I was looking for treasures yesterday at The Antique & Artisan Center in Stamford, Connecticut when I came across the most unusual shower I've ever seen.
Turns out the rib cage (or needle) shower was a luxurious bath fixture made of chrome in the early 20th century that featured such technological advances as lower shower sprays and a temperature gauge. Though lovely to look at, the rib cage shower requires a huge amount of water to be operational because it has the additional lower sprays uncommon to most showers. It may have gone out of style because the single head at the top of any shower is enough to clean the body sufficiently. Not to mention the fact that trying to shave one's legs within the tight ribs is impossible!
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Comments (31)
those are so creepy. No thank you. Keep it in the past
I must agree with Muesli.
I Love it and am incorporating it into my imaginary bathroom remodel.
there is a cage in the gym that you use to stretch that looks like this! No thanks for home use.
I love it! I mean, not a practical "I want that in my home" kind of love, but a "wow that looks so interesting" kind of love.
Bathroom fixture catalogues from the 1910s call these "needle baths."
LOVE IT!. These are wonderful fixtures and if you have ever taken a needle shower you may reconsider your positions. They look amazing when the nickle is brightly polished. The idea behind a needle shower is that it gets your circulation going as well as cleaning you. I lived in a house built in the 20s that had them hidden in the shower wall. Also, recently took a needle shower in a spa in Vail, and the fixtures were not nearly as interesting.
That is so cool! I probably wouldn't ever own one because it looks too small, but it's definitely interesting to look at!
I LOVE IT!
... now to start saving for the $18K asking price.
I saw one of these in a movie once (A newer movie) that was brightly polished and it looked absolutely beautiful
This is very much like the one in the Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon.
http://westmuse.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/dsc048241.jpg
This looks like the shower in Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. I like it!
ahh the anatomy dork in me is swooning right now...
Want.
Not that it is at all eco-friendly, but in my imaginary home I would absolutely have one.
this should complete somebody's sick fetish collection... :)
This would be perfect for my sick fetish collection... :)
Looks scary! I'll pass thank you. :)
So cool! It has a Frankenstein vibe to it.
Only the wealthiest people had showers in 1910. It was an amazing idea that morphed into what we now have in our bathrooms.
Having enough room to shave one's legs wasn't much of an issue until the mid-1920s and showers weren't commonplace yet...and then hair removal took a break for a lot of American women of the Woodstock generation. ew.
Looks claustophobic and torture-chamber-esque to me, no thank you.
Kind of cool. but it looks more like you would get electrocuted then showered!
This is fantastic! Love everything about it.
I love it! It looks like a steampunk adaptation of the iron maiden. It would make an awesome outdoor shower.
One of my favorite hotel stays ever included one of these showers in an old castle in India. I shaved my legs with ease and the stained glass enclosure made it absolutely gorgeous! If you've got good water pressure, it's a great version of the multi-headed shower phenom.
Real horrorshow
Looks like a gibbet
Total creepshow. Looks like a torture device.
I had this kind of shower in the house I grew up in-- a colonial style house in MA. The pipes weren't round and confining like the shower shown, though.
Anyway, it felt AMAZING. No other shower I've tried approximates-- and I know because I really tried to recreate this shower when we moved.
I like the two extra heads half way down... ;0)
Perfect shower for a Dieselpunk / Steampunk home.
I once visited an exhibition about torture instruments and I'm pretty sure this "shower" was there o_0
creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepyyyyyyy
Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, NH, has one of these showers, built in 1913.
http://www.castleintheclouds.org/Castle%20History.htm