A Surprisingly Authentic Bath

The replicated, late-Victorian master bathroom is in an 1892 brick manse in St. Louis, Missouri.

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When Gerry and Shirley Fisher moved to St. Louis, they knew what they wanted: an old house that needed restoration but that had period details largely intact. When they found this 1892 house—its transitional architecture a blend of Victorian chateau and early Colonial Revival—it fit the bill.

While the previous owner had begun restoration work, plenty remained to be done. Rooms were lit by inexpensive, hardware-store overhead fixtures. Baths had been replumbed and fitted with cheap, modern fixtures. The front porch ceiling had been lowered to hide the P-trap from an antique rib-cage shower upstairs.

The owners set about restoring and furnishing rooms to look as if a comfortably situated, 19th-century family still lived here.

That original rib-cage shower had been relocated to the master bath by previous owners. Now, complementary antique fixtures include a pillbox toilet and a marble and nickel-plated console sink.