Fortresses with Bath

As houses grow smaller and families larger, man's home is fast becoming his kiddies' castle. Already teen-agers have overrun the living room, kitchen and den, driving their parents into the last bastion of apartness--the fortress bedroom.

Gradually, rebelling against the open "living area," parents are rediscovering the joy of closed doors. Around the U.S., builders report that the master bedroom has become the single most important room in selling a house. "Houston women are no longer dazzled by built-in kitchens," says one Texas contractor. "The housewife would rather have a swanky bedroom than a fancy kitchen."

Flip the Switch. In this indoor Shangri-La, parents are building themselves a home within a home, including stereo and TV sets, dressing room, extra closet space, fireplace, bar, refrigerator, and perhaps even a small kitchen. One couple does much of its entertaining in the master bedroom, which is decorated like a living room (the beds are made up like studio couches), has a separate entrance. Parental authority is maintained through a master control panel that can turn out lights all over the house and through an intercom system over which parents can give orders--and avoid being answered back by flipping the switch.

Most luxurious refinement of the fortress bedroom--especially in sunny climates--is the garden bathroom, which has one glass wall. For some degree of privacy, the garden or patio outside is surrounded by a wall or hedge, is usually accessible only through the bathroom. Thus, while shaving or showering, the occupant can sunbathe, sing with the birds and watch the grass grow. Says one dismayed Los Angeles matron: "Using a bathroom like that is like being caught out in the middle of a prairie."

The Urge to Purge. In analysis-conscious California, leading couch mechanics have denied that this smacks of exhibitionism, believe that it merely reflects a desire to glamorize basic functions. "The ancient Romans used to find the damnedest ways of getting pleasure," says one psychiatrist. "A good plumbing system was one of them; the garden bathroom shows this same urge."

Architect William Beckett agrees. "My clients put fantastic emphasis on their bathrooms," he says. "They know it's the most expensive room in the house, and they want to show their friends where their money went." For Cinemactor Charlton (BenHur) Heston, Beckett designed a bathroom with a huge sunken Roman tub, dressing rooms, steam room, and a small outdoor gymnasium. Other Beckett bathrooms have magazine racks, telephones, sun lamps over the sink and reading lamps over the toilet. For Jules Stein, chairman of the huge M.C.A. talent agency, Beckett provided his master touch: a special rack for toothbrushes, one for each day of the week, each cleaned by ultraviolet light.

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