, and iron employed in its stead,
with proper screwed joints, angles, and tees. Should there be
sufficient means, _copper_ piping should be employed for anything under
1 in. internal diameter, and gunmetal should be used for unions, &c.,
and for cocks and valves.
Handsome, large, and well-made water-fittings conduce, in no small
degree, to the effect of a bath. There should be no attempt at hiding
away of pipes, &c. They should be made features of the bath, and be
designed with care and neatly finished. Every pipe, joint, and
connection should be prearranged, and the means of fixing and supporting
the same carefully designed. Boxings, and the like, should be discarded,
and everything frankly exhibited. The day for mysterious plumbing has
gone by. There is some beauty even in a pipe.
To consider the fittings, we will commence with the lavatorium. Branches
from the hot and cold water supply pipes must be conducted to each
shampooer's basin. These may be finished separately, with independent
nozzles, as at Fig. 12; or the pipes may be connected with the valve
shown at Fig. 13, about 18 in. above the basin, the outlet of the valve
being fitted with a foot or 15 in. of indiarubber hose. In the latter
case the pipes and valve would stand some 9 in. from the wall, and
depend from the horizontal supply pipes, which in their turn could be
carried on wrought-iron brackets affixed to the wall, or be hung by iron
ties, as indicated by dotted lines at Fig. 16. The _internal_
diameter--the measurement given in all the figures--of these branch
pipes to taps over shampooing basins should be 3/4 in.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.
A Shampooing Basin.]
Cocks and valves for the purposes of the Turkish bath are best of the
"gland" pattern. They should have bold handles. Those of the screw-down
type are useless, except as stop-cocks. Roundways should be used, and,
to insure freedom of running, the turning part should be equal to the
inner diameter of the pipes. The whole should be of gunmetal, and, if
the pipes to be used be of iron, screwed at the end. Fig. 13 shows the
type of valve to be employed to regulate the temperature of water for
shower baths, &c. To be useful, as well as bold and effective in
appearance, the handles should be large.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.
Valve for Regulating Temperature of Water.]
_In every case_, the cold water must be placed on the right hand, and
the hot on the left.
The earthenware basin is provided to hold water mixed to the required
temperature. A waste and overflow are not shown in the illustration, but
they should be provided. The basin is best wide and shallow--shallower
than shown. There should be no overhanging ledge to catch the
shampooer's hand-basin; for this reason I have shown, at Fig. 12, the
basin sunk into the marble slab, instead of the marble being on top, as
ordinary. The copper hand-basin is provided for the shampooer to take
water from the earthenware basin and throw over the shampooing slab, or
over the bather. In addition, a wooden, copper-banded soap-bowl must be
provided.
Should there be a row of shampooing basins and benches, the horizontal
supply-pipes must be continued along the wall, and branches dropped to
each basin. The basins are most conveniently placed when raised somewhat
higher than the benches. In the illustration given, I have shown how to
arrange horizontal foul-air flues under the basins. In other cases the
fixing of the basins will be much simpler. For pure lavatorium purposes
these basins, cocks, &c., are all the water-fittings to be considered;
but in an apartment combining the purposes of douche room--and perhaps a
plunge bath chamber--as well as a washing and massage room, more or less
of the fittings about to be described will have to be accommodated.
The tonic appliances for treating the bather subsequently to the
shampooing, the soaping, and the cleansing, are various. The most useful
is the simple shower bath, with a very large rose, and amply supplied
with water through a regulating valve. It is employed for thoroughly
cleansing the bather before he enters the plunge, whose waters are for
the common use of all. In many small baths its place is efficiently
taken by an ordinary hand rose or spray of the kind shown at Fig. 15.
The shower proper is usually fixed above the "needle" bath, as at Fig.
14, or formed by a continuation of the "backbone" of the needle. It is
best to have separate regulating valves for the needle and shower, as at
Fig. 16; but at Fig. 14 it is shown with a branch from the pipe
conducting to the needle, and with stop cocks. The needle-bath is a
skeleton-like structure having a large hollow backbone and branching
ribs. The water ascends the backbone, and, passing into the ribs,
squirts out of small holes punctured in their internal circumferences.
The bather stands in the centre of the apparatus, with the ribs
encircling him. The ribs should be of 1/2-in. copper piping, the
backbone and lesser supports being of iron, 2-1/2 and 1-1/2 in. diameter
respectively. In a convenient position for the attendant must be placed
the regulating valve.
A more elaborate contrivance may be made, which will include needle,
shower, ascending shower, spinal douche, and back shower; but this
should be left for hydropathic institutions and invalids. Simplicity in
these matters should be the great desideratum. The above-named
additions, however, may be briefly described. At Fig. 14 I have
indicated the position of ascending shower. It would be connected with
the pipe supplying needle and shower, and have a stop-cock. The spinal
douche is a little nozzle behind the shower proper, and should have
similar connection with the supply-pipe. The back shower or spinal
spray would be a rose placed about half-way up the iron backbone, and be
connected in the same manner. Avoid these complications in a bath for
healthy persons.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.
A Needle Bath.]
The needle bath is best left exposed, but it may be enclosed in a metal
shield if desired. This bath may be placed in one of three
positions--(1) in the shampooing room, (2) in a separate chamber, (3) in
the plunge bath chamber. It is most conveniently placed where the bather
passes it _en route_ from the washing room to the plunge. For this
appliance a good head of water is absolutely essential, as with a low
pressure it is very ineffective. The illustration shows the bath
standing on iron shoes. If fixed in a corner, as ordinarily, it can be
secured to the wall by such cramps or brackets as may be necessary.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.
Spray, Wave, and Douche Baths.]
