In the early days of the blog, the woddities — “wonderful oddities” — came fast and furious — so many inventive, undiscovered home features, patiently waiting to be rediscovered. But nowadays… golly… no woddity action in four months: Have we seen it all?
Fear not, last hot time Saturday night on our Facebook page, when
- (1) Nicole tipped us to this klassic Kzoo time capsule house… in which
- (2) Suzanne spotted a seemingly extraneous faucet above the bathroom sink… and then sure enough
- (3) Diane piped in — she has one (shown above) in her 1936 house… and howdy, hudee, here we have a very wodd woddity, indeed.
So… what the heck is it for? Can we solve the mystery?
There were many comments guessing at the tap’s purpose, and once we had a good closeup photo, leading contenders included:
#1 — Diane speculated:
I’ve discussed this with several plumbers over the years, and the consensus is that there was an ice water tank in the basement, similar to a hot water tank. There’s no evidence of a tank, so it’s just speculation. Fortunately, whoever disconnected the ice water source re-connected the tap to the regular water source, so the tap still works!
# 2 — Another reader said her plumber had another theory — that this extra faucet on the wall adjusted the water pressure.
#3 — But best yet, Clive speculated:
Maybe when you turn it, the whole wall, basin and floor swivel around, spinning you into a secret Dr. Evil-style midcentury modern lair. Well we can always hope!
Yes, Clive, we can always hope!
Hmmm… either of those first two ideas sounded plausible to me. But hey, I know an expert — John of deabath.com — they specialize in vintage plumbing fixtures. Longtime advertiser-friends of the blog, they always are quick to help us solve plumbing mysteries. Perhaps they could solve this one, too?
Quick as a flash — yes, in minutes — John responded to my email. He said:
Hi Pam:
That’s an easy one! Some high-end homes had a separate refrigeration unit strictly for ice cold drinking water, and the house was plumbed with a separate cold line just for this use. The faucet spout will have a separate inlet just for the ice water, one turned the knob on the wall and ice water flowed from the spout. We have in our parts bin two spouts that had a button on the spout marked “Ice water”. You pressed the button, and you got cold water… As with many things, this went out of fashion.
You can’t say we don’t know how to have fun here.
Allen says
Here is a link I found where people are talking about these in hotels.
Pretty interesting to read. I love researching the woddities!
http://ask.metafilter.com/209066/Ice-ice-baby
pam kueber says
Ack the typos. You can tell I’m frazzled when you see this many typos in a story. Fixed, I think.
Bill says
When the typos are gone, the “reados” move in. Perhaps it was because you were speaking of a plumber, I read that his reply to you came “quick as a flush”. It seemed appropriate for a few seconds, then I re-read it. Actually, if I were a plumber, I might have “We’ll be there quick as a flush!” on my business card. Or maybe “Quick As A Flush Plumbers, LLC”…so it’s a good thing I’m retired. Love the blog! Thanks for all the good work.
pam kueber says
hahahah good one! I might have to go change the text, quick as a flush!
Mary Elizabeth says
Bill, I love puns and plays on words for business names or slogans on business cards. Hair salons often have names such as “Shear Madness” or “Kindest Cut of All.” (I just made that up, then found 10 web sites for hair salons named “Kindest Cut.”) A plumber’s card that says, “Quick as a flush” would be perfect indeed. What about contractors who specialize in retro restoration? How about: “Karl’s Kitchens: We’ll have your new kitchen looking old in no time!” or “Hannah’s Humble Home Repairs: We can make your bad update outdated.”
Diane in CO says
The comment “quick as a flush” made me chuckle as well. At our summer home which has a holding tank, our pump-out company is (for real) called “Royal Flush.”
FLA MidMod says
Ice water was also thought to tighen the pores after the lady of the house performed her daily facial cleansing. Hence having it in the bathroom. Nothing like a polar plunge in the sink to firm up those fine lines and wrinkles!
Robin, NV says
Perhaps at a time when refrigeration was still viewed as an amazing luxury, this was truly a whiz bang tech feature. We tend to forget that for the first four decades of the 20th century, many homes were still “primitive” by today’s standards. My grandmother’s house, which was built in 1932 didn’t have electricity until after WWII. The house was heated by the wood stove in the kitchen and “refrigeration” was an ice box. Granted, she lived in the country but she was a mere 5 miles from town. I’m sure for lots of people in the first few decades of the century, having “ice cold” anything was pretty special.
I noticed that the Kalamazoo time capsule has the ice water faucet in every bathroom.
nina462 says
I live in Kalamazoo….and there are so many vintage retro houses here. I took pictures of one last year that was just fabulous!
There is another one owner house for sale down the street from me – and I’d buy it in a heart beat if I could.
Meanwhile – Pam – I’m going to send you an article about the Everyman’s House Collection – http://web.library.wmich.edu/digidb/everyman/
Kathy says
Thanks for that fantastic link. I just “wasted” the past hour looking at the pictures and skimming the text. A real eye-opener to the lifestyle of an earlier age, and what an improvement this modest house was for many. What a contrast to the model kitchens of today.
