The Tale of the Water Closet
Today water closets describe the room where the toilet is located, such as “the master bath in this home has two separate water closets”. Meaning it has two separate rooms each with its own toilet, like a his and hers toilet. But in Victorian times, shortly after they developed the inside toilet, and it was finally wed perfectly to a working sewer, this was not the case.
“In the 1880’s working toilets were wed to working sewers – forget antibiotics, the invention of steam engines, central heat and electric light – flushing toilets and sewer systems are arguably the most important innovations of the 19th century!” *excerpted from “Old House Online” And this modern marvel wasn’t called a toilet – it was a WATER CLOSET!
Fast forward to the Grandison Inn guest bathroom, where stands the original water closet of the Maney home and family Oak elevated tank, pull chain and all. The tank is even done in the solid oak wood with a tin liner
In the last couple months many of the Grandison guests have noticed that the water closet is ‘missing’
And have asked if it was ‘dead’ and no longer living on the premises. But there is hope on the horizon.
The oak tank is being repaired to better hold the needed water supply to flush! It will be back to its coveted place at the Inn very shortly.
Thank you, our guests, for noticing!! That it was missing from its typical place at the Inn. And for those of you that have never visited or stayed at The Grandison, its time you did. Or, at least stop by—and take a gander at the Water closet!! It’s a piece of history you won’t soon forget.