| New York City is famously dirty—but at least most residents can now easily take a bath. In 1939, The New Yorker published “Brownstone with Bath,” a reminiscence by the writer Joseph Wyler about the family bathroom of his childhood. At the start of the twentieth century, he recalls, bathing was “a serious business,” a weekly or semi-weekly occurrence that “required thought and planning.” And that was if you were lucky enough to have a tub, an amenity clearly out of reach for many. “Our brownstone house had two dining rooms, a huge kitchen, a parlor, a sitting room, three bedrooms, a maid’s room, a cook’s room, butler’s pantry, and,” Wyler remembers, “only one bath.” Built as “extensions” on the top floor, the unheated brownstone bathrooms of Wyler’s youth needed to be warmed in advance. The use of water anywhere else in the house could derail a good soak, though the “speaking tube” might allow you to address the problem with the “laundress” or “furnace man.” In other words, the next time you run out of hot water or find yourself rinsing under a trickle, take heart. Compared to baths at the turn of the last century, your visit to the washroom is a day at the spa. | 
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