Public toilet

Wealthy Ancient Greeks sometimes sent their slaves to sit on the public toilets (made from slabs of marble) to warm it up "in anticipation of their arrival".

The Romans used communal lavatories, with 30 or so citizens of both genders sitting round in a half-circle chatting with no partition between them.

Public toilet remnants from Ancient Roman times in Ostia Antica

In Rome instead of toilet paper, all public toilets had a sponge attached to the end of a stick that was soaked in a bucket of brine. The rich used wool and rosewater.

Constantinople had 1400 public toilets around the city when it was capital of the Ottoman Empire, at a time when the rest of Europe had none.

Whittington's Longhouse was a public toilet in Cheapside, London, constructed with money given or bequeathed by the city's Lord Mayor, Richard Whittington. The toilet had 128 seats: 64 for men and 64 for women. It operated from around May 1, 1421, until the seventeenth century.

When the Great Exhibition opened on May 1, 1851 in Hyde Park, one of its landmark attractions was the Monkey Closets, Britain's first paid-for flushing public toilets. They were designed by Hampshire-born plumber George Jennings.

Jennings installed his flushing public toilets in the Retiring Rooms of The Crystal Palace where the Great Exhibition was housed. During the exhibition, 827,280 visitors paid one penny to use them; for the penny they got a clean seat, a towel, a comb and a shoe shine. "To spend a penny" became a euphemism for going to the toilet.

Britain’s first permanent flushing gentlemen's public lavatory, opened at 95 Fleet Street in London on February 2, 1852.

The washbasins of a 19th-century facility, still in use. By Smuconlaw. - Wikipedia

Britain's first flushing public toilet for women opened near the Strand in London on February 11, 1852. Only 82 females used it in the first twelve months.

In 1883, A. Ashwell of Herne Hill, London, patented the Vacant/Engaged sign for public lavatories.

The magician and escapologist John Nevil Maskelyne (1839–1917) invented the coin-operated lock for public lavatories in 1892.

Several high school friends formed the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America (CEPTIA) in 1968, which eventually led to laws banning pay toilets in several states.

With well over 5,000 public toilets, Beijing claims to have more than any other capital city.

Public toilet block in the Olympic Forest Park is located north of the city center of Beijing

After the World Toilet Organisation ranked China’s public toilets the worst in the world in 2012, Beijing introduced a new rule that no more than two flies were permitted in any toilet.

There is a public toilet in Kolkata with a design based on Sydney Opera House.

Public toilets are known by many names in different varieties of English. One of the more formal circumlocutions is "public convenience". In Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand, the terms in use are "public toilet" or "public lavatory. In American English, "restroom" usually denotes a toilet facility designed for use by the public. However, "bathroom" is also commonly used.  In Canadian English, public facilities are always called "washrooms".

Ally's Law is legislation passed by several U.S. states that requires stores to allow people with certain medical conditions access to employee restrooms. It was named after a 14 year old girl with Crohn’s Disease who soiled herself in a mall after being denied access to a store restroom.