Corridor Doors added during refits

[Stuart Kelly]

Hi Mark, Brian, Daniel and everyone else,

Here's a reasonably tricky one. I have often wondered about these doors that were at the Marquis of Granby Hotel until 1999. Doors like them were added to the Olympic's upper deck corridors. I assume this as their style is somewhat un-Edwardian. They are marked on the Bridge Deck plan from the 1933 refit. I'm just wondering when they date from.

From the dispersal catalogue again:
CORRIDORS.
368 A pair of leather-covered brass studded doors, painted flowers,
oval clear glass centres and mahogany and brass handles, each
7 ft. 9 fry 1 ft. 11, and four heavy brass hinges

Do you know when they were added?

 

[Brian Hawley]

Interesting doors Stuart. I am trying to imagine them on Olympic, they seem totally out of place to me! Were on the old "B" deck or new? What did they replace?

On a side note I have always wondered about the deck name change. It seems like it would cost a slight fortune. To me the change seems to make little sense. Re numbering and lettering all the deck's and cabins... well its just odd. Perhaps if cabins just had numbers but not deck letters it would cost less. Even so it seems a waste of time.

Brian

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Brian and Stuart,

Brian, good point on the deck renaming. It seems completely stupid to me, as this would have cost a slight fortune! The cabin numbering plaques had the deck letter on them, so all of those had to be redone, at least in 1st and 2nd class. The brass deck letters would have had to be moved (the ones in the staircase foyers that announced the deck levels). Other signs etc in other classes too would have had to change.

Now as for the doors, the corridor doors were always there. However they were covered in baize. I'm assuming the oval glass panels were there as well. The leather and studded doors must have been added later, I have no idea when, perhaps in the 1928 refit or later when they repainted the whole ship and painted the staircase with it. So the doors were always there, and they may have just leathered the doors and studded them, or replaced them with new ones completely.

Daniel.

 

[Mark Chirnside]

I haven't any specific sources on this either, I am afraid. However, I'd second Daniel's idea that it was either 1928 or 1933. Personally, I think it more likely to be 1933 when we know other changes such as green wash and gilt details for example were added to interiors, not to mention the staterooms.

Then again, the revolving doors and other changes from 1928 also make this date quite possible. But my 'hunch' is 1933.

Best regards,

Mark.

 

[Stuart Kelly]

Hi,

I used the term Bridge Deck to reduce ambiguity. It was the old B deck, renamed A deck. According to the dispersal catalogue they are found in numerous areas on the upper decks including the Officer's quarters and the Promenade deck. They are marked on the 1933 deck plans as being "Baized doors" while elsewhere you see other doors marked as "W.T.D." or "F.P.D." It maybe they were added to excluded drafts or as fireproof doors.

What are you sources about the changes to the Olympic's interior decorations in the 1933 refit, Mark?

 

[Stuart Kelly]

This panel was sold in 1991 in Newcastle-on-Tyne. It would originally have had "A Deck" in brass letters on it, I would think. I'll dig out the copy of the catalogue I have for that sale to see if it was painted green.

 

[Eric Sauder]

Stuart:

Sorry, but that panel is one of the things Ken didn't purchase. And, yes, it was painted a hideous shade of green.

Eric Sauder

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Stuart or others,

Any idea whether the above panel was facing the elevator, or the main staircase landing?

Also, if you have a look at the 1933 plan, the 1921 deck change created a lot of confusion for those needing to redraw the plans. A lot of the old lettering was kept. If you have a look at some of the lettering for the cutaway of the ship on the 1933 plan, you can still see D deck as D deck (not C deck) and other decks also having their original lettering. So, I'm sure some of the other details were left intact as well, such as the baized doors. I also think that since this was not changed on the 1933 plans, that it was a 1933 addition, that was not amended on the plans since 1928.

Daniel.

 

[Matthew Chapman]

I'm curious about the baized doors - they seem to be used on A-deck and B-deck, yet absent on C-deck for some reason. Also, on the Boat Deck, it seems the doors closing off the boat deck cabins and officers quarters from the entrance seem to not be included in some photos of Olympic, and also the 3D recreation in Honor & Glory. I wonder, were the single doors a later addition, or were they just not installed in time on Titanic? At any rate, the doors seem to be provide an aesthetic barrier to separate the ornate oak of the Grand Staircase from the pedestrian looking pine of most of the corridors.