Besides the needle and shower, as above, the tonic bathing appliances
may include an ordinary horizontal douche that can be pointed in any
direction, a spray, or large rose, and a "wave." These three appliances
may be placed together as at Fig. 15. They are connected to the pipes
from the regulating valves by means of a foot or so of flexible hose. To
this is secured a tapering copper pipe. The douche has a gunmetal
nozzle. It is directed against the back and spine, but must not be used
upon the head or chest. With a good head of water this is a most
powerful appliance, feeling more like a rod of some solid substance
pressing against one than a stream of water. The "wave" is formed by a
copper spreader. The spray is simply a large rose, 6 in. or 8 in.
diameter.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.
Regulating Valves for Needle, Douche, &c.]
It may be found convenient to arrange the valves for the whole of the
above-mentioned appliances together, as at Fig. 16. Each pair of hot and
cold handles are here brought together. These handles should be long, so
as to admit of easy regulating of the temperature of the water; they
may well be 9 in. in length. The douche, wave, and spray should be kept
as close as possible to the handles that regulate their temperature.
I would repeat the caution that it is very necessary to beware of
complications in these water-fittings and appliances. Some of the more
"fussy" contrivances--as, for example, the elaborated needle bath as
above described--require so much regulating, and so many valves and
stop-cocks, that it is quite an undertaking for the attendant to set
them going. Simplicity in design and construction should be observed in
this work: the pipes as few as need be; the valves as simple as
possible; and the whole put together in a manner that will permit of
their being easily examined and repaired.
I have before hinted at the desirability of making some sort of
provision whereby the bather may, on entering the bath, have a warm
spray or shower, of any temperature that may be agreeable to him. In
high class baths this feature should always be provided, as it is a
great luxury, and, moreover, to certain constitutions a necessity, thus
to be able to take such a shower before entering the hot rooms, or at
such intervals during the sojourn in these apartments as may be desired.
The proper position for this shower-bath requires some consideration.
Were it only for the entering bather that it should be provided, it
would be best placed in a lobby near the entrance to the hot rooms; but
as the occupants of the hot rooms may frequently desire some such
shower, it must be arranged with regard to this fact. It should be
convenient for the entering bathers and for those in the bath. A small
chamber entered by doors from the lobby to the tepidarium, and also from
the tepidarium itself, would be convenient. At times it may be placed in
a nook off the shampooing room. Wherever it be placed, the apparatus
provided for the purpose of the shower must be such as can be managed by
the bather himself, so as not to take up the time of the attendants; and
for this reason it must be capable of easy regulation, and free from
liability of scalding the user, unless through gross carelessness. A
valve with one handle only must be employed, as, unless the bather has
had some practice, it is difficult to obtain this immunity from danger
of scalding when two handles are used. A valve such as that shown at
Fig. 17 should be employed. This valve must be so designed as to supply
cold, tepid, and hot water _in regular gradation_--not intermittently,
as do some valves of this description. It must be so placed that any one
taking the shower may, whilst beneath the rose, be able to easily reach
the handle. The rose should not be less than 6 in. or 7 in. diameter.
Fig. 12 illustrates the complete fitting up of this bather's
shower-bath.
In hydropathic establishments it might be an improvement to add a small
foot-bath, formed by a sinking of about 6 in. in the floor, and filled
with hot water; for physiologists tell us it is bad for invalids to
enter the hot rooms with cold feet. Supply pipes, a waste, and overflow
would have to be provided for this bath, and a marble seat might be
placed round it. A marble coping and mosaic flooring would render it
pleasing in appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.
Bather's Shower Bath.]
I have hereinbefore, at Fig. 4, given plan and sections of a plunge
bath, and shown its water-fittings. The overflow and waste run into
cast-iron drainpipes, which should be employed till outside the
building. On the end of the overflow pipe is screwed a gunmetal rose
with leather packing, the screw-holes being drilled into the flange of
pipe. For the waste I have shown a "disc" valve of gunmetal. This is
similarly screwed to flange of pipe, and with leather packing. The valve
is opened and closed by a movable rod. If _fixed_, it might catch the
toes of the swimmer, and for this reason it would perhaps be best to set
the valve itself back in a recess. Instead of this valve, an ordinary
4-in., 5-in., or 6-in. "plug" waste could be employed, but it is rather
clumsy on such a scale. When practicable, a screw-down valve, with wheel
and spindle outside the bath, is the best means of letting out the waste
water. The supply-pipe should be connected with the main supply just
after the water meter. The valve should be of the "screw-down" pattern,
either with a thumbscrew, wheel and spindle, or a key.
In coast towns, where a _sea-water_ plunge may be employed, a little
rose on a bracket should be provided in a convenient position, for
cleansing the hair from salt water.
Of the lavatory fittings in the cooling room, and of the "sanitary"
water-fittings, it is unnecessary to speak, except to say that, in a
place devoted to the attainment of cleanliness, plumbing of this nature
should be as perfect as possible.
A drinking fountain is a desirable feature in the tepidarium of a bath
of any pretension. It should be placed at the coolest end of the room,
affixed to a wall, and provided with a supply-pipe, waste, and tap of
some sort. The bowl is best formed of glazed earthenware.
If an ornamental fountain be required in the frigidarium, it should be
of terra-cotta or modelled glazed ware, and must be provided with
supply-pipe, waste, and means of regulating the jet of water. A fountain
is a very desirable addition to a cooling room, as it is restful to the
ear, and may be made pleasant to the eye by means of flowers and plants
arranged around and upon it.
CHAPTER VII.
LIGHTING, DECORATING, AND FURNISHING.
Light and shade being the soul of all ornamental effect, we may well
consider first the methods of lighting the bath. As a rule, much
artificial light will be required. The hot rooms, being often in a
basement, are as a rule but feebly illumined from areas and the like.
