It's like a Murphy bed in bathtub form!
In 1895, the Mosely Folding Bath Company advertised this unique piece of furniture in the Montgomery Ward mail order catalog. It's a semi-portable bathtub that folded upward into a mirrored vanity. The National Museum of American History describes it:
This tub, disguised as a mirrored wardrobe, folded down and out of its wood casing into the room, revealing the heater above.
This was similar to Bruschke & Ricke’s combined sofa and bathtub of the same period. The sofa’s bolster concealed a water tank and heater, while the seat unfolded to reveal a bathtub. Often, large rubber aprons protected the wood or carpeted floor. Accounts of igniting sofas and burned bathers dampened the product’s appeal. Since neither bathtub attached to plumbing nor pipes, used bath water drained into a basin and then required emptying.
A few of these clever inventions still exist and can be purchased at auction.
-via Messy Nessy Chic | Photos: Tiny House Blog