NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Park and Recreation Structures

IT IS GENERALLY CONCEDED that toilets are the most necessary among structures built in natural parks, and that if only safe water and proper toilets are provided in these areas, the essentials of development have been accomplished. It has even been said that those who will not lead the field in proper sanitation should get out of it and allow those who are "not ashamed to be proud of their toilet buildings" to take over.

In general usage any distinction between "comfort station" and "privy" may be merely one of gentility of phrase. Within this discussion, and perhaps more generally distinguishing than is assumed, "comfort station" applies to buildings equipped with flush toilet facilities and "privy" to those equipped with nonflush toilet facilities.

It is elected herein to consider the more modern comfort station at greater length than the more primitive privy. The former, for the higher standard of sanitation it provides, is the unqualified recommendation of the National Park Service and the great majority of public health agencies for all park toilets wherever conditions, physical and economic, make its adoption possible. This recommendation embraces a positive sewage disposal by natural processes, and decries, along with the pit toilet, treatment by chemical processes alone. The chemical sterilization of effluent, it should be understood, is quite another matter. Such is often desirable subsequent to a sewage disposal treatment by bacterial action.

For those who may be concerned with the details of sanitation in respect to park toilets, the National Park Service Engineering Manual, Part 700— Sewage Disposal, is cited.

If the comfort station is located in an area subject to freezing temperatures, and if at such times it will not be heated, provision must be made for completely draining all piping and fixtures. Whether or not to make a comfort station suitable for operation during freezing winter weather depends largely on the volume of use, and the economics of each case is an individual problem. Sometimes limited winter use of such areas makes more reasonable the provision of temporary chemical toilets during those periods when a flush toilet must be drained or heated. Under such conditions it will probably be more satisfactory to erect small portable pit privies as discussed in the Manual of Engineering Design previously referred to.

In the park toilet building we have another facility not to be taken seriously as a landscape or architectural feature until every demand for sanitation and practical need has been properly met. Any economy in fulfilment of these primary requirements makes absurd any indulgence of a too impetuous urge to dress up the structure. The comfort station not a part of a building housing other park facilities is very properly so subordinated by location that there is little reason for embellishing it structurally. Preferable and usually more effective alternative is to screen both building and approach to it by planting and careful choice of site. The comfort station is often incorporated in a park building which combines other park needs. Linked up with a shelter or concession building, or as part of a multiple use building designated as administration, it is forced to a certain elaborateness of dress that, as a half-hidden separate entity, it does not require.

When comfort stations are a part of buildings housing several facilities, it is generally desirable that direct outside entrance to them be provided in addition to any inside communication. Some park patrons may feel reluctant to make use of toilets requiring approach through what may not be conspicuously enough a public space. Access to comfort stations through a lodge or concession might imply availability only to guests or patrons of these. If intended for free use by the general public, there should be no confusing of the fact of accessibility.

The paramount practical need of proper sanitation implies first of all thorough knowledge of, and strict compliance with, all laws, ordinances, and other regulatory provisions of governing and jurisdictional agencies. Beyond these are other practical and aesthetic considerations which may not be disregarded. The importance of smooth and impervious materials for floors, walls, partitions, and other such interior surfaces is not to be minimized. Funds tend to be scant enough for the maintenance of readily cleaned and durable materials, and are certainly hopelessly less than adequate for the upkeep of materials without such merits. Ease of cleaning will determine the degree of cleanliness that will prevail over the long run. In consequence, any conscious effort at rusticity in suiting the exterior of the comfort station to park environment should be just as consciously forsworn on the interior. Equipment and materials conforming to present day standards of sanitation should be adopted for all interior details.

In the case of the comfort station there is obvious saving in cost to result from grouping men's and women's toilet rooms under one roof. When the facilities are of the privy type, separate structures for the sexes can be built at but little greater cost, and this is recommended. Privies are apt to be less soundly constructed than comfort stations; therefore, greater distance between the men's and women's toilets is desirable.

When comfort stations or privies serve both sexes under one roof, the arrangement of the separate entrances so that each section is suitably remote from the other is important. If on opposite sides of the building, the maximum in desirable separation of the approaches of course results. The approaches and entrances should be clearly marked. A substantial soundproof partition should completely separate the two toilet rooms, and in the case of pit privies there should be complete separation of the vaults serving the men's and women's sections. Unless vestibule and properly swinging door break the sight lines into the toilet rooms, an effective exterior sight barrier in the nature of a wall, trellis, or stockade must be provided to screen the entrance opening. Toilet buildings, whether comfort stations or privies, must be well lighted and ventilated, and properly protected from the weather. Windows should be placed above the eye level for privacy. When not so placed, and obscure window glass is resorted to instead, the windows can often be opened in summer only with sacrifice of privacy, or remain closed at a sacrifice of ventilation. Windows should so operate that it is possible to equip them with insect screens on the outside. A most practical toilet room window is hinged at the bottom to open inward with chain fastening, which gives some measure of protection against rain, wind, and snow, while providing continuous ventilation and opportunity for a screen on the outside. In milder climates, and elsewhere when winter use is not intended, there is a current tendency to make use of louvres rather than windows. These give a desirable maximum of ventilation, and may also be screened as effectively as windows against insects. However, unless louvred openings are very generously provided, the rooms are apt to be insufficiently lighted. Because ample light and ventilation are prerequisite to a clean and well-maintained room and go far to curb abuse by the using public, an abundance of window or louvred area is to be sought.

Doors to toilet rooms should always be self-closing, by the employment of a high-quality door-closer if possible, or failing this, a less costly but positive substitute device. If window or other openings are screened, door openings should, of course, be fitted with screen doors. The ventilation in summer will be greatly helped. All screening in equipment of toilet rooms must be at least 14 wires to the inch, and preferably finer. While galvanized or black-enameled wire-cloth is satisfactory for the more temporary buildings, bronze or copper employed for permanent structures will, by its longer life, more than offset the greater initial cost involved.

Readers scanning the drawings which follow are reminded to view these only through an architectural lens. Bifocal exploration seeking also details of sanitation will by intent prove unrewarding.

• Plate I H—1 — Plate I H—20