Seeing that purity of atmosphere in these apartments is of so vital
importance, the method of artificial lighting adopted should not be such
as impregnates the air with obnoxious and harmful, if unnoticeable,
fumes. Gas, for this reason, used in the ordinary manner, is
objectionable, as the ventilation being by means of low-level exits for
the foul air, the products of combustion must of necessity pass by and
envelop persons below the burners, though, of course, in a diluted
state. Should, therefore, gas-lighting be employed in a sudatory
chamber, it should for preference be on one of those systems whereby the
burner is cut off from the atmosphere of the room, and provision made
for carrying off the fumes. Happily, the use of electric lighting is at
last increasing with marked rapidity; and the incandescent light is
admirably adapted for all purposes of the Turkish bath. Where it can
possibly be adopted it is a great addition to a bath.
For cooling room purposes gas is not so objectionable, except that it is
heating, and assists in vitiating the atmosphere. But inasmuch as the
fumes in this case will ascend with the general body of air, the
objection to gas is much lessened in these apartments. Nevertheless, the
electric light is the illuminant to be coveted.
The quality of the lighting in the cooling room should be toned and
softened. It is not a place for brilliant general illumination, but
rather for a soft light pervading the whole, and auxiliary lights where
required, such as near couches, &c.--a system, in fact, diametrically
opposed to sun-burner illumination. Nothing more objectionable of its
kind can well be imagined than a glaring light in the ceiling of a
cooling room. It would be found intolerable.
For practical purposes, the greatest amount of light required in any
part of a frigidarium is that at the heads of the couches, where it must
be of such strength as will admit of comfortable reading. One
gas-burner, or one small incandescent lamp, to every two couches is a
fair allowance. If effect be desired, there is, of course, much in the
distribution of the illuminating agent that affects for good or evil,
and the placing and the relative powers of the lamps or burners must be
considered. The dominant point of light might be a prettily-designed
lantern with a few brilliant points of colour in it, depending from a
chain over a fountain, throwing its rays downwards on to the falling
waters, and _not_ in the eyes of those bathers who may be reclining upon
the couches.
Throughout the bath, in either natural or artificial lighting, by
windows or lamps, it should be the aim not to throw strong light in the
eyes of the bather--a principle of universal application, but especially
to be regarded in a place where, more often than not, the occupants of
the various apartments are reclining, _face upwards_, on benches or
couches. In the hot rooms, as in the cooling room, little general
illumination is required. A bright artificial light in such places seems
especially painful to the eyes. What light, therefore, may be provided
in the sudatory chambers, should be as diffused as possible, the
additional lights for the few who practise reading in these apartments
being so arranged as not to be objectionable to the majority of bathers.
The lights should be shaded so as to throw their rays downwards in a
very small compass.
Considerably more light is required in the lavatoria and shampooing
rooms. In scheming the plan of bath rooms in a basement, where daylight
can only be obtained at one point, it is desirable, if practicable, to
arrange the shampooing room so that it may enjoy the benefit of this
light.
For effect, the scale of lighting in the bath rooms may be a rather dark
laconicum, and a gradually-increased amount of light from thence to the
shampooing room. The plunge-bath chamber should be well lighted, but not
above the tone of the frigidarium, or the bather will feel to be going
from cheerfulness to comparative gloom, which would be unpleasant. A
bright, warm light should be that in the plunge-bath chamber, with
perhaps an ornamental lamp over the bath itself; and if the
intermediary staircase--should there be such a feature--be lighted on a
lower scale, the effect on entering the frigidarium will be a cheerful
one.
DECORATING.
Under this heading, I would speak of the means of obtaining effect in a
bath, of the materials to be employed, and of the design of features--of
the effect of the whole and the proportions of its parts, rather than of
anything implying the _laying on_ of so-called ornament.
The architecture of a bath is _interior architecture_ as distinct from
that involving external work. Much of this, moreover, can often only be
seen by artificial light. These two restrictions point to the
employment, for the most part, of surface decoration, rather than of
modelling--of tiles, mosaics, marbles, in place of mouldings, cornices,
and pilasters.
There are three features of the bath that are fit subjects for handsome
designing, and they are the frigidarium, the tepidarium, and the plunge
bath. There is an excuse for elaborating the first two, in that these
are the apartments in which the bather remains the longest time; and as
for the plunge, it is in itself an object capable of giving a very
pleasing effect. Over-elaboration--in respect to added ornament--in the
hot rooms, however, gives an air of incongruity. Simplicity, with good
proportions, seems here the most pleasing. The general effect of the hot
rooms should be light, a statement which is wholly in harmony with what
I have said on their lighting, though it may not at first sight appear
to be so. The tone of the ceilings and walls and floors should be light,
the darkest portions being a dado. A generally dark and heavy tone of
colouring is very oppressive in a sudatory chamber. Keep them light:
light ceilings of plaster for cheap baths, and of lightly decorated,
large, thin tiles, or lightly-tinted enamelled iron, for more expensive
establishments; light walls of white, ivory, cream, or buff glazed
bricks, without startling bands of a vulgar, as distinct from a really
bold, contrast; and mosaic floors of a light filling-in and not too dark
pattern. The risers to marble-topped benches may be of another tone, but
not too dark; and, in place of a dado of bare glazed bricks, it is
perhaps best to stretch Indian matting to keep the bather from the
burning wall, as at Fig. 20. This will necessitate fillets affixed to
plugs in the brickwork. Woodwork looks best dark and polished, affording
an agreeable contrast to the lighter materials.
Bright points of colour may be obtained by stained glass in
ceiling-lights or windows, and at night by coloured glass shades over
lamps, &c.
The use of iron joists with glazed brick arches between is not to be
recommended for the ceilings of the hot rooms. To say the least, it is a
heavy-looking arrangement. Enamelled iron may be made to look very well
if affixed in sheets of delicate tint with light patterns, and affixed
with "buttons" with enamelled heads to the fireproof floors, as at Fig.
