Thursday Outhouses - a renaissance?

The Guardian reports that the outside lavatory could be making a comeback. Julie Bindel writes nostalgically of her experiences in the 1960s of her parents' outhouse and suggests that "the privy looks set for a revival among middle-class trendies, just like other original features such as sanded floorboards and open fireplaces." She includes the following case study details:

"Lisa Alabaksh has consulted architects about having a loo built in the garden of her terraced house in London. "The original was knocked down by the previous owners, but we are going to get one built in the old-fashioned style," says Alabaksh. "Living with a teenage boy makes you appreciate a spare loo, and there is nowhere to put one in the house." The joy, she says, of spending a penny while listening to birds sing, will make up for a bit of frost bite in the nether regions during the winter."

Another small victory for shedlike structures. 

Thursday Outhouses - Outhouses of Baja

Outhouses of Baja is an excellent collection of photos by John O Burns taken during a 2,000 mile offroad motorcycle trip through Baja, Mexico, ranging from the artistic (above) to the most basic structure (below). He has also put together a great selection of outhouses in the Western United States.

Thursday Outhouses - solar powered privies

Two examples of solar-powered composting outhouses today. First, a privy on the Mt. Whitney Trail which was removed in spring 2007 (photo by Jeff Brewer). And another in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (photo by David Metsky).

Thursday Outhouses - Corporate Outhouse

This is probably the most popular image of an outhouse on the interweb, though I can't track down exactly where it's located.

Thursday Outhouses - 1608 Laurel Grove Road

This week's outhouse is more of an inhouse and comes from 1608 Laurel Grove Road, Winchester, Virginia (featured previously on materialicious and pointed out to my ageing eyes by Bill Kratz). The whole property was renovated by Dan Zimmerman and also features a rather nice shed build (pictured below) with siding reused from the original cabin and 90 degree sliding barn doors.The whole thing is for sale.

Thursday Outhouses - 21 Acres

The 21 Acres Center is "an innovative, community-driven project that serves as an agricultural and environmental learning center for people of all ages". And as you'd expect, the 21 Acres Outhouse - architectural sketch above - is not only a lovely design it fits the organisation's mission statement on sustainability since it has a composting toilet (naturally), is powered by solar panels and collects rainwater in barrels. As they say: "The Outhouse will provide a natural waste treatment system that will save water, money, and return beneficial soil additives to the land beneath it."

Thursday Outhouses - Baldvinsskali

The outside lavatory at Baldvinsskali, Iceland, taken by Danny Yee.

Thursday Outhouses - Ramsey Restoration

Overlooking The Hardware River, by Ramsey Restoration, log cabin experts.

Thursday Outhouses - The Outhouse Gallery

The Outhouse Gallery is run by Don Ponder who quite rightly says: "The outhouse served but one purpose in life. Yet one can believe that more creative thoughts and future plans were conceived in this one small building than in any other building of its time." Don has put together a fine collection of outhouses, both illustrated and photographic, on his site as well as his thoughts about the importance of these minimalist shedlike atmospheres. Well worth a browse. The outhouse above, photo by B Hopper, is in south-central Alaska between Sutton and Chickaloon near Fish Lake on a rise above the Matanuska River near the owner's cabin. Below, photos by R. Biggs and M. Sands, is an outhouse built in the late 1870s. As Don says:

"This outhouse was built in the late 1870's. Originally, it was attached to a two-story building that had a business on the first floor and an apartment on the second. Each floor had its own seat, but the one on the top floor sat farther back. Its chute was hidden from the first floor by a false wall."

Thursday Outhouses - Northern Log and Lumber

Pictured above is a bespoke outhouse from Northern Log and Lumber who specialise in rough-cut lumber and three-sided logs with complete cabin packages ranging from a 12x20 to a 24x40 square foot cabin.

Thursday Outhouses - Bayfield Builders

Here is a composting outhouse built by Bayfield Builders which features an Envirolet composting toilet. It measures 6' x 6' with a 4' deck on the front and is constructed with cedar siding and interior paneling. The outhouse also has 12 volt interior and exterior lights, with the possibility of adding a solar panel in the future for battery recharging.

Thursday Outhouses - Readers' Outhouses

Now here's a name that sounds familiar, Readers' Outhouses. Part of the wonderful Outhouse Museum setup, this is a small, but attractive, selection of outhouses submitted by visitors to the site. Above is Paul and B.J. Guest's outhouse on 25 acres in Glenelg Township, Grey County, Ontario. Here's what they say:

"It sits atop a 125 ft high glacial esker and overlooks a quiet meadow. The Dutch door with shelf-top invites visitors to linger awhile with their morning coffee and soak up the awakening in the woods first light."

There are plenty more outhouses to browse among, plus a vintage postcard section, gift shop, and the Sherman Hines Outhouse Collection (including the Green and White pictured below) to which we shall return in future weeks.

Thursday Outhouses - Lloyd Alter

Treehugger's architecture expert and shedworking champion Lloyd Alter is also the proud owner of a quite outstanding A-frame outhouse on Shoe Lake near Dorset, Ontario. It was built five years ago to Lloyd's own design by his neighbour Brad Johnson, one the area's best timberframers. "To do the A-frame roof it started on a five foot square base," says Lloyd. "The entire back wall is screened so the air just flows through it and it never smells. Magazine shelves are mounted on the inside and there is a beautiful view of the lake through the portholes."

Outhouses: the smallest shed in the house

The art of the shedlike atmosphere arguably reached its height in the construction of the outhouse. Shedworking starts a regular new Thursday Outhouses slot today with a look at one of the finest sites dedicated to the genre, the photo gallery at Sewerhistory.org. The site has been an ongoing 15-year project by Jon Schladweiler, Historian of the Arizona Water & Pollution Control Association, who has researched and collected materials related to the history of sewage conveyance systems worldwide over the last 5,500 years: it's an ambitious project and certainly an intriguing one. Here's what Jon says:

"While outhouses are one of the humbler elements of our sanitation systems, they have received a surprising amount of design attention and even public affection. They were actually a considerable advance over many older disposal methods in the United States (open trenches, cesspits), and the U.S. government actively encouraged their use in rural areas in the 1930s and 40s. Outhouses remaining from older times are the subject of photography books and posters, while new outhouses are constructed for parades and competitions. The outhouse seems to have an enduring place in the public imagination."

Here are a few of the many examples from the site which include outhouses made of old cars, sacks and adobe. First, Calvin Coolidge's privy in Vermont (Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho, Library of Congress)
Next a poster created for the Federal Art Project by John Buczak in 1940 to promote sanitary facilities (source:Library of Congress).An 1847 privy in Monterey, New Castle County, Delaware (source: Library of Congress)And finally, below is the ruin of General Israel Putnam's privy, Brooklyn, Windham County, Connecticut. The outhouse was built in 1776 by Israel Putnam, and was overturned in the hurricane of 1938. Photograph by Stanley P. Mixon.
Many thanks to shed champion Ben Locker for the alert.