wash house

Communal laundry building

A wash house is a building or room equipped for doing laundry, especially one shared by multiple households or a community.

Before domestic washing machines became common, wash houses were essential neighborhood facilities where people gathered to clean clothes and linens: The tenement's wash house was always busy on Mondays.

laundry

washboard

Ridged laundry surface

mangleSeverely damage or distort
wringerWater-extracting roller device
tubOpen washing basin

basin · soap · lye · clothesline · drying · scrubbing · boiling · copper · dolly · bleaching

structure

outbuilding

Detached auxiliary structure

shedCast off naturally
brickFired clay building unit
stoneSolid earth fragment

chimney · fireplace · hearting · roof · drain · pump · well · cistern · floor · walls

historical

communal

Shared by a community

villageSmall rural community
publicAvailable to all
VictorianOf a prim era

industrial · servants · maids · laundress · washerwoman · weekly · labor · women · social · gathering

Categories

washing placeslaundromat, laundry room, laundry facility, coin laundry, self-service laundry
bathsbathroom, bathtub, bathhouse, hot tub, sauna
historic buildingsfarmhouse, heritage building, landmark, cottage, manor
town featurestown square, street, town center, road, market
Mount Vernonmansion, George Washington, plantation, gardens, slave quarters
plantationsplantation, Melrose, Monmouth, Longwood, plantation owner

Opposites

cleaning method

wash housedry cleaner

Waterless fabric care business

dry cleaners · chemical cleaners

function/purpose

wash housepigsty

Enclosure for swine

rubbish tip · dump · garbage dump · mud room · compost heap

Family

wash, house, washed, washing, washer, washers, washes, washable, unwashed

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G