18. Large thin tiles make an admirable ceiling for small baths. They
may be fixed with ornamental wood fillets, or made with screw-holes and
affixed to ceiling joists.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.
Section and Plan of an Enamelled Iron Ceiling.]
Glazed brickwork for the walls of hot rooms, &c., should be specified to
be executed with an extra neat joint, and should bond to less than 12
in. to the foot; otherwise the effect of the unwieldy mortar joints is
clumsy. This applies equally to walling and to arches and vaults. Work
which may pass as fair in ordinary cases, looks coarse and rough in the
glazed interior walls of a bath. In selecting glazed bricks there is
some difficulty in obtaining really delicate tints; much of the work
produced is unfortunately of a very crude colouring.
One portion of the tepidarium, and other bath rooms, admits of being
rendered very attractive; and that is the flooring. Mosaic work is
always pleasing, if it be designed with taste and executed artistically.
Marble and tile mosaics are both good, the former admitting of a
richness of effect quite its own, and the latter of brilliant colouring.
In designing marble-mosaic floors, however, one may well fight shy of
including that senseless, purposeless description which is nowadays so
often employed as a filling-in between borders. I refer to the
heterogeneous jumble of every colour mixed without regard to one
another, and giving at a distance a dirty grey tone, and near at hand an
effect like a gravel walk covered with faded cherry-blossom--to be
flattering. Despite the fact that this method of design is of antique
origin, and has a real classical designation, I cannot but think that it
is to be avoided, and that fillings-in should be made with tesseræ of
one tint, or that mosaic should be abandoned altogether.
Given the means, it is easy to render a set of bath rooms elaborate,
with faïence and modelled glazed ware, marbles and painted encaustic
tiles, and many other suitable but expensive materials; but for my own
part I prefer to see comparative simplicity in a sudatory chamber,
though by this I do not mean monastic severity of style.
The general air of the frigidarium requires some consideration. It
should have an effect of its own, quite distinct from anything else. It
should have something of the conservatory in it. It should be richly
carpeted, have much woodwork about it, and be pleasant with plants and
laden with the murmur of falling waters. It should be light, certainly;
cheerful, cool, and airy looking; and as lofty as possible within reason
and common sense. The ceiling should be of a light tone. A lantern-light
where the light may come in, rather than be seen, and where the vitiated
air may go out, is a pleasant and useful addition.
Points for emphasising with a view to ultimate effect are the stairs to
hot rooms--if a staircase be needed--the divans or screens for couches,
and an ornamental fountain as above described. The staircase may be
rendered attractive with bowl newels, and perhaps white marble treads to
the stairs. The divans may be rendered things of beauty by designing
ornamental, open-work wood partitions, in either an Oriental style or
otherwise. It is not easy to make small dwarf partitions, enclosing a
couple of couches, look handsome. As a rule, they are of a flimsy and
gimcrack order of architecture. They should be made as solid as
possible. For effect there is nothing better than prettily-designed
divans.
As regards style, I do not see why one method of design should be more
suited than another for the bath. Having become popularly known as the
"Turkish" bath, an Eastern or Saracenic style has been often adopted in
the past. And, inasmuch as such style is essentially an interior style
of architecture, there is something to be said on this score. It is,
moreover, a style in which surface decoration pertains rather than
modelled work, or, at least, the modelling is in very low relief. There
is yet ample scope for the display of skill in the design of a bath in
an Oriental style, as hitherto such attempts have only been made in a
half-hearted manner; and in many smaller commercial baths the unskilful
use of the style has vulgarised it to no small extent.[3]
Considering that the old Romans brought the bath to a great pitch of
excellence--far, very far, I should be inclined to say, in advance of
our present knowledge of the subject--their style of architecture would
seem fitted to its design at this day; and for large public baths,
larger than any yet erected in this country, one can imagine that a very
interesting design could be made in the Roman style, founded on a study
of the old baths, and, for the sake of the interest attaching to them,
reproducing many of the original mosaics, pictures, details, &c., of the
public baths of the time of the Empire. In a like manner in the Moorish
style one could obtain a very elegant effect by a careful study of old
baths in Eastern countries,[4] drawing, perhaps, some inspiration from
the courts of the palaces of the Moors, with their pleasant retired air,
for the frigidarium. I have often thought, when looking at the late Owen
Jones' splendid model at the Crystal Palace, what an admirable
frigidarium the Court of the Lions would make, with its spacious
central area, and retired nooks suitable for couches, and its pretty
sparkling fountain and green plants, its brilliant colouring, and
general cheerfulness of effect. Similarly, in a Roman style, a Pompeian
court seems suggestive of the arrangement of a fine frigidarium, with
its _cubicula_ for couches, and its central area and fountain.
The above are but theoretical suggestions as to what might be done
should the bath make such progress in this country as may necessitate
the provision of handsome public baths for the people. In everyday
practice there is not a great field for elaborate designing in baths.
Although only the Roman and Eastern styles have been mentioned, there
can be no manner of reason why an architect should not design his bath
in whatsoever style he may please.
I have spoken of the plunge bath as a feature capable of being rendered
a thing of beauty. This is in reference as much to its plan as to the
materials of the sides and floor, &c. There is no reason why a plunge
should always be a plain oblong on plan. It may be of any of the shapes
indicated at Fig. 19. Many bathers, especially in warm weather, like to
stay some minutes in the plunge, and not go straight through; they may
like to swim up and down the bath, and thus require room to turn, and a
keyhole plan, such as at A, is suitable, and especially useful where the
bather has to return to the end of bath he entered. Another shape is
shown at B. In ladies' baths still more margin for novel planning is
allowable, as here the true dive seldom pertains. A delicate semi-oval
plan, such as that at D, which is much after the pattern of the Roman
bath recently discovered at Box, could be employed; or a plain, circular
bath with steps around, such as that of the Pompeian _Balneum_, shown at
C; or, again, such a plan as that at E, after the classic one at Bognor
in Sussex. For inspirations as to the plans of plunge baths, we cannot
do better than refer direct to the old Roman remains, either in Italy
itself, or in Great Britain and other provinces and colonial
dependencies of the old Empire. The Romans were fully alive to the
possibilities of the plunge bath as a subject for artistic design, and
often produced baths of great beauty.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.
