Chas -- thanks for the connection. I miss those old tubs, had one here in our house in Iowa but, some years ago, my father "modernized" the house and took out the old clawfoot tub and put in a square one so they could take showers instead of baths.
He also put up yucky blonde wood paneling over the old brick fireplace, so ruined that, too. He meant well.
I've had clawfoots in several old apartments I lived in in New York City. I had friends in NYC apartments who had their bathtubs in the kitchen! Of course, they were clawfoots.
I grew up with clawfoots (clawfeet?). Our old cottage by the lake had two of them. You can hang a shower curtain over them, with the required plumbing, but you have to be mighty careful with the curtain or else your bathroom floor gets thoroughly wet. We had the old fashioned spigot, with the rubber hose that attached over the nozzle, the wire soapdish that hung over the side, and a wood and wire shelf thingy that sat across the middle of the tub to set your book on if you wanted to read in the bathtub.
I've seen those kitchen bathtubs on the Lower East Side. Some people put boards over them when not in use and use them as tables. Classic 19th century tenement living. The quaintness and charm wear off quickly.
I still like to soak in a very hot bath in the winter but I truly wonder how many would simply rather shower quickly and go to work.
Those old ones were made for imersing ones self. The new ones are too narrow for the most part and the overflow is way to low to get a huge volume of water in for steaming comfort.
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