Luxury colors were rare during the war years, and when color returned it was more somber: clay pink or burgundy with grey, for example.Ĭolored tile remained ubiquitous in the 1950s, especially mint green and light blue, but most famously pink. The look was machine-age-less decorated than Jazz Age rooms. Often white tile was used with accent tile in a deep color. Square white tile replaced the subway tile of earlier years. Colors ran from acid green to pink to shiny black.īlack and white made a return around 1940. But it was also used to clad the walls in kitchens and baths of the era. This is the era of Vitrolite, a pigmented structural glass familiar from Art Deco-era storefronts and cinemas. Tile glazes were often glossy and chrome is shiny. Frameless mirrors were larger, maybe beveled or frosted. Gloss and shimmer added to the Jazz Age urbanity. The tub area was a perfect place to add sculptural effects-and a broad expanse of colorful tile. Like an inglenook near the hearth or a breakfast nook in the kitchen, a tub niche is an architectural device that creates a cozy room within a room. Tub recesses or niches were all the rage. The tub, often with Deco curves, was now built in. Pedestal sinks were used, as were streamlined console sinks on chrome legs. A Tudor house might have stylized Viking ships in decorated tile or a stencil design in California, tile design was Spanish or Moorish. Motifs are easily recognized: chevrons and ziggurats, concentric circles, fans and shells, aerodynamic lines. For more than a decade, streamlined Moderne and Art Deco-design fittings, light fixtures, and motifs were popular for bathrooms, even if the rest of the house was traditional. In the Thirties, a pastel or white often was used with black bullnose and accent tiles, lending Art Deco sophistication. With deep-lavender wall tiles, deco tile inserts, and a bold geometric tile floor, this more recent bathroom has a Twenties vibe. In the 1940s, red, burgundy, and navy blue were introduced. The colors kept coming: baby blue, candy pink, butter yellow, lavender, and black. Ivory and pastel toilets and sinks came first, joined during the 1930s by fixtures in orchid and mauve, Ming green and peach. Just a couple of years later, colored tile and, around 1927, colored fixtures would be introduced, and everything would change.Ĭolor is the key word for bathrooms built or remodeled between the World Wars. The shimmering aquatic mural is more recent.Ī bathroom of 1923 probably looked very similar to a bathroom of 1907: utilitarian and sanitary with white paint and tile, a wall-hung or pedestal sink and clawfoot tub, nickel finishes and exposed plumbing. Here, the round tank on a stand is an antique aquarium. Watery colors and sea life motifs were popular in the 1920s.