Plans of Plunge Baths.]
The flooring and sides of these baths should be of a light tint, and
there should always be more or less pure white. Nothing really is better
than plain white glazed bricks, with neat joints. With this bottom the
water always looks clean when it is clean, and shows contamination when
it exists. Marble-mosaic floorings should be chiefly of white tesseræ,
any simple patterns being executed in light tints. Delicate tints, such
as strawberry, pea green, and peacock blue, look well through the water.
The floor of the plunge bath may thus be made very pretty. The sides are
best of glazed brickwork, neatly executed, and coping and treads of
steps of so-called white marble.
FURNISHING.
The work of the upholsterer in fitting up a Turkish bath comprises the
complete furnishing of the cooling room with couches, lounges, ottomans,
carpets, mats, and any chairs and tables that may be required, besides
the usual furniture common to all rooms. In the sudatory chambers may be
required easy chairs of peculiar construction, with stretched canvas
seats; in some cases movable wooden benches in lieu of fixed
marble-topped ones; and any carpeting, matting, felt for benches,
curtains (if any), and Indian matting for dadoes. These are the
principal requirements that need consideration, the remaining furnishing
of subordinate apartments being, of course, of commonplace and ordinary
description. The refreshment department requires possibly a
coffee-maker, refrigerator, ice-box, and shelf fittings; but, as a
general rule, no arrangements for actual cooking.
The cooling room couches are usually made 6 ft. by 2 ft.; but 6 ft. 6
in. by 2 ft. 6 in. is a more liberal allowance. They should be made of
polished wood, strongly framed, stuffed with horsehair and covered with
a red Turkey twill, as at A, Fig. 21. Where divans are adopted, on the
Eastern model, the benches must be framed of wood, permanently fixed,
and covered with mattresses kept in their places by a wooden fillet, as
Fig. 20. Above the couch thus formed it is well to stretch a dado of
Indian matting, affixed above to a moulded rail.
The carpets employed in the cooling room should be soft to the tread.
Nothing, of course, equals a Persian or Turkey carpet, and one or the
other should be provided when their cost can be afforded. A rich carpet
adds greatly to the effect of the room. In cases where a polished wood
floor is adopted and shown, soft durable matting or strips of carpet
must be placed along any routes, such as from and to the hot rooms and
the boot-room, by the sides of couches, to lounges and tables,
&c.--anywhere, in fact, where the bather may require to tread. Anything
in the nature of fastenings likely, by any possibility, to injure the
feet, must be carefully avoided.
A table or two for books, papers, magazines, &c., should be provided in
the cooling room. The provision of lounges, &c., must depend upon the
design of the room, and whether nooks or angles are available for their
accommodation. Little wooden or metal tripod tables must be placed by
the heads of the couches (Fig. 21, B).
[Illustration: FIG. 20.
Section of Benches in Hot Rooms and in Cooling Room Divans.]
The chairs in the hot rooms must be designed upon some such lines as at
C and D, whereat are shown an iron, and a wooden, framed chair. Beechen
frames are best, and the seat formed of rather closely-woven canvas
fixed at top and bottom and hanging in a curve. A few of these seats
should always be provided in the hot rooms. Movable wooden _benches_ are
constructed of beech, oak, or well-seasoned yellow deal, as at E. The
head end is best raised as shown. Very carefully-seasoned wood should be
employed, for all joinery purposes, in the hot rooms.
In the boot room, the pigeon-holes must not be forgotten, and a
cushioned seat, perhaps, for taking off boots and shoes. A shelf or
shelves for linen checks is useful in this position.
Sometimes the floor of the calidarium is carpeted all over, but _strips_
of matting or carpet are better. The hot laconicum is best carpeted
throughout. The tepidarium should have strips of carpet where the
bathers must necessarily tread. In some baths it is the custom to
provide, instead of carpet, felt sandals for use in the hot rooms. For
similar reasons to the carpeting--the non-conduction of heat--fine white
felting is sometimes placed in strips along the marble benches, as at
Fig. 20. Of the Indian matting for a portion of the walls above the
benches, I have already spoken.
In the shampooing rooms, little blocks of wood shaped as at E, Fig. 5,
are required as head-rests. They should be about 12 by 5 by 4 in., and
hollowed to fit the head.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.
Furniture of a Turkish Bath.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: I do not know of any building--bath or otherwise, civil or
domestic--in this country where the true spirit of Oriental colour
decoration has been grasped. One of the chief principles which seems to
have been missed is that in real Saracenic art the colours are employed
in very small portions only, and no colour becomes insubordinate to the
general effect.]
[Footnote 4: Here is a branch of architectural design absolutely
unstudied. Few architects visit the East, and none enter the baths
there, either in Egypt, Turkey, or Morocco. The ordeal of the true
Oriental shampooing doubtless deters the few who might be curious about
these buildings.]
CHAPTER VIII.
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.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BATH IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS, ETC.
The bath for the hydropathic establishment will generally be required in
connection with, and--what is of greater moment--_in harmony with_,
other baths, such as medicated baths, Russian or vapour baths, and the
ordinary douche, wave, spray, and needle baths, which, where the Turkish
bath is included, may often be efficiently administered with the
appliances usually provided in the shampooing and washing room.
