The Turkish Bath, Its Design and Construction

by Robert Owen Allsop

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 4½ 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.