Interior Design Questions

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi All!

I have been leafing through the interior decor discussions and have not found anything that could adequately answer my inquiry, although it may have been discussed elsewhere.

First, I was doing a rendering of the Olympic's Smoke Room after WWI and the 1911 tile pattern has been covered over by what appears to be a carpet - I say it is carpet because when I zoomed in and began looking for tell tale signs I found one in the section where the circular pattern begins towards the center of the room - there are some slight folds and creases visible, obviously not tiles.

My question here is what color would this carpet be, I have seen it rendered in period postcards as dark brown with a buff/tan pattern but I have no other definitive source for this, if anyone could clarify this I would be grateful.

Second, I have seen this discussed elsewhere, but is there any confirmation on what the small boxy looking item is to the left of the revolving doors adjacent to the fireplace? The similar object discussed to the right of the door appears to be part of a writing desk that was tucked in that corner and is visible in a few photos. I reason the contraption to be a wood framed space heater as would appear all throughout the ship, but this is only my guess.

Third, what colors were the tiles in the First Class Barber Shop, I can’t find any references on this, though I believe they were red and gray. What color were the tiles in the Second Class Entrance - I have seen them rendered and listed as blue/white but I am not sure. And were the tiles in the Third Class areas black/white or red/gray?

Sorry for posting so many questions at once but I am at a loss and several books have counteracted each other on their descriptions of these areas further confusing me.

If anyone can help me with these I would greatly appreciate this.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Brian,

Olympic's 1st class smoke room flooring was not carpet, it was definitely tile, and was still the same tile when she was being scrapped in 1935. As a point of interest, the tile actually resembles the pattern that was going to be used on the Britannic. I don't know whether Olympic's smoke room tiles is actually Britannic's reused, possibly not as the two rooms were different shapes.

This tile I think was green and white, or some shade of light grey. There are color illustrations of this room, and I think there's one pic in Illustrated History. I'm not home, so I can't direct you to a page. It was during the 1919/20 refit that the tile was changed, along with the seats. Prior ro the war, the room had patterened/embossed leather seats, after the war, the seat leather was smooth.

As for the smoke room, which photos are you looking at. If it's what I'm thinking about, that boxy thing to the left was just a trolley, which in another photo appears near the turbine casing. There were no heaters in the smoke room, the room was heated from the steam pipes that ran along the bottom, and were covered by those pierced brass coverings.

I don't know about the colors in the Barber shop, 2nd class entrances.

As for the 3rd class areas, the black/white, red/grey and green/grey tiles were used. In fact that grey or white was probably the same color, possibly slightly off white or light grey.

Daniel.

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Dan!

Thanks for clearing that up for me, the search for true tile colors, especially those in the Smoke Room was a most frustrating one.

As for the boxy thing, I re-read the posts where I first saw it, I was mistaken in what the coversation about, I also think the three shelf box by the turbine casing was a drink station or something similar.

I didnt think the room has space heaters, but I wasnt sure. Though I have seen a similar box like item in the photo of Olympic/Titanic (not sure which) B52 Sitting Room against the wall to the left of the entry door, and I am still baffled as to what purpose it served.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Brian,

Which box-thing are you looking at? You may be referring to one of the two coal boxes that were in the smoke room (these are rarely seen in photos and hard to spot). As you know the fireplace was real and used coal, the coal was kept in two decorative boxes on either side of the fireplace, so I'm surprised you spotted it anywhere else. Which photo are you referring to?

There was a similar-looking object in the starboard B deck sitting room (on Titanic it was B52, on Olympic I think it was B37) that was actually a heater.

As for the new tile pattern and color, refer to page 82 of Illustrated History.

Regards,

Daniel.

 

[Justin James Keeney]

What style was the parlor suit rooms b52,b54,b56 and the parlor suit rooms b51,b53,b55?

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Justin,

B52, the sitting room was done in Louis XIV, B54 was done in Empire and I believe so was B56.

B51, sitting room was done in Adams I am not sure of the decor of B53 and B55, though they were most likely either in Empire or Adams as well.

If Dan K. pops up and sees this he will be able to better answer it

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Justin and Brian,

B52 was Louis XVI, B55 and B56 were done in the same style (not your usual period suite decor). B53 was panelled in one of the period styles with polished wood, not Adams or Empire styles.

Daniel.

 

[Justin Keeney]

does anybody know if the cabins a-3,a-4,a-36, and a-37 where decorated the same way as the rest of the cabins on a-deck, with the white paneled walls and brass beds. also, does anybody know what the forward cabins looked like on b,c, and d-decks. where they also decorated in the same simple decor as the a-deck cabins. and if anyone has any pictures that would be great. thanks.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Hello Justin,

Olympic photographs in the Shipbuilder [Ocean Liners of the Past - Olympic and Titanic]; also in Titanic, Triumph and Tragedy by Eaton and Haas and in The Last Days of the Titanic by EE O'Donnell all show the same simple decor as with the A-deck cabins [A-21]. Pages 78-79 of the O'Donnell book has photographs of A-37, again the same decor.

 

[Justin Keeney]

As I was reading your answer to my question I thought of something, this would mean that all the forward cabins on all decks and the a-deck cabins would be considered less luxurious and much cheaper, but yet some of the most wealthiest passengers on the ship where booked in these cabins, like the Duff Gordons. In James Camerons Titanic he shows Thomas Andrews cabin on A-deck to have dark paneled walls, so this part of the movie is incorrect? I have one final question on the forward cabins, does anybody know the color schemes of these rooms like the color of the fabric on the sofas and chairs and the comforters on the beds and the carpets. THANKS

 

[Lester Mitcham]

I cannot comment on colors etc; but yes the forward rooms except for A-3 and A-4 were less expensive than the Suites, en-suites and Special Staterooms on B and C-decks. - Overall less than half of those rooms seem to have been occupied.

You mention the Duff Gordons. The advertised rate for their rooms was £60 each. For that price they could have a room like B-60 with a private bathroom.

 

[Justin Keeney]

in todays money about how much in usd would 60 1912 pounds equal up to? and also do u know how much a c-deck cabin would have been such as c-63.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

You (that's how we spell u around here) can get a very rough conversion of 1912 pounds to 2005 dollars by adding a couple of noughts. But any standard conversion which allows only for price inflation tends to give a figure which is too low, because the price of labour-intensive services have increased at a rate much higher than the retail price index which is the basis for calculating inflation. If you were paying for the same level of service today, you probably wouldn't get much change out of 10,000 dollars for that particular ticket price.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Advertised cost of C-63:
With private bath and toilet £145 for 1 passenger; £155 for 2 passengers.
Without the private bath and toilet £100 for 1 passenger; £110 for 2 passengers.

Sorry I typed the price of B-60 as "with"; it should have been without a private bath and toilet.

 

[Justin Keeney]

so what i've been hearing is that it is really hard to convert money from 1912 to 2005. Anyways all your info was really helpful, but does anybody know what type of design c-63 would have been, i heard somewhere it was empire.