Moreover, if the establishment include the pumilio-pine treatment, or
system of pine-therapeutics, there will be required rooms or halls for
the inhalation of dry pine and pinal vapour. The nature of the
communication between these different baths, as the medicated, Russian,
&c., and the Turkish bath, and their relative positions, must be
carefully studied. It should be compact and the various passages and
corridors as short as possible, these passages and corridors being
provided with means for maintaining them at a suitable, and uniformly
equable, temperature. This latter point we do not find so carefully
studied in hydropathic establishments as its importance would warrant.
The consequence is that, in passing backwards and forwards to and from
the different bath rooms, the delicate invalid contracts a serious
chill.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.
Plan of the Baths at the Hôtel Mont Dore, Bournemouth.]
I give herewith, at Fig. 26, a plan of the baths at the Hôtel Mont Dore,
at Bournemouth, which, though not confessedly a hydropathic institution,
has yet a fine bathing establishment of the hydropathic type, as well
as complete arrangements for the administration of the pine cure. These
baths include a Turkish bath, with three hot rooms, a shampooing room,
and cooling room, connected by an anteroom with the suite of
miscellaneous bath rooms of the gentlemen's department. The latter
comprise a room for the tonic water baths, such as the needle, douche,
sitz, hip, and wave; a room or "hall" for the inhalation of pine vapour,
whilst in a bath of condensed steam; and a room for the administration
of the Mont Dore cure, consisting of the application of pulverised Mont
Dore water, or spray, to the eye, nose, or ear, as may be required, this
room being also used for the inhalation of dry pine. In addition are a
range of slipper baths, in comfortably fitted bath rooms, for the
purposes of electric and medicated baths, such as those of pine extract,
sulphur, iodine, &c., &c., and for ordinary hot and cold spring-water
and salt-water baths. In connection are arranged dressing and reposing
rooms, besides necessary subsidiary apartments. A somewhat similar suite
of rooms is arranged for ladies on the other side of the block. There is
no separate Turkish bath, however; certain days of the week are set
apart exclusively for ladies' use. The steam boilers, which supply the
steam to the vapour baths and pine-vapour baths, and the water super
heaters, as well as the hotel lift and pumping machinery, are arranged
in a basement under the stairs, anteroom, tepidarium, and shampooing
room.
It will be seen that the compact little Turkish bath, which was arranged
under the direction of the late Mr. Charles Bartholomew, is in direct
communication with the other baths, allowing the bather to pass from the
hot rooms, or shampooing room, to medicated or pine bath, or _vice
versâ_. In designing the plan of baths of the type of those at the Mont
Dore, this intercommunication between the various baths is the point to
be most carefully studied. Direct communication is required between the
Turkish, and the Russian, bath, inhalation hall, and medicated baths, as
some methods of treatment render this an absolute necessity.
In a small establishment the hydropathic appliances are movable, and
used in ordinary bath rooms, the Turkish bath being the only feature
requiring special design.
A true hydropathic establishment of any size should be provided with two
Turkish baths, one for ladies and one for gentlemen, as the power and
efficiency of the treatment may depend upon the regularity and
persistency with which it is carried out. Where there is only one bath,
it has to be set apart on different days for the use of ladies and
gentlemen, and it is evident that the benefit of a course of baths may
be greatly lessened by the occasional unreadiness of the bath. Two
suites of rooms should, therefore, be provided. It may be that they will
be most economically constructed and worked if arranged side by side, so
that they may have their furnaces together, and be stoked with economy.
Where, as in country establishments, there is plenty of room, it is
often convenient to arrange the Turkish and other baths on the ground
floor adjoining the main building, a corridor of connection being
placed, if necessary. It should be remembered, however, that invalids
have to be taken--often carried or wheeled in movable chairs--to the
baths, and allowance should therefore be made for the passage of such a
wheeled chair from the top story, by way of a lift, to the door of the
baths.
In a large establishment, a full complement of rooms should be provided
for the Turkish bath--viz. three hot rooms, a washing and shampooing
room, and a cooling room. They will, of course, be on a small scale; but
the whole number should be provided. A plunge bath should also be added,
but in small hydropathics may be dispensed with altogether.
For hydropathic purposes the lavatorium is generally required to have
rather more elaborate water-fittings than other baths. The needle bath
should include the ascending shower, the back shower, and the spinal
douche--a small nozzle behind the rose of the vertical shower. The
regulating appliances for these various showers, sprays, &c., should be
brought together, and conveniently placed for the attendant. A very
ingenious appliance, suitable for a hydropathic bath, is a thermometer
regulating valve, which indicates the temperature of the water being
supplied to the bather. The waters mix in a ball, into which is inserted
the bulb of a sensitive thermometer, which rises and falls as the hot or
cold handles are turned.
If the shampooing and washing room of the Turkish bath is to be used for
the administration of the tonic water baths to other bathers besides
those taking the Turkish bath, it must be made of ample dimensions. So,
also, if the cooling room is to be used as a reposing room for other
bathers, it must be made of large size.
Perfect ventilation is of paramount importance in baths used for the
treatment of disease. Purity of atmosphere in the hot rooms is a vital
necessity, and so also is it in the miscellaneous bath rooms of a
hydropathic establishment.
Unreadiness is a great vice in the Turkish bath appended to these
institutions. Hot rooms beneath their proper temperature, and lukewarm
water, are unpardonable delinquencies, either in the early morning, in
the evening, or during the day. For this reason I would recommend a
furnace of fireclay, as it retains its heat for a long time, and is not
subject to the rapid changes of iron stoves.
Much of that which I have said with respect to the hydropathic bath will
apply to the design of the bath for hospital and asylum purposes. Here,
however, efficiency is all that is required, and everything need be but
of the plainest description. The conditions and exigencies of each case
must determine the size, position, and nature of the suite of bath
rooms. All that has been said upon the subject of the design and
construction of the bath must be studied, and the principles, herein
given, applied to the peculiar circumstances. So also in regard to
Turkish baths for hotels, and for residential blocks of buildings, and
for clubs.
