Cleveland double bathrooms

A Cleveland double stacks two homes on one lot, and a bathroom from its 1910s and 1920s heyday leaned on white subway tile, a pedestal sink and a cast-iron tub. In the City of Cleveland, 14%¹ of homes are in two-unit buildings.

Updated October 12, 2026

Illustration of a 1920s second-floor bathroom in a Cleveland Heights double with white subway tile, a salmon-pink pedestal sink and a built-in corner tub. — Illustration

What defines the look

Identical floors, one above the other: Around World War I, Cleveland's typical wooden house of two and a half stories, often on a narrow lot, became a two-family house with identical floor plans on each story.²
Up-and-down, not side-by-side: Doubles have either up-and-down or side-by-side units, and in Cleveland Heights the up-and-down units predominate, often grouped together on a street.³
A whole household on each floor: In a Cleveland Heights double, each floor typically has a full-size living room and dining room and two or three bedrooms.⁴
Porches out front, a suite up top: The most common Cleveland Heights double is a front-gabled house with identical units on the first and second floors, each with a living room and a large porch facing the street, plus a smaller third-floor apartment.³

Illustration of a jadeite-green pedestal sink with cross-handle faucets against white subway tile. — Illustration

Illustration of a front-gabled two-family house with stacked front porches and a small window in the gable. — Illustration

One full bath to a household: At the turn of the 20th century, houses with indoor plumbing typically had only one full bathroom.⁵
White subway tile: The white subway tile familiar from bathrooms of the 1910s and 1920s makes a versatile backdrop for a bungalow-era bath.⁶
Pedestal sinks, white and later colored: Pedestal sinks were popular from the end of the 19th century through the 1930s, and by the late 1920s they came in colors from jadeite and salmon to burgundy, navy and red.⁵
Corner tubs: Corner tubs were popular in bathrooms of the 1920s.⁶

Before you open up either floor

Many doubles are half rental, and that changes how old paint has to be handled. Cleveland requires rental properties built before 1978 to obtain a Lead Safe Certification or an exemption; owner-occupied homes do not need to be certified.⁷ If the other floor is rented, ask how the bathroom work will affect that unit's lead-safe status before anyone sands or demolishes.

Owners can do the work themselves or hire it out, but the permit rules are the same. Cleveland owners of one- or two-family homes may do alterations themselves without registering as contractors, but they must follow the same permit, plan review and inspection rules.⁸ Cleveland's Department of Building and Housing tells homeowners to ask their contractor for copies of all permits before work begins and not to accept the work before a city inspector's final inspection.⁸

Salvaged and reproduction fixtures suit a double's period, but measure before you buy. If you choose a true vintage toilet, check with your plumber that it will fit the room's rough-in.⁵ Old sinks and tubs need the same check against the drain and supply lines already in the wall.

Where doubles are

Doubles fill many of Cleveland's older streets. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History says the two-family house let its owner become an investor and a landlord, and that the type was enormously popular and endlessly duplicated throughout the city.² In the City of Cleveland, 14%¹ of homes are in two-unit buildings, roughly twice the Cuyahoga County share of 7%¹. Bathroom remodeling in Cleveland

The type spread into the inner-ring suburbs too. Cleveland Heights' oldest doubles were built along Grandview and Bellfield Avenues as early as 1907, but most were built between 1915 and 1930.³ Cleveland Heights has over 1,200 two-family houses, a type popular in its day but rarely built today.³ Costs for any bathroom project in the region are on the bathroom remodeling page.

Placed in Ohio because the sources above show these homes there.

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Sources

Page updated October 12, 2026. How we source our numbers

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year, table B25024. Released January 29, 2026. City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH.
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, Architecture, Residential (Eric Johannesen). No publication date. View source. Industry source.
City of Cleveland Heights, Architectural Types: Two-Family Doubles. No publication date. View source.
City of Cleveland Heights, Two-Family Homes. No publication date. View source.
Old House Journal (published online by Fine Homebuilding), Designing a Vintage Bath (Brian D. Coleman). Released November 4, 2024. View source. Industry source.
Arts & Crafts Homes, Bathrooms for the Craftsman Era Home (Patricia Poore). Released February 13, 2019. View source. Industry source.
City of Cleveland Department of Public Health, Lead Safe Program. No publication date. View source.
City of Cleveland Department of Building and Housing, Home Building, Rehab and DIY Permits. No publication date. View source.