I wasn't aware of this!
From SF Gate:
Why your San Francisco home may have a 'Pittsburgh potty' in the garage
These lonely toilets are another example of the city's home oddities
By Tessa McLean
Feb 20, 2024
FILE - Rows of homes are seen in the Sunset District on February 20, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A single white porcelain toilet sits in the middle of an unfinished lower level of a San Francisco house. There are no walls around it and no nearby sink. It’s just there — daring you to remove it, or perhaps even more daringly, use it.
These lonely toilets are another example of the city’s home oddities, even if they may be a bit more jarring than a strange cabinet or mysterious singing windows. The story behind them is likely rooted in pure practicality, though many theories abound. Either way, once you’ve seen one, you certainly won’t forget it.
Sometimes referred to as a “Pittsburgh potty,” basement toilets served a utilitarian purpose at least in the city of their nickname, allowing blue collar workers a place to relieve themselves without tracking grime into the house. If a coveted sink is nearby, it also serves as a place to wash up after a day’s work before retreating into the home.
San Francisco real estate agent Ciara Piron has a different theory for these toilets, at least for the ones prevalent in the Sunset District. She’s seen plenty of these solitary toilets while selling homes in the area and took it upon herself to do some research. She found that on just one block, 26 homes were built in 1928. That’s speedy construction, and she posits that the workers erecting these homes would need another place to “go” while the houses were being completed — portable toilets had yet to be invented.
Rather than get rid of the extra toilets when construction was complete, workers left it up to the new homeowner to decide its fate.
A "Pittsburgh potty," which are often found within homes in San Francisco's Outer Sunset and Excelsior neighborhoods. Jeff via Flickr CC 2.0
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Read the rest here:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article...UPISbDvUm21Y9k