The privy is from Smålensgata 1 at Vålerenga, one of Oslo's working class districts. It was built in 1887, demolished and given to Norsk Folkemuseum in 1980, and reerected in the backyard of Wessels gate 15 in 2009. It is an example of a type of building that was important in nearly all people’s lives all over the city far into the 1900s. Wessels gate 15 had a privy until 1950, quite similar to this one, but in only one storey.
The oldest renovation in Oslo (then Christiania) was ditches dug in the ground, either in separate houses or some other place in the backyard. The waste could be stored there a long time before it was removed by the nightman. He collected it in large heaps at the outskirts of the city, and sold it as manure to the towns - people and the nearby farmers. From the early 1800s, the farmers transported to a greater extent the waste from the buildings themselves.
The stench and other problems with open waste, in addition to several cholera epidemics, resulted in renovation being hotly debated in Oslo during the 19th century. Private firms were established, mixing peat and lime in the privies, and being paid for emptying them. This treatment of the waste made it dry, odourless and well suited as manure.