washhouses
Public laundry buildings
Washhouses are buildings equipped for washing clothes, historically public facilities where people without home laundry could bring their washing.
Before modern plumbing and appliances, communal washhouses served urban neighborhoods: The women gathered at the washhouse every Monday morning.
The term now mainly appears in historical contexts.
Self-service washing facility
- scrubbingCleaning by rubbing hard
- wringerWater-extracting roller device
- mangleSeverely damage or distort
- washtubBasin for hand-laundering
clothesline · soap · lye · bleach · starch · ironing · pressing · linens
Of a prim era
- tenementsOvercrowded urban dwellings
- communalShared by a community
- publicAvailable to all
- municipalOf city government
servants · domestic · labor · workhouse · poverty · sanitation · hygiene · cholera
Female adults collectively
- gatheringCollection of people meeting
- gossipInformal talk spreading rumors
- communityCollective of connected people
- neighborsThose dwelling nearby
camaraderie · working-class · hardship · labor · weekly · routine · queuing · sharing
Concave water containers
- drainsPipes removing wastewater
- plumbingWater and waste infrastructure
- ventilationCirculation of fresh air
- chimneysVertical smoke conduits
coppers · boilers · troughs · slate · brick · stone · corrugated · outbuildings
launderette
Self-service washing facility
- scrubbingCleaning by rubbing hard
- wringerWater-extracting roller device
- mangleSeverely damage or distort
washtub · clothesline · soap · lye · bleach · starch · ironing · pressing · linens · garments
Victorian
Of a prim era
municipal · servants · domestic · labor · workhouse · poverty · sanitation · hygiene · cholera · typhoid
women
Female adults collectively
- gatheringCollection of people meeting
- gossipInformal talk spreading rumors
- communityCollective of connected people
neighbors · camaraderie · working-class · hardship · labor · weekly · routine · queuing · sharing · chatting
basins
Concave water containers
- drainsPipes removing wastewater
- plumbingWater and waste infrastructure
- ventilationCirculation of fresh air
chimneys · coppers · boilers · troughs · slate · brick · stone · corrugated · outbuildings · scullery
- bathing practicesablution, ritual bathing, thermal baths, communal bathing, private baths
- sanitation historycesspools, cesspits, privies, outhouses, night soil