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Bathroom Design

Bath of the Week: A Lovely Update for a Victorian Tub

Adding a walk-in shower and other modern amenities makes a tiny bathroom beautiful and user friendly

Mary Jo Bowling
Mary Jo BowlingApril 10, 2014
Houzz Contributor; writer, reader, serial remodeler.
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The owners of this barely touched Victorian home were clear about two things: They wanted a proper shower, and they wanted a modern bathroom. Eliza Hart of Hart Wright Architects fully understood. “They had a claw-foot tub with a shower attachment and a curtain,” she says. “Anyone who has tried it knows that claw-foot tubs are nice for bathing, but it’s hard to shower comfortably in them.” The tiny floor plan seemed to make fulfilling those wishes mission impossible, but where there’s a will and a clever architect, there’s a way.
Before Photo
Mary Jo Bowling
The claw-foot tub’s weak attachment and narrow, curved floor made taking a shower an unpleasant balancing act.
Before Photo
Mary Jo Bowling
The original sink and countertop were made for the people of yesteryear. Like any classic Victorian home, this house had a bathroom with a tub and a sink, and a toilet was in a separate room next door, commonly called the water closet (or WC).
Hart Wright Architects, AIA
AFTER: The architect took over the water closet for the walk-in shower and used an adjacent linen closet for the new WC. “There wasn’t room or a budget to create another bathroom on the second level,” Hart says. “There’s also an original marble sink in the guest room. So preserving a water closet means guests can use the bathroom while the owners are showering or bathing.”

The architect used classic materials that might be found in a Victorian home — walnut, marble and hexagonal floor tile — but applied them in a modern way. The walnut wood is used in custom floating cabinets designed with ledges that act as handles. The sinks and modern shower are crafted from marble. The floor tiles are in a hex shape, but in a larger scale than Victorians favored.
Hart Wright Architects, AIA
The new tub was moved across the room. Now that it is used for bathing only, it has become a source of pleasure instead of aggravation. The homeowners chose display ledges and what could almost pass as period wallpaper.
Hart Wright Architects, AIA
But when you look more closely, you see that the wallpaper pattern is composed of gushing oil wells flanked by gunslinging cowboys atop rearing horses. Queen Victoria never saw the like.

Because the couple has no kids, splashing isn’t a problem. “I love their choices,” says Hart. “I always feel that the bathroom, generally a smaller room separated from the rest of the house, is where you can go bold — and these people have bold design tastes.”

As for the shelves: “They love to travel and collect things, and they display them all over the house,” says Hart. “Some architects use stylists to bring in props to make a house look great for photos. We did not have that problem here.”

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