There is a wide field for activity in Turkish bath building, in the
increased provision of baths in hospitals, asylums, and public and
private institutions of one kind and another; and also in hotels,
"flats," and clubs. The hydropathic establishments have long adopted
the Turkish bath as a powerful remedial and curative agent in perfect
harmony with the principles of the Water Cure. But it is only
occasionally that such provision has been made in hospitals and asylums;
and although within the last few years noticeable innovations have been
made in this respect, the subject has heretofore been greatly neglected.
Seeing, too, the immense extent to which co-operative living has
developed, and the consequent enormous increase in size of large hotels,
residential blocks, &c., I cannot but think that the builders of such
tenements could with advantage turn their attention to the supplying of
small Turkish baths for the visitors and residents.
CHAPTER X.
THE TURKISH BATH FOR HORSES.
Animals of many kinds, including horses, dogs, cows, sheep, and pigs,
have been experimented upon with regard to the bath, and with much
success. But for practical purposes all we need here consider is the
design of the bath for horses, since a bath for a horse will evidently
be suitable for a cow, and might not be wholly beneath the dignity of a
pig. It is, after all, only in connection with the training of horses
that anything of practical importance has been accomplished in this
direction. Several Turkish baths for horses have been erected in this
country in connection with hospitals for horses, attached to large
businesses, and appended to training stables. In the development of
race-horses the treatment has, according to the opinion of several
authorities, been found eminently beneficial.
The bath must be arranged in connection, and in direct communication
with the stables. It may consist, as Fig. 27--a plan of a bath built for
the Great Northern Railway Company's hospital for horses--of a washing,
and two hot, rooms. An airy shed will do for a place for the animals to
cool, and in fine weather they will derive more benefit from being
turned out in the open. In the plan given it will be seen that the horse
is led through the washing room into the first hot room. Without
turning round, he may be led into the second hot room and thence into
the washing room again. In the hot rooms, which are heated by a
convoluted stove, are stocks, wherein, if restive, the animal can be
secured. A similar arrangement is made in the washing room, where, after
undergoing the sweating process, the horse is groomed down, an operation
that should be performed in part with an iron _strigil_, much after the
pattern of those employed upon their own bodies by the ancient Romans.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.
Plan of the Great Northern Railway Company's Turkish Bath for Horses.]
These equine Turkish baths need be very inexpensive and simply
constructed, though, where it is desired to do the thing well, glazed
bricks should, for the sake of cleanliness, be used for lining the
walls. All that will be required in the washing rooms is a couple of
draw-off taps with hot and cold water, some pails, a scraper, and
wash-leather. On leaving the sudatory chamber, the horse should first be
well scraped with the scraper, carefully sponging, or dousing him, if
necessary, with warm water. Buckets of hot, tepid, and cold water should
then be thrown over him, and having been well rubbed down with the
leather, he should then be covered with a cotton sheet, and his legs
bandaged with cotton bands, the sheets, &c., being gradually removed
after an interval of about a quarter of an hour, and the animal turned
into a shed, or into the open, to cool.
THE END.
INDEX.
A.
PAGE
Air, allowance of, in hot rooms, 81
backflow of, 83
circulation of, in hot rooms, 85
expansion in heating, 82
filters, 67
flues for vitiated, 92
inlets for cold, 67
intake, position of, 68
arrangement of, 69
its changes in the bath, 71
of bath, necessity for dryness of, 85
overheated, 76
passage of, through bath rooms, 70
rapidity of flow of, 82
Apodyterium, the, 4, 13
and frigidarium, combined, 13
B.
Bath, architecture of, 105
ascending shower, 93
back shower, 94
decoration of, 105
elaborate needle, 138
foot, 98
materials for, 105
Mr. Urquhart's cheap private, 120, 123
needle, 93, 94
position of private, 120
preliminary shower, 97
primary object of, 10
public, general requirements of, 9
shower, 92
style of design for, 109
subsidiary apartments of, 14
the, in asylums, 139
the, in hospitals, 139
the "slipper", 127
wave, 95
Baths, ancient and modern, difference between, 10
Roman and Oriental, 2
works on, 3
cheap, 66
private, 125
complete private, 125-127
construction of, in private houses, 123, 124
Eastern, 110
elaborate private, 129, 132, 133
importance of double sets of, 137
importance of intercommunication between various, 137
in crowded sites, 18
nature of private, 119
objections to extemporised hot air, 118
Old Roman, 110
on one level, 18
private, 118
public and commercial, 6
public, lack of, in England, 7
supply of water for private, 128
two classes of, 26
ventilation of private, 122
Bath-rooms arranged _en suite_, advantage of, 37
drainage of, 44
_Balneæ_, the Pompeian, 112
ancient, 4
Benches, felting for marble, 116
Bignor, Roman, bath at, 112
Boilers, 87
Boot-room, fittings for, 116
Box, Roman bath at, 112
C.
Calidarium, the, 4, 33
floor of, 116
Ceilings of enamelled iron, 106
Checks, shelves for, 116
Cisterns, 87, 88
Cleansing process, ways of concluding, 12
Cold plunge, object of, 12
Combined cooling and dressing room, its arrangement, 54
Cooling and dressing rooms combined, their merits and demerits, 54
Cooling room, carpets for, 114
couches in, 114
furniture of, 113
importance of ventilating, 57
method, 57
lighting of, 103
the separate, 53
Cooling rooms in hydropathic establishments, 138
fireplaces in, 23
methods of arranging, 52
temperature of, 53, 58
D.
Divans, construction of, 114
Douche, horizontal, 95
room, the, 45
spinal, 93
Drainage, importance of perfect, 44
Dressing and cooling rooms, 13
Dry atmosphere, necessity for, in bath, 4
F.
