BACKYARD BATHROOMS - UNUSUAL COLORADO PRIVIES

by Pam North

Outhouses, while most commonly a basic four-by-four-foot wooden, primitive,
single-seat accommodation, occasionally were built in a less conventional
manner.  Colorado has its share of them - hexagonal, two-story, sheet metal,
stone,or decorated structures - some of them even on the National Register of
Historic Places.  This state even has outhouse tours and outhouse races.

Gilpin County has had its own unique collection. A photograph of Central City
taken in 1864 shows the back of the business district, with outhouses behind
almost every building.  Each outhouse sits on stilts so that all waste
products dropped into Gregory Gulch.  Black Hawk's Lace House, considered one
of Colorado's finest example of Carpenter Gothic architecture, is on the
National Register of Historic Places, and so therefore is its outhouse.  The
structure (one festooned with ivy winding through it) is perched at the end of 
a wooden stairway ascending the hill behind the house; it was a destination
point that must have proved challenging after a heavy snowfall.  It is
presumed that this household, along with other local residences with outhouses
accessed by steep staircases, kept an ample supply of chamberpots on hand.
The Black Hawk school outhouse, dating from approximately 1870, had separate 
sections for boys and girls.Behind the schoolhouse in Russell Gulch is an
atypical build on top of a stone wall and covered with sheet metal.  The
foundation wall forms the pit; its builders were forced to use an above-ground 
pit due to the rocky nature of the hillside.  The lack of a sewage system
keeps the outhouse a part of daily life for many Russell Gulch residents, who
show their sense of humor by posting signs stating comments such as "Radiation
Hazard," "Dead End," or "Sandwiches," or attaching a TV antenna.  This gives
one pause when encountering the "Glory Hole" sign at the nearby location of a
famous local gold mine.

A Boulder County outhouse was located on the opposite side of the road from
the owner's residence, making passing automobiles a hazard to the person
making a hurried pilgrimage to the privy.  Another interesting outhouse in
that county is a two-hole brick structure behind what was once a doctor's
office (now a coffee shop).  Stone and brick outhouses are rarities since,
unlike wood-frame structures that were simple moved when the pit below filled
with waste, masonry outhouses had to be mucked out, a highly distasteful
chore.   An abandoned town in Teller County and Squaw Mountain are
also locations of masonry outhouses (more about those next week).

An elaborate, clapboard -sided, hexagonal privy is located behind the historic
Hamill House in Georgetown.  A divider separates the family side and the
servants' side, which acts as a plenum leading up to the elaborate cupola that
functions as a vent. Pine toilet seats were provided to the servants, while
the family enjoyed the luxury of walnut seats, but all were smooth and
well-finished, with openings of different dimensions to accommodate adults and
children.  Fancy edging trims decorate the perimeter of the roof, and a carved
canopy overhangs the doorway.  Victorian privies didn't get any better than
this one. Another hexagonal outhouse is at Inter-Laken, once a popular
mountain resort on the south shore of Twin Lakes.  The privy was constructed
with private stalls, each lettered to correspond to rooms rented by guests,
and the structure had a six-sided peaked roof.  At Finntown, east of
Leadville, was a hexagonal outhouse built of corrugated steel sheets nailed
over a lumber frame.  It had windows to admit light, an arched door with
ornamental brackets on each side, and a faceted, domed roof topped with a
decorative ball.  It unfortunately exists now only in photographs.

Other outhouse oddities are scattered across Colorado. Some of the National
Park Service privies are built simply as two slab-wood walls, four feet high,
set at right angles to each other, with a corner toilet set on a piece of
plywood over a pit - shelter from the elements and privacy are non-existent on
this roofless style.  A Breckenridge outhouse features a Dutch door, and a
Hartsel privy sports an unusual triangular window in its door.  

Next week: Outhouse tours, builders and races, and more unusual Colorado
outhouses.




Resource:  Out the Back, Down the Path, by Kenneth Jessen.




Photo to accompany article is at:

http://www.talisman.org/~snowbear/uploads/HH1.jpg

Caption:  The Hamill House in Georgetown features elaborate ornamentation and
          a cupola.