Tucked into an historic farmhouse in Tennessee — now home to the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau — are a rainbow of seven vintage pastel bathrooms. The building is known today as ‘The Comer House’ after the Comer family, which demolished the original 1850 farmhouse down to the foundation and rebuilt it between 1949 and 1951. The house itself is impressive, but its most amazing feature is the variety of color and tile patterns found in the home’s seven bathrooms. I visited recently and during my visit, I was graciously allowed to photograph six of the seven vintage pastel bathrooms, each of which is sure to inspire.
Are these Crane fixtures? Could be. See our 24 page Crane Plumbinb catalog from 1949 here — material from Pam’s personal collection. If not Crane, they are surely American-Standard. Who’s an expert? What do you think?
#1 Persian Red and Gray — The first bathroom on the tour was a half bath in maroon and off white. The coordinating pinwheel style floor tiles really add that extra something to the space. I should note that all the bathrooms have newer toilets — most likely because of water use requirements.
#2 Ming and Yellow — The next bathroom was a lovely ming green, dark green, white and yellow full bathroom with a standard tub (not pictured). It looks to me like when the house was remodeled, the Comer family must have picked one style of fixtures — same footed wall sink, tubs and faucets — and ordered them in every color. We love this matchy-matchy trick: Even though each bathroom uses different tiles and colors — there is a continuity to the bathrooms as a whole because of the repetition in style of the fixtures, hardware and even the mirrored vanities — giving the house good design sense. It is the tile colors that really distinguish each bathroom’s personality.
The liner tile reminded me of the stash of NOS decorative “sizzle strips” for sale on Ebay that we featured here on the blog a few months back. It is nice to see some of these amazing decorative tiles in use out in the wild – they are gorgeous! And note in the photo above, how the decorative sizzle strip provides a terrific transition from the light blue field tile to the darker blue bullnose. Brilliant detail design work!
All of the full bathrooms had dual tiled-in ceramic soap dishes and a toothbrush holder set in right over the sink.
This vintage green and pale yellow octagon and dot floor had me wishing these color combinations were readily available. Wait. Does Chippy have some alternatives like this at World of Tile? Maybe. Ask! This floor would be perfect in my vintage mint green bathroom.
#3 Pink and Gray — Then there was the pink and grey full bathroom — so pretty. What a phenomenal color combination. Pam says it’s her favorite of all time, for a pink bathroom.
It even had a Cinderella tub. I mentioned my own pink bathroom at home to the woman who worked in the office with the pink bathroom. She was delighted to hear about my efforts and exclaimed that she absolutely loved her adorable pink office bathroom — though I’m sure she has never had the opportunity to use the Cinderella tub.
The bluish grey and white octagon and dot floor tile was another happy detail in the beautiful 1950 pink bathroom.
#4 Beautiful Blue — The next full bathroom was a blue and white combination with a standard tub.
It also had decorative liner tiles in a charming blue and white tulip pattern.
The floor in the blue bathroom was very understated — a simple white — but tile pattern made it look anything but mundane. This is a great floor — multidirectional — would be great to replicate in a bathroom today.
#5 Ming and Black — Another ming green bathroom was next — this time with a green and black tile combination and another Cinderella tub.
All of the bathrooms had the same style of fixtures for the faucets and other hardware. The shape of it is so interesting — and I was thrilled to see the original faucets still in use.
Do you suppose that the handle on the shower head adjusts the flow of water or turns on the shower head?
The green floor wasn’t an exact match for the tub, sink and wall tile — but was interesting nonetheless. The pattern reminds me of the flooring for my master bathroom remodel — University Pink from Merola tile.
#6 — Butterscotch and Butter — The last bathroom I toured was a full bath with buttery yellow and brick red tile.
It had a standard size buttery yellow tub and the same faucets as the other baths.
The real show stopper was the charming tile floor, which reminded me of some of the plaid tile patterns from the vintage 1929 Freidrichsen Floor & Wall Tile catalog. This was my favorite floor pattern of the bunch — it brought all the colors of the bathroom together so nicely and really gave a customized feel to the space.
Mega thanks goes out to Kelley Dickey, Administrative Assistant at the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau for agreeing to give me a special access tour of all the wonderful vintage bathrooms at the Comer House — as well as the inhabitants of the offices who didn’t think it strange that I wanted to photograph their bathrooms. Thanks also to my Mom for alerting me to such an awesome collection of vintage bathrooms.
