Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Co.

[melissakd]

About the window: the Victorians used to use "spar varnish" on kitchen and IIRC bathroom woodwork/wainscoting. I believe that is marine-grade varnish since a spar is a boat part. It might work to strip the window frame and refinish it with varnish that Fears No Moisture, which I gotta believe is easier than moving the window.

About the toilet: Hmmm. All I can offer is my compilation of architectural salvage yard web sites, if you want to look or contact them. Let me know.

MelissaKD

[Nancy W]

I have spent 2 hours on the phone with American Standard (mostly on hold, waiting for an agent). I spoke with 3 different people who insist they do not have any old records, with information about names of the collectiions or colors. They gave me several websites to visit or numbers to call, but either they sell reproduction items or they want to know the name and color. The 800 number I called was in NJ, but the company was in Louisville, KY in the 30's. Does anyone know if Louisville has a historical society. Guess I should Google that.

I'm bring ing this to the top again since my original post was during the snow and ice and many people were not acitve on the boards then.

So, does any one have any ideas where I can find old catelogs for the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Co., the American Standard Radiator and Sanitary Manufactureing Co. or just American Standard. The sink says Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Co, but was installed in the late 30"s, after the 1929 merger with the American Radiator Co.

[pon55]

Longshot, but try the plumbers union to see if you can locate any "old' plumbers who might have info.

[moonshadow317]

Have you checked DEA bath ?

[Nancy W]

I found the Louisville area, The Filson Historical Society (covers Kentucky and the entire Ohio Valley). They have an online catelog. It does list a pamphlet with the history of the company, but no catelogs.

[1922Colonial]

Get this book, The Well-Appointed Bath: Authentic Plans and Fixtures from the 1900's by Gail Caskey Winkler.
This book is out of print but ebay currently has ex-library copies for sale. You could always check your local library as well.

This book is actually a reprint of 2 different plumbing fixture catalogs. One of the catalogs is an American Standard catalog. Your corner bathtub is the Pembroke model if I remember correctly ( i have a tub similar to it called the Woodmere sitting out in my back yard). Of most interest to you will be the page that shows the colors (with the colors name) that the plumbing fixtures were available in.

The other catalog reprint in the book is of a 1914 J.L. MOTT catalog. It is by far and away the best bathroom plan book I have ever seen. I wish that I had found this book 5 years ago when I started my bathroom project (along with bungalow bathrooms). It would have saved me a ton of trouble, and money.......blah blah blah

Ohmega Salvage has a "page" of colored bathroom fixtures for sale on their website. Here are some other architectural salvages: columbus architectural salvage, white river architectural salvage, thisoldtubandsink.com, antiqueplumbingfixtures.com, demolitiondepot.com, historichouseparts.com
All these salvages have websites with online inventories. Most of them also say they cannot possibly post their entire inventory, so give them a call with what your looking for.

Good luck. Searching for oddball stuff is fun.......................for awhile anyways.......if you can't ever find what your looking for it just turns out to be a pain in the ass.

[LisaW]

FWIW, I think I have a nearly identical sink in shape, not color. Mine is just plain white. It also says Standard Sanitary Mfg Co, but it says Baltimore rather than Louisville. I'd suggest posting a wanted listing on Craigslist and keep an eye on eBay by creating a favorite search that notifies you of any mention of "standard sanitary" and toilet in both the item title and description.

Good luck!

[Nancy W]

Thanks for the information, especially the book. I have seen some of her other books and have one of them. I didn't know about this one.

So now I have a nice long list of places to check as well. First I work on the book and what info I can glean from it.

I knew someone would have it.
Nancy

[1922Colonial]

I think I might have found the toilet your looking for.
It is at the demolitiondepot.com website that I had suggested earlier. Item # 11054
It looks pretty close to the color of your other fixtures, it is american standard, and the base of the toilet matches the base of your pedestal sink.

[raymanretro]

Heres a guy on ebay that has a lot of old toilet parts.
http://stores.ebay.com/ToiletsandStuff_bowls_W0QQfsubZ19254192QQfrsrcZ1