Titanic's Grand Staircase Photos

I am VERY confused! Do you mean that the photos of the Grand Staircase are really photos from the Olympic?? I had NO idea! But... in Titanic: An illustrated History there is a picture of another Grand Staircase which has only a square with a clock in it, and it says that THAT is a picture of the Olympic GS? Perhaps that one is really a picture of the Titanics GS?

Does this mean that no one knows for sure what the Titanics GS looked like at all? Aren't there any blueprints or plans of it? And how do people know that the pictures are of the Olypics GS and not the Titanics?

Comments Please!
 
>>Do you mean that the photos of the Grand Staircase are really photos from the Olympic?? <<

That's exactly what's being said. As the second sister in a planned trio, Titanic didn't get anything even close to the sort of attention the Olympic did by being the lead ship of the class. Apparantly, nobody thought it much of a priority to make an extensive photographic record of the ship.

She just wasn't that interesting until she did something embarrassing...like sink on her first time out.

Afterwards, there was plenty of interest. Unfortunately, being at the bottom of the ocean rendered Titanic unavailable for in depth photography, hence the reason her sister is often used as a stand in.

Frankly, I would be greatly surprised if not so much as a single photo of the Grand Staircase exists, but if it does, it's very likely in private hands and has never been released or published.
 
quote:

And what GS is the stairs with the square carved wall clock?

I'm not sure what you're asking. If you're asking which Grand Staircase it is, it's Olympic's which has already been mentioned above and most recently by Michael. But if you're wondering which Grand Staircase it is on the ship, it's the forward one.​
 
I don't really follow.. This picture:
b6_1_b.jpg


Is as I understand from the Olympic's forward GS, and then, the picture of the staircase associated with the Titanic, is Olympics aft staircase?:
dome.jpg
 
The first image is of Olympic's aft Grand Staircase. While the second image does not appear to be an actual photo of her forward Grand Staircase, that is what it looked like. It was the same for Titanic.
 
Ok..thanks! Now I think I Understand.. A shame though... thinking that the Titanics staircase perhaps wasn't that glorious after all..perhaps we will never know.. I always thought that Titanic had a more luxurious interior design than her sister.
 
>>>I always thought that Titanic had a more luxurious interior design than her sister.<<<

In some aspects she did. With Olympic being the lead of the class, the builders were able to incorporate many changes to Titanic's final design, but no major interior design changes were made that we are aware of. You can read about these changes in the Titanic/Olympic differences thread. Overall though, Olympic and Titanic were nearly identical from the photographic evidence provided. On the other hand, the third ship, Britannic, was to be even more "glorious" than the previous two ships. Information on the proposed RMS. Britannic can be found at www.Hospitalshipbritannic.com
 
There is even a story in "Titanic Voices" that the clock on Titanic may not have been installed prior to the maiden voyage! But since all we have are photos from the Olympic, there is no way to tell.
 
Hi Everyone

What an interesting board!! Anyway on to my question.

I recently read in one of the Titanic books(I don't remember which one) that the clock on the Grand Staircase was never actually installed due to time restraints and that there was only a mirror in place of the clock. The carved figures were actually there just not the clock part. The pictures used to illustrate the clock in most books was actually of the Olympic; so I've read. Has anybody else heard about this? Do you think this is correct?
 
Hi Tammy. I'd like to know more about this myself. So far, from what I've been told here on ET is that there's real no evidence to indicate that either way. I've also heard that the entire area of the wall may have been a mirror, instead of even having the 2 figures carved in yet. What you said would make more sense though, to have a small mirror just in the clock space. Hopefully someone will come along and shed some light on this.
 
Hi Matthew,

There is evidence to show that there was a clock, but also evidence to saw that there was a mirror in place of a clock and carving. It would be up to real experts to decide, but you have to consider that there was only the outline of where the clock should have been when the crew for the film 'Secrets of the Titanic', and most of the other wood items in the same area had stayed quite well preserved. It could mean that the clock and carvings were made from a different wood that was eaten away quicker, or that they never existed.

Quite a lot of the pictures of that were supposed to be of the Titanic, were in fact of the Olympic. The same goes for videos played to the public depicting the 'Titanic's' departure. So it is nearly impossible to find out if there ever was a clock there or not. I'm afraid that your question might go unanswered for quite some time.

Carla
 
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