Firing, evil of bad and forced, 80
Floorings for cheap baths, 34
Flues, hot and cold air, construction of, 40
Foul air conduits, 71
Frigidarium, design of, 108
divans in, 109
fountain in, 101
of private baths, 129
the, 4, 13
the old Roman, 57
Furnace, advantage of a fireclay, 75
fireclay, for private bath, 132
method of constructing, 74
expansion and contraction of, 76
Furnaces for private baths, 121
heating power of, 80
with iron flues, 72
Furnace chamber, position of, 40
G.
Gas, objections to, in bath, 102
Glazed earthenware, its suitability for baths, 33
Good and bad baths, difference between, 82
Good bath, what it is, and how gained, 9
H.
Hair-dresser and chiropodist, 15
Hammam, the, Jermyn Street, 18
Hammam, the Oriental, 3
Heat, convected and radiant, 5, 59
methods of applying to bather, 10, 56
prevention of transmission of, 122
Heating apparatuses for private baths, 120
screen walls to, 77
Heating by fireclay furnaces, 73
iron flue-pipes, 72
ordinary stoves, 72
convection, objection to, 79
steam, 77
arrangements for, 78
dangers attendant upon, 77
of small baths, 73
of the bath, its importance, 59
by the ordinary method, 62
on the hot-air principle, 62
and ventilation, 59
theory of, 69
High temperatures, beneficial effect of in cases of disease, 11
necessity for, 11
Horses, bathing of, 142
"Hot-air bath," a misleading term, 5
Hot-air bath, the, 6
appliances and arrangements for, 63
Hot air, height of delivery of, into laconicum, 40
manner, 40
principle, objections to, 61
Hot rooms, benches in, 38
brickwork in, 107
ceilings of, 34
chairs and benches in, 116
decoration of, 105
doorways in, 38
fireproof floors over, 35
glazing in, 38
height of, 39
Indian matting in, 106
joinery in, 37
lighting of, 102
materials for, 38
objection to stepped benches in, 39
proportional area of, 33
position of partitions in, 37
radiation of heat from, 35
Hot rooms, windows in, 35
treatment of woodwork in, 106
Hydropathy and the Turkish bath, 140
Hydropathic establishments, the bath in, 134
I.
Invalids, consideration for, in bathing establishments, 138
Irish "sweating houses," old, 5, 13
L.
Laconicum, the, 4, 32
ceiling of, 35
floor of, 116
Ladies' baths, 14, 44, 111
Laundry, 16
Lavatorium, the, 4, 43
and shampooing room, 41
the hydropathic, 138
of private bath, 128
washing basins in, 43
water fittings of, 89
Lavatrina, the, 119, 127
M.
Mont Dore, baths at the Hotel, 135
cure, the, 136
Moorish bath, heating of the, 59
_Mustaby_, the Turkish, 57
O.
Obstacles to the progress of the bath, 1
Oriental colour decoration, 110
P.
Pay office, the, 14
Perspiration, object of, 11
Plumbing, 88, 100
Plunge bath, the, 46
between hot rooms and frigidarium, 12
chamber, lighting of, 104
construction of, 48
decoration of, 113
depth of, 48
for private baths, 129
in hydropathic establishments, 138
water fittings of, 99
Popular ignorance and the bath, 1
Processes of the bath, 11
Public Baths and Wash-houses Act, inadequacy of, 7
Public baths in England, unworthy of the nation, 29
general disposition of plan of, 17
R.
Rest after bath, necessity for, 13
Roman baths, method of heating the old, 59
nature of heat in old, 79
S.
Sanitary accommodation, necessity for care in providing, 15
Shampooer, space required by each, 43
Shampooing and the private bath, 128
benches, 34, 42
positions of bather during, 43
value of, 12
and washing room combined, arrangement of, 43
room, 42
ventilation of, 42
lighting of, 104
Shower for head, 100
preliminary warm, 44
So-called Turkish baths, their harmfulness, 2
Stokery, the, 15
Stoves, attributes of good, 64
Convolute, 264
heating power of 80
method, of constructing, furnace chamber for, 64
iron, 63
objections to exposing in hot rooms, 72
plain iron radiating 125
radiating surfaces of, 63
Subsidiary apartments of the bath, 32
Sudatorium, best position for bathers in 38
Sudatory chamber, a simple, 119
T.
Tank, hot water, 87
Temperature, importance of maintaining 79
of bath rooms 78
regulating, 80
variations in 79
Tepidarium, the 4, 32
drinking fountain in, 100
mosaic floors in, 108
of private bath, 128
old Roman, 39
_Thermæ_, old Roman, 3
Tonic baths 92
Transmission of heated air, prevention of, 36
heat, 36
Treatment, course of, in the bath, 11
Turkish bath, association of miscellaneous hydropathic baths with
the, 134
building, field for activity in 139
for animals 141
for horses 141
Great Northern Railway Company's 141
heating of the true 59
the, a misnomer 5
what it is, 4
direction in which improvement may be made in the, 60
Turkish baths, Baden-Baden, 30
Bartholomew's, Leicester Square, 25
Bremen, 29
Burton's, Euston Road, 27
Camden Town, 22
foul atmosphere of some so-called, 2, 82
in Germany, 29
lukewarm, 139
Nevill's, London Bridge, 25
Northumberland Avenue, 23
Nuremberg, 30
Savoy Hill, 20
Vienna, 30
V.
Valve, thermometer regulating, 138
Valves and cocks, 90
regulating, for shower bath, &c., 96
Ventilation, 139
importance of, in hot rooms, 81
in cramped sites, 69
mechanical, 82
Ventilator gratings, 83
Ventilators, disposition of, in hot rooms, 70
number and size of, 71
position of, 71
W.
Washing and shampooing rooms, various ways of arranging, 41
Water, pressure of, 88
Water fittings, 87
of private bath, 128
value of simplicity in, 97
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND
CHARING CROSS.
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