My favorite quote so far is “A misunderstood house is as bad as an unloved house.” But the book is full of interesting observations from a woman’s point of view of housework and family dynamics at the time. A bit flowery by today’s standards, but a fairly quick and entertaining read.
full text download: http://cdm16259.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4022coll10/id/66
Pictures and individual chapters:
http://mmm.lib.msu.edu/results.php?subcollection=Everyman%27s+House+project&collection=Caroline+Bartlett+Crane+Collection
Nina462 says
I drive by that house everyday on my way to work. It still looks the same – but I don’t know about the inside.
Wendy says
I had the distinct pleasure of owning Everymans House for several years when I lived in Kalamazoo. The inside remains largely the same as it was when it was originally designed and built. I’ll be doing a presentation with photos at the Kalamazoo Library in May, if you’re interested in learning more about that big little house!
Diane in CO says
Nina, Kathy and Wendy — this is so interesting and I just read all about the Everyman’s House. Thanks for links!
I grew up A BLOCK AWAY on Crane Avenue (next door to the historic Crane home) mostly in the late 50’s and 1960’s and never heard of Everyman’s House! I walked past it on my way to and from South Jr. High and my grandfather lived in the Westnedge Hill Apts. right next door to that little house.
Our “playground” as kids was Crane Park right across Westnedge from Everyman’s House, toboganning, tennis, hide-and-seek in the formal gardens and woods – that was a magical spot. And yet I never realized the significance of the little cottage across Westnedge….
Apparently, Caroline Bartlett Crane was no relation to the Cranes who donated the land for the Park, which is odd. Thanks for the links – I really enjoyed learning about that! Wish I could attend your presentation, Wendy.
MidCentury Mick says
This site never ceases to amaze, amuse, and delight me! Cool read! (pun intended!).. ~ mCm.
pam kueber says
🙂
ineffablespace says
This is sort of similar to people who had salt water taps in their houses. (Usually in the basement, I think).
René says
Oh, that’s really interesting. What was the purpose of salt water taps?
Mollye says
I wonder if this was a feature in the bathroom not only for drinking ice water, but to splash your face with. Back then there was not air conditioning, so on a hot day that would feel quite excellent.
Jamie says
It would be useful for us fellas after a shave too.
lexavline says
Remember the opening scene in Mommy Dearest? Joan (Faye Dunaway) scrubs her face with ice water. That’s what came to my mind first when I saw the picture, lol.
pam kueber says
oooooh
Steve H says
LOL! That’s exactly what I thought of too!
Anastasia says
ME TOO! That and the NO wire hangers…
Markus Kobi says
…Except SHE doused her ice with alcohol before she pressed it all over her face. I actually tried this a few times for important ‘picture days’ etc. It hurts like a bitch but it WORKS! Makes your complexion so firm and exuberant!
Talk about high end homes… I always thought her little built in ‘freezer cupboard’ right beside her bathroom sink where she kept her big bowl of morning ice would be an amazing thing to have! LOL!
lynda says
Interesting. I guess if you had a refrigerator with ice and water, you could run plastic tubing to the ice water tap. Or a better idea might be do install a reverse osmosis tank somewhere and have the plastic tubing to the faucet. (we actually have reverse osmosis water running to our refrigerator) Filtered water in the bath might be nice. Great to see the original item, thanks for sharing.
Mary Elizabeth says
Yes, you could definitely use this faucet with an osmosis filter in the basement! I have two filter systems in my house because the well has naturally occurring minerals from our bedrock, including lead. We have what is called a “whole house filter,” which takes out the larger particles from the water and reduces mineral deposits in the clothes washer and dishwasher as well as in the toilet and tub. This goes to all the water faucets in the house. Then, for the lead, we have a separate line going to an osmosis filter in the basement, which goes to our refrigerator’s ice maker plus to a separate little faucet at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water. It is not ice water, but it’s very cool, as it comes from the tank in the basement.
We can only wash and rinse our mouths in the bathrooms–no drinking water in there. So it would be nice to have a third and fourth one in the bathrooms. I’ll be looking for those vintage faucets and asking DH about the possibility. I love the ideas I get on this site!
pam kueber says
ME, comments like this one go into moderation because I have put any comments mentioning the word “lead” into moderation.
Mary Elizabeth says
Thanks for the info, Pam. I will avoid mentioning particular items from the periodic table in English. Henceforth, it will be Pb. I wonder what other no-nos I used last month? 🙂
Mary Elizabeth says
OK, that last also got selected for scrutiny. Maybe smiley faces and chemical symbols are also verboten?
Katie B. says
Our city water doesn’t taste so great, but if it also had a filtering system, I would install one of these today. 🙂 I’m sure this cost a pretty penny back in the day, but how convenient.