As you exit the Owners’ Bedroom, cross the hall and proceed into the bathroom.
You should now be in the owner’s bathroom, which is fitted with two toilets in individual private rooms, two sinks, and a deep tub. The enclosed tub base and tile floor and walls seen here epitomize the early twentieth century “Sanitary Bathroom” ideal.
This bathroom also features the home’s third needle shower. Remember that each of these bars was punctured with holes from which water would spray. That spray of water around one’s body was said to provide a massage for the internal organs, and was not recommended for a woman’s use at the turn of the 20th century. Physicians believed that women’s “delicate constitutions” could not withstand the rigors of shower bathing. By the mid-teens and 1920s, however, this way of thinking was on the decline and companies like J.L. Mott—who manufactured Lucknow’s plumbing fixtures—were actively advertising all of their shower fixtures to women.
Next to this bathroom, you will find a long hallway of closets. On early floorplans of the Lucknow Mansion, this space is identified as a dressing room. These closets were likely shared by Tom and Olive Plant. At the end of the hallway, you will find a set of pull-up rings belonging to Tom Plant, who was known to be a fitness enthusiast from a young age.
