Britannic's First-class Dining Room

[Nigel Bryant]

Hi,

I am curiously to know if there were any changes to Britannic's intended first-class Dining Saloon? Was the Dining Saloon going to be in the same decoration as her two older sisters. Was it in Jacobean Style? As I read more about the intended RMS Britannic, it seems that there were improvements incorperated in many of the public rooms, so I was wondering if any improvements were incorperated in this room? Does the Shipbuilder for Britannic give a description of this room? I remember someone stating that a wooden floor was layed in the Reception Room next door. Any thoughts?

Regards,

Nigel

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi Nigel!

I believe that the specifications for Britannic that Bill Sauder has seen were the source for the parquet floor in the reception room.

With regard to the dining saloon it's been a while since I've looked through my sources, but here goes...

From memory it was going to be the same style, since I've not seen anything to indicate otherwise. The smoke room and swimming pool on Britannic were radically different to Olympic and so illustrations found their way into the UFTM collection (as did lounge illustrations, for it had slightly grander carving, and the grand staircase...). I'm guessing that an illustration of the saloon would have been done if it looked radically different. The Britannic promotional cutaway, from memory, showed a dining saloon that looked like the same sort of style. I can't be sure. It's still with my publisher along with some of my other material which was being put into the Olympic Class book.

Hopefully divers or cameras can penetrate the dining saloon and reception area sometime, as they apparently had at least some of their fittings installed, but personally I feel we'd be lucky to see any fittings in the same state of preservation as we do on Titanic. I don't know much about materials' deterioration in different sea conditions.

Shipbuilder were going to do a detailed issue on Britannic but never did due to the war. It was a similar story with the Statendam/Justicia. Their 1914 launch article is quite technical and reads much like coverage in papers such as the Belfast Telegraph.

Best regards,

Mark.

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Nigel,

I agree with Mark. I have also been researching the Britannic’s First Class interiors as best I can, given the extremely limited knowledge of them before they were stripped. I do not believe the First Class Dining Saloon would have been much different from those on Titanic and Olympic, as Mark said there would have been illustrations made had it been.

White Star sought to give a feeling of familiarity with all of their ships, this is main reason Olympic and Titanic were so nearly identical, and we can assume the same would have been true of Britannic. The First Class Lounge of the Olympic Class liners was in fact an enlarged version of that found in the First Class of a smaller White Star liner, the name now escapes me.

I have seen a photo in a private collection of what appears to be a First Class Britannic cabin, I have no idea where on the ship it is however, and it is very plain however one of the features that caught my attention was that there was a chair in the cabin of identical style to those found in the First Class Dining Saloon on Titanic and Olympic, while this is a very vague point, it seems to suggest that the décor would remain the same for this area on Britannic, however the only photos of the area that I know to exist have bare steel walls floors and ceilings and are full of beds.

Though there were, as Mark stated, radical modifications made to the First Class Lounge, Grand Staircase, Smoke Room and Swimming Bath. Illustrations of these exist and I have made my own color versions of these areas.

The Grand Staircase had more intricate wood carvings and balustrades, there was even to be a grand pipe organ at the foot of the stairs in its own elaborately paneled enclosure. The Lounge also had more decadent carvings that made the room appear larger IMO, the Smoke Room was to have a stained glass dome and looks have its décor in Adams rather then the Georgian found on Olympic and Titanic. The Swimming Bath was altogether changed from a plain area with bare steel walls, to a grandiose area with marble columns and fancy light fixtures.

It is a shame that Britannic did not survive to server as a passenger liner; I think she would have been the most luxurious ship afloat until the Bremen IMO. I would have also liked to have seen her interiors completed, that would certainly have made for some fantastic photos.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Nigel Bryant]

Thanks Mark and Brain for the explanations.

Brian,

I think The Louis Quinze Style of the lounge of the Olympic class was first used in the the two stacker Oceanic. By the way, in your colourized collection I was wondering if you have done a colorized version of the Dining Saloon onboard the Titanic?

All the best,

Nigel

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Nigel,

To answer your question, yes I have done a colored version of the First Class Dining Saloon on Titanic and Olympic, I sent the completed version to Dan K who corrected my mistakes which I immediately updated, and now I believe I have an accurate representation of the room on both ships.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Michail Michailakis]

Hi,

Just a brief note to remind you that Brian's pictures can also be found at the folowing page:

http://www.hospitalshipbritannic.com/gallery_artwork.htm

Sorry for not posting this info earlier here (the "News" page at HSB was updated though) but I was very busy lately. Brian, thanks for sharing your work and excuse me for not placing the pics on-line sooner.

Best regards,
Michail

 

[Nigel Bryant]

Hi Brian,

Your illustrations of Britannic's proposed interiors are excellent. I like the one of the Britannic's Grand Stairway and the Lounge. Is there any where i could view your depiction of the colourized Dining Saloon? Maybe if you could send it through my email?

All the Best,

Nigel

 

[Wesley Burton]

Hi Brian

Those pictures are beautiful. The grand staircase and swimming pool are my personal favourites. I was surprised that the pool looked so different from the Olympic and Titanic's.

 

[Nigel Bryant]

I think its because White Star decided to add decoration to Britannic's pool because they realized that all their other rivals outmatched them in that area with the launch of Germany's Imperator-class and Curnard's Aquitania all in which had superior pools compared to the Olympic and Titanic.

By the way Brian, if you are looking at this thread thanks for the Dining Saloon picture. It's awesome. Thanks for sending it to me.

Nigel

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Nigel,

I thought you would appreciate that, it is rather impressive, as is the Reception Room rendering I made to accompany it

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Luke Mack]

If the Brittanic was to have a stained glass dome in the smoke room...why isnt it shown in the drawings? I also know that Brittanic was supposed to have a raised ceiling in the main dining salon....i have a drawing but i cant upload it for some reason...maybe i can email it to someone...and they could put it on this board...

Thanks
Luke

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi Luke,

I realise it's been a while since you asked, but I've only just seen your post and thought I'd answer it anyway.

In short, the dome for Britannic's first class smoke room *is* shown in the artist's impression held by the UFTM. I'm curious as to why you believe the dome isn't shown?

I've never seen any credible evidence that the Britannic's first class dining saloon would have had a raised ceiling. Could I ask the source of that assertion?

Best wishes,

Mark.

 

[Jeffrey Word]

Hey Mark.

I'm having a hard time finding a dome in the smoking room also. I see the ceiling with fixtures hanging, I guess that COULD be a dome, and based on historical fact, it must be. It just doesn't look like a "dome" to me. Looks flat and white. I see where it looks raised a bit, is that the dome in question? I'm not arguing with you at all, just making sure I have my facts right.
The dining room looks way different. Personally I prefer those found on Olympic and T. The Britannic looks like it was going a little "wild" with it's decor with loud clashing colors and patterns. It would have looked very interesting, but IMO Olympic and Titanic would have ended up being the most "attractive" on the inside. Not do doubt the artist, but are we sure that those are the colors that were originally intended for these public spaces? The Britannic and "what would have been" is just getting more fascinating to me day by day.

Thanks Mark for any knowledge and input you might have!

Jeff.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I've never seen any credible evidence that the Britannic's first class dining saloon would have had a raised ceiling.<<

Given it's location on D deck, I'm at a loss as to how it could have been done.

 

[Luke Mack]

I was under the impression that the center portion of the dining salon was raised to improve ventalation. I think the ceilings in the room where 10' anyway which is quite high.