The Bath House (1920)

It's not a place we habitually go today, but less than a hundred years ago, the shower was not part of the daily ritual. Houses had no running water, let along hot water. The spa doctor and researcher Francken from the village of Scheveningen became the spokesman. He thought that a thoroughly cleansed body had a beneficial effect on health.

Dudok was commissioned to create two bath houses. Gradually, taking a bath became a weekly occasion. When you were still small, then you would go into a basin or tub at home. When you got a bit older, then you would often go with your father, mother, older brother or sister to the bath house.

The bath house on 'Meidoorn lane' has dark and light bricks and is built symmetrically. It's noticeable that the tall chimney sits precisely in the middle. The bath house by Dudok was built around 1920. The bathing was strictly segregated. The men went in via the left entrance, and the women, right. From 1951, it became a requirement in the social housing to include a bath or shower. In the former bath house on 'Meidoorn lane', is now a medical center.

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