London - There are those who remember when going to the toilet meant a trip to the outhouse at the bottom of the garden.
But homes now come with more bathrooms than ever – and it’s apparently down to the quest for "rare solace".
Andy Ramus, an architect from Winchester, said the norm for his projects is five bathrooms in a four-bedroom home and everyday stress could be to blame.
He told the Sunday Times: "It may be a moment when mobile devices are put down and that rare solace can be found. And in this Instagram age people are spending longer on their appearance; this will happen in the privacy of a personal bathroom."
The average number of bathrooms in a four-bed home is 2.8, while a three-bed house has 2.3, analysis of houses sold in 2018 by estate agent Hamptons International found
In 1950, only 46% of British households had a bathroom, Louis Platman from Geffrye Museum of the Home said. But the trend isn’t universally popular. Kevin McCloud, from Channel 4’s Grand Designs, said: "Bathrooms are extremely wasteful.
"You can’t use more than one at a time. Estate agents have always sold houses by the number of bedrooms; soon they’ll do it by the number of WCs."