Cabin Allotments & Furnishings Of The Lusitania

[George L. Lorton]

This is the place for info or questions about the furnishings of the Lusitania and how the cabins of the Lusitania was decorated and furnished plus the fixtures used and other info on where things were like Bathrooms and the like. I'll start by asking-

I know the cabins on Titanic were usually decorated in a historical period style. Was the same practice used on the Lusitania or did Cunard use a different decorating practice the White Star?

 

[Martin Williams]

The 'period' look would have been prevalent aboard every prestigious Atlantic liner in the years before the Great War, George, regardless of the shipping line. Following the overblown and overloaded decorative excesses of the Victorian Era, the Edwardians inclined towards the purer styles of the French and English eighteenth centuries, which is why you found Georgian smoking rooms and Louis XVI dining saloons aboard the flagships of both the Cunard and White Star Lines. This trend mirrored what was going on in fashionable houses, hotels, restaurants and clubs on dry land and was disseminated by the likes of Elsie de Wolfe (a great chum of Lady Duff Gordon, who fitted out her London and New York Lucile salons in the eighteenth century style), Charles Mewes and Arthur Davies, the duo behind the Ritz hotels, the 'Aquitania' and various HAPAG liners, and James Millar and Harold Peto, who worked on the 'Lusitania' and 'Mauretania' respectively.

I'm by no means as au fait with the decorative schemes employed in first-class suites and staterooms aboard the 'Lusitania' but I have most definitely seen photographs of 'Empire' and 'Louis XV' cabins. Without doubt, there would have been others too.

 

[Jason Schleisman]

George Trollope & Sons and Colls & Sons Ltd. (that's all one company, and as one would guess, was formerly two separate companies before 1903) among other jobs, were commissioned to execute cabinet, decor, and furnishing work for 18 special First Class Cabins on the Lusitania. Styles of decor in these 'Cabins de Luxe' included Georgian, Adams, Sheraton, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Empire. Quite a smattering of differing styles, but as Martin pointed out, all in keeping with the prevailing tastes of the era.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Thanks Martin and Jason,

I thought as much about the decoration. It always nagged me when I read accounts of Lusitania that I never know where anything is or was or even what the ship looked like inside.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Now can anybody tell me were the bathrooms are at. Please, I have a 2 year old who needs to go.

"I gotta go now, Pappy!" saith the child.

 

[Jason Schleisman]

Bathrooms? Toilets? Oh didn't you know? ~ Victorians/Edwardians did not have any functions below the waist. Or at least many of them might have liked to believe that.

So I'm afraid ya just gotta have her hold it like a true Edwardian ~ tighten up the corset strings a bit more for good measure lest there be seepage.

But chin up Auld Bean, if you're truly desperate, you might perhaps grab a chamber pot and keep it handy under the bed or in a cupboard so no one will ever know your little secret.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Ha Ha.

It's too late. I had to change her smock and everything.