From the mostly archaic sense ofoffice as a "duty" or "function" and hence unmentionable "bodily functions".

houseofoffice (pluralhouses of office)

1. (obsolete, euphemistic) Anouthouse: anoutbuildingused as alavatory.
   • 1660 20 October,Samuel Pepys, diary:

     Going down my cellar to look, I put my foot into a heap ofturds, by which I find that Mr Turner’shouse of office is full and comes into my cellar, which doth trouble me; but I will have it helped.

   • 1764 August 5,David Garrick, letter:

     I never, since I left England, till now, haveregal'd Myself with a goodhouse of Office... the holes in Germany are... too round, chiefly owing... to the broader bottoms of the Germans.

   • 1823,Lord Byron,Don Juan, Canto XI, §xl, ll. 123 f:

     The very clerks—those somewhat dirty springs
     Ofoffice, or theHouse of Office.

• SeeThesaurus:bathroom

• house of ease

• Oxford English Dictionary. "office,n."

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