Jay says
Thanks for sharing! Ah yes, true to the era, every bath a different color. With six baths to choose from you could choose a bath that reflects your color mood for the day. Can’t get enough of the minty green. I agree that the floor in the green & black bath is slightly off in color complement. I wonder if it was a later replacement floor – the pattern and color seem more 60s/70s.
Tear-down Townie says
Like you say, the color is not that great of a match, but I’m pretty sure the identical flooring in our house is original to the 1956 build. I’m in the process of repairing/replacing some of our flooring and those tiles are set in 3 to 4 inches of mortar that I don’t think was part of a later renovation. I think it’s the color distribution that makes it look a little off. There is a repeated geometric pattern of tile sizes if you look closely enough, but the color “randomness” overpowers it and makes the floor lack the neat order that the other bathroom floors have.
Penne Eiken says
My home was built in 1948-49 and these bathrooms are the closest I’ve seen to my own. It gives me a better idea of what kind of sink and mirror to look for as the previous owner replaced the originals with 90s fake oak. I have octagon and dot floor tile and the grout between them is gray. I had assumed this had gotten dirty through the years. I have scrubbed to no avail and was thinking the grout would need to be replaced, but noticed the grout in your photos seemed to be gray. Would this have been original grout color? My floor tiles otherwise seem to be in good shape. None are loose or cracked. Thanks for the great post.
pam kueber says
Yes, I think gray grout is good! It’s my preference!
Mary Elizabeth says
Yes, gray grout is my favorite, especially in my the pink and gray bath. If you go to the hardware store and look at grout colors, you’ll see there are many “Shades of Gray” there–not 50, but plenty to choose from. 🙂 Also, we use gray silicone caulk around the tub, behind the vanity, etc.
Maria Simpson says
I absolutely love these retro baths. I had never seen a Cinderella tub before until I started visiting these retro sites. I love them and would love to be able to have one!!!
Sara says
Love! I’d like one of each, please. Oh wait, my house only has one bathroom. Thank heavens these are all “safe” from HGTV-style renovation. The tile is a work of art. What a great way to start my morning!
Laurie Louse says
Beautiful, Kate! What knocks me out are the floors. Each one so distinctive and fitting. That butterscotch plaid is a stunner!
MCM is Grand says
I’m concerned about having the light switches so close to the shower in the yellow bathroom…were these the fans???
Jay says
Electrical codes were different then. Probably the light switches but certainly not a good location, that’s for sure. I think it’s the same room but there is a wall receptical 6 inches above the floor and directly under the sink. There’s a “shocker” for sure. What are now considered “wet locations” the code mandates GFCI.
MCM is Grand says
Thanks! 🙂
Steve says
Well, this was the same era that gave us the Electro Sink Center, haha!
Tear-down Townie says
Our bathroom has the same wall tile and floor as Bathroom #5. Our tub and sink are white, though. I’ve also seen the exact same floor in an older school bathroom here in town. Nashville isn’t that far from Gallatin…maybe the same supplier of tile as the Comer House?
pam kueber says
I bet! I tend to believe that back in the day, there were more regional suppliers, rather than national suppliers…
Roundhouse Sarah says
In my childhood home, the master bath had 5 shower heads, one overhead, 2 at shoulder height on each side and 2 at knee height in each side. It was a 1950s era home and bathroom, it was Ming green. The shower heads all had those little handles on the side and they were to control water flow. Gosh I loved that shower! And the house!
Lovely bathrooms Kate! Thanks for sharing, I’m really digging the butter and tan plaid floor tiles!
Happy estate and garage saleing this weekend everyone!
Steve says
Such lovely colors! Like a springtime bouquet.
Janet in CT says
I love them all but the blue one with the sizzle strips but the floor to me is too plain. So the pink and gray and the green and yellow one are my favorites! I was surprised to see the yellow and butterscotch bathtub area has a double switchplate right there in the tile! That is SO against code now and maybe was even then! Yikes! Touch that puppy while in the shower and get knocked off your feet! I love all the sinks and the colors and they look to be in such beautiful shape. Great article!
CarolK says
I wanted to let all the pink (and green) bathroom fans know that the Bath of the Month in the May 2014 issue of House Beautiful features a Jack-and-Jilll bathroom in Beverley Hills that have gorgeous pink tiles in the girls’ side and beautiful green tile work in the boys’ side. Unfortunately, the fixtures weren’t saved, but it’s possible that they weren’t pink or green anyway. The bathrooms had to be gutted and there was only an archway to one shower that could be saved. The pink and green are set off with some black tiles. It’s just beautiful!
The house, btw, used to belong to movie star Ann Miller. I am so glad that it wasn’t torn down. That happens too often today.