Chicago homebuyers go gaga over the thought of exotic Brazilian wood floors, Chinese porcelain and Italian marble in their homes. This new single-family home in Lincoln Park even brags of hand-carved Tuscan planks on the deck. Yes, developers are quick to tout their imported furnishings — probably because Americans feel better laying out the scratch for quality finishes if they’re coming from across an ocean. But Europhilia shouldn’t extend to the bathroom.
I wonder if anyone at The Brixton Group visited Europe before the company decided to boast of the “classic European influence” in the bathrooms of new Lake View condo developments at 1150 W Cornelia Ave and 3607 N Bosworth Ave.
European showers are known (by Americans, at least) for their cold water and low pressure. I’ve heard stories about Parisian hotels where several guests have to share one tub of bathwater in the morning. Then, of course, there are those “toilets” that are just glorified holes in the ground. And what’s the deal with the toilet paper in France?
To really convey luxury, developers would be wise to hype their good ol’ American bathrooms, which are all about wasting buckets and buckets of hot water with sumptuous, multi-head showers and 150-gallon whirlpool tubs.