Monday, January 30, 2006

Bathroom faucets that are hands-down 50s style winners


God bless Mac the Antique Plumber.

These are my two favorite lavatory faucets for 1950s bathroom restorations/renovations. The shape of the faucet escutcheons (the bases of the handles, yes that's what they are called) are the most reminiscent of the wrecked faucets I pulled out of my original 1951 bathrooms. Both of these faucets are from Mac the Antique Plumber -- http://www.antiqueplumber.com/. They are not inexpensive, each around $250 on sale, but I found the quality to be excellent and Mac's had great customer service, too.

A note on the 8" "Mississippi" lav (the second featured). It is much larger in scale than a 50s lav faucet. If you are purchasing a sink to go with it, ensure you have adequate "deck" space on the sink. The Kohler cast iron self-rimming sinks recommended in my Jan. 29 blog look great with this sink.

Regarding the 4" "Deco" two-hole-mixer faucet shown, I have never seen anything to match this one. It was not available when I renovated my bathrooms, and instead, I had the original faucet rechromed for $115. It leaks to this day and is a real pain. I wish this had been available then, and may end up with it yet. Ugh to the brass, though. Go for chrome, for sure, or nickel if you must.

BTW Mac the Antique Plumber has some great kitchen sinks that I will showcase in a future post.

1 comment:

SarahPerdue said...

Hi Pam,

Great faucets. Thanks for reminding me of Mac. I've gotta go see if he's got bath faucets with pull up diverters yet. In my 1949-1952 neighborhood, there's not a single one left even though most of us still have our original American Standard valves and shower heads.

You know Dea bathroom machineries rebuilds faucets, right? I think it costs a bundle...but you could have your originals...that you've already rechromed rebuilt. I'm considering having mine rebuilt. (www.deabath.com), but I just googled it so I could give you the url and got a second hit for Greg's blog at the Petch House. It was about a horrible experience Greg had with them. Hm, maybe not. I've corresponded with Greg and followed his blog with interest. I don't think he'd trash them in his blog without cause.

Sarah in Tuscaloosa