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Tchitcherine, A.E. Public Restroom.
Public restroom, on the corner of the old post office
Public restroom, on the corner of the old post office
Nayra Hammann
Nayra Hammann
To pee or not to pee?
What did the ‘sandwichmen’ do when they had to pee while advertising Johan de Liefde’s newspaper? You may think this is a weird question to ask, but I will show you that the topic of public restrooms in cities is very interesting. It tackles upon many issues that mirror changing attitudes towards privacy, publicity, health and municipal policy.
According to the president of the World Toilet Organization - yes, this organization exists - people go six times a day to the toilet.1 The question arises: Where to go, when you're not home?
If you turn your back to the pharmacy and look at the Neude, you'll see at the far right corner a tree that is cased by wooden planks. Next to it is a public urinal. It seems inconspicuous, but don’t let this fool you. If you are unlucky and stand at a point where the wind blows, that descended from its direction, you’ll notice it! This is also a reason why you’ll see hardly anyone standing in a close radius from it. It’s interesting how not only visual things attract us and guide our movements, but how scents too influence our movements through the city. In the past, a distinctive characteristic of cities were their stench: the sudden growth of the population in the cities and the lack of a proper sewage system led to an odour that often led to complaints (image 2, below).
Health committee pleading for better sanitation! And less stink!
Image 2 shows a page out of the protocols from one of the meetings of the ‘Utrechtsche gezondheidscommissie’ from the 14 of April 1898.2 Following the industrialization, that took off in the Netherlands in the second half of the 19th century, people didn't work anymore at home and were more mobile than ever! Not only men, but also women flooded into P. Smits’ sulphuric acid factory or Ludwig Monds alkali factory to work for 10 to 14 hours a day for a low wage.3 At the same time, discoveries in bacteriology, changed attitudes towards diseases. Diseases like Typhus and Diphteritis weren't considered anymore as a punishment for a person’s sins, they were increasingly seen as consequence of bad housing and working conditions, in which germs could thrive. This brought about health movements that aimed at improving hygiene standards in the cities. The ‘Utrechtsche gezondheidscommissie’ was one of them. It was founded on the 8th of February in 1855. In their first year of existence, they already made an account on constructing urinals that were more efficient (image 3, below).
The founding of the Utrecht Health Committee was an outcome of a national health movement that advocated for health legislations and promoted of the Thorbecke health laws (1865). They were inspired by similar movements in Germany, Britain and France and found support in doctrinal liberalism. Thanks to these ‘hygienists’ the idea of a ‘Public Health’ was born. Nevertheless, their pleads were only remotely successful. According to historian E. S. Houwaart, the movement gathered momentum at the turn of the century, when a new generation came into existence, in which bacteriologists entered into an alliance with the radical liberals.4 This is the time, in which F.J. Nieuwenhuis constructed the public restroom, that once stood on the Neude. Yes, that’s right. On the Neude stood a public restroom with facilities for men and women. What happened to it? And what happened in it?
The solution to the problem
So, we found out, there was a solution for the ‘sandwichmen’! In May 1898 Dutch architect Ferdinand Jacob Nieuwenhuis (1848-1919) drafted a plan for a public restroom (image 4, above). He called it ‘Retirade Gebouw’ which I learned the hard way is not a common term for public restroom. Interestingly, Nieuwenhuis was from 1890 onwards director of the municipal utilities. You can see that on the image above; it says “De Director der Gemeentewerken” above his signature. As director he was responsible for the construction of cementaries, school buildings and slaughter houses. According to the Dutch Wikipedia page, he worked on Utrecht’s most famous buildings, the Domtower and the Academicgebouw, the latter you’ll visit at least once over the course of your study. The ‘retirade gebouw’ is missing on the Wikipedia page. This revelation stroke me: how come that such a prestigious, important architect constructs a public restroom?
I don’t have a straight answer to that. Only some ideas: Maybe public restrooms represented a possibility to show off too? Maybe it was a symbol for the pride and progressiveness of the city?
Literature about F. J. Nieuwenhuis is focused on his accomplishment as director and architect and his quarrels with Dutch famous architect Pierre Cuypers.5 Unfortunately, when it comes to his activities in the first Health Committee of Utrecht, the literature remains silent.
The problems to the solution
Now that we know interesting things about the creator of this peculiar building, what about the users?
In an article of the ‘Utrechtse Nieuwsblad’ from 1924, the author mentions the restroom, anticipating its demolition once the post office will open in the same year. It sates, that:
Indeed the situation here is anything but the way it should be. Not only are the urinals often clogged, so that they are overdone, but the lighting is poor and often inadequate. It also happens that the public part of the retirade building is completely unlit. Fortunately. There will be improvement. After all, the new post office will be opened in no time and there will be modernly furnished toilets. When this device is put into use, the building on Neude will disappear.6
Clogged urinals were already a problem in the past. But the problems don't stop here. Public restrooms represented in a way loopholes in a society and city that doesn't provide its citizens privacy. Considering the problem of the density in the houses and outside on the streets, there was no much space for retreat. Even in a public restroom, there was still a room reserved for the guard. But even the guard wasn't always capable of ensuring that the visitors of the restroom behaved accordingly to society’s moral rules. The old ‘retirade’ was replaced by another public restroom that belonged to the post office. In a newspaper article from 1938 the author reports about “sex crimes” committed in there:
About a month and a half ago the police received a complaint that public retaliation of honor was regularly committed in the retirade under the post office at the Neude. The guardian of this retirade had often taken action against this, but this did not help adequately.7
How does the saying go? “What has been seen, cannot be un-seen.” That would make a great title for the biography of one of these guards, don’t you think?
Footnotes
1. Jack Sim, president of the World Toilet Organization (WTO), URL: http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1648349,00.html, last visited on: 20.09.2019.
2. Utrechtsche gezondheidscommissie (1855-1902). Notulen van de commissievergaderingen 1855-1902, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
3. Homburg, E. (1998). ‘Pollution and the Dutch chemical Industry. The Tuning Point of the 1850s’, in Homburg, E.; Travis, A. S.; Schröter, H. G. (ed.) The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850-1914. Industrial Growth, Pollution, and Professionalization. Dordrecht, 165-182, here 181.
4. Houwaart, E. S. (1991). De hygiënisten. Artsen, staat en volksgezondheid in Nederland 1840-1890, (Dissertation Rijksuniversiteit Limburg 1991; Groningen: Historische Uitgeverij Groningen, 1991, 427 blz., f65, ISBN 90 6554 151 9).
5. Wiegman, M. 2012,‘Verschiedenheid aan vormen, eenheid van gedachte. Architect en directeur Gemeentewerken Ferdinand Jacob Nieuwenhuis’, Oud Utrecht, vol. 85, no. 4, 32-38.
6. Ingezonden stukken [Submitted pieces]. (1924-30-01). [Newspaper] Het Utrechts Nieuwschblad, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
7. Zedenmisdrijf op groote schaal [Sex crime on a large scale]. (1938-04-07). [Newspaper] Het Utrechts Nieuwschblad, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
Images
1,2,3: Hammann, Nayra (2019).
4: Nieuwenhuis, F.J. (1898) “Retirade Gebouw”, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
5: Moesman, J.A. (1905) “Gezicht op de Neude te Utrecht tijdens een bijeenkomst; op de achtergrond de Potterstraat en links het retiradegebouwtje”, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
6: Unknown (1911) “FJ Nieuwenhuis.”, Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht.
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