What Did Titanic's Grand Staircase Actually look like?

[Ryan J. Nicholson]

I know this is probably a rather difficult topic to answer, as there are no known photos of Titanic's forward Grand Staircase, but from some of my research it seems that there were some substantial differences between Olympic and Titanic's grand staircase designs.

From what I've read online the Titanic's grand staircase was slightly larger than the one found on the Olympic. Being that there have been more support columns found on the wreck, a different design of wood panelling around elevators, larger reception area, different flooring pattern and even a myth/rumour of multiple light cherubs found on every deck level of the staircase. I have also heard that the Honour and Glory crowning time clock, although still Honour and Glory, was a completely different take on the design compared to the one found in the Olympic. Does anyone have any idea what this would have looked like?

The intended design of the Britannic staircase was quite different from that of the Olympic, no Honour and glory clock, being slightly wider and the main feature was to be the addition of a pipe organ, so is it reasonable to assume that there were also major differences between the Olympic and Titanic staircases too?

Hope someone can help

 

[Mark Chirnside]

The intended design of the Britannic staircase was quite different from that of the Olympic, no Honour and glory clock,

There's no evidence to support that, Ryan - despite the imaginary illustration that's been doing the rounds on the internet for years now.

Best wishes

Mark.

 

[Ryan J. Nicholson]

Ah fair enough, what ever happened to the interior furnishings for Britannic anyway?

 

[hereward]

What time would be shown on the clock?

 

[Cjwalker5]

If the staircase was drastically different it would of been photographed for the shipyards records. Some of the cabins we're different on titanic and we're photographed as with the cafe Parisian and new enclosed A deck promenade.

 

[derek byrne]

A local in Inverness told me that the Grand Staircase on Titanic was based on the staircase in the Station Hotel in Inverness which was opened in 1855 to coincide with the opening of the Inverness and Nairn Railway. The hotel changed its name to the Royal Highland Hotel in 2000. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this?

 

[Dave Gittins]

I don't think Titanic's staircase was based on anything in particular. In the days before lifts, grand staircases were a dime a dozen. Here in Adelaide, a big store had a staircase of Carrara marble that makes Titanic's look tawdry. When Cameron made his movie, he made the staircase wider than the real thing, to accommodate more actors.

 

[Thomas Krom]

When Cameron made his movie, he made the staircase wider than the real thing, to accommodate more actors.

I've often seen the claim floating about that the width of the set was increased because 'people now compared to 1912 are taller', however the data that i've been collecting disagrees with that. Take J. Bruce Ismay for example, he was 6'4" in length. I believe the reason why the staircase was extended had to do with that camera's needed to go up and down the staircase instead, however presently I cannot confirm it.

 

[robert warren]

There is also the publicity booklet that came out about 1910 that has illustrations of all the 1st class public rooms. I have a reproduction of this and the staircase illustration looks like the photos we all see. Below it says 1st class staircase and entrance - Olympic AND Titanic.

 

[Wilf]

A local in Inverness told me that the Grand Staircase on Titanic was based on the staircase in the Station Hotel in Inverness which was opened in 1855 to coincide with the opening of the Inverness and Nairn Railway. The hotel changed its name to the Royal Highland Hotel in 2000. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this?

The type of staircase in Titanic is what is known as as an "Imperial" star. They were really popularised in the 17th and 18th century when siuated in palaces of European royalty and in the very grandest country houses. They were part of the development of the great "hall" as an architecural feature integral to the way palaces and houses were laid out around a series of 1st floor state rooms or salons. The Imperial stair comes out of the development of courtly behaviour in the 17th century. Visitors processed from entering the house through a double-height great hall, they would move up the stair, at the half-way point dividing into different parties so they could access different parts of the principal salons. It part of the whole ceremony of entering a palace or great house. It also has a practical purpose of managing the flow of people simultaneously ascending and descending the staircase (the Romans used them at the colloseum and it was probably this which inspired the great renaissance architects to adopt it).

So naturally, as time went on the style was adopted in the 19th century in other grand public buildings and commercial properties such as the grandest hotels and department stores. I suspect this latter fact was very high in Ismay and Pirrie's minds when they were conceiving the 'hotel at sea' concept, and I wouldn't have been at all suprised if they specified an Imperial staircase specifically to evoke the feel of the best hotels just as much as the practical reasons of managing the movement of passengers.

The design of grand staircases like that on Titanic turned an ascent up the staircase into a procession. The double-height space on A deck lit by the dome was intended to evoke the great hall of an English country house. The use of dividing stairs set at 90 degrees to the main stair was also deliberate (turning them through 180 was more usual, as well as more practical) It forces the wells to widen, which in turn makes the open spaces on each landing larger. It forces passengers to make circuits of each of those landings to access the main level- which you might think was a downside, but was probably intentional. This was because as well as managing the flow of passengers it was definitely intended to be used as a space in which passengers were given the opportunity access the principal public spaces in a way they can be 'seen', enjoying conversation as they did so. Staircases like this would have been a very familiar feature of the lives of 1st class passengers who spent a lot of their time in hotels and opera houses.

 

[derek byrne]

Thank you for this info. Very interesting.

 

[peterpeak362]

I know this is probably a rather difficult topic to answer, as there are no known photos of Titanic's forward Grand Staircase, but from some of my research it seems that there were some substantial differences between Olympic and Titanic's grand staircase designs.

From what I've read online the Titanic's grand staircase was slightly larger than the one found on the Olympic. Being that there have been more support columns found on the wreck, a different design of wood panelling around elevators, larger reception area, different flooring pattern and even a myth/rumour of multiple light cherubs found on every deck level of the staircase. I have also heard that the Honour and Glory crowning time clock, although still Honour and Glory, was a completely different take on the design compared to the one found in the Olympic. Does anyone have any idea what this would have looked like?

The intended design of the Britannic staircase was quite different from that of the Olympic, no Honour and glory clock, being slightly wider and the main feature was to be the addition of a pipe organ, so is it reasonable to assume that there were also major differences between the Olympic and Titanic staircases too?

Hope someone can help

This is a picture of Titanic's forward grand staircase, before the installation of the replica clock from the Olympic: Honor and Glory crowning Time, circa 1911-1912; Google Image Result for https://www.titanicconnections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Olympic_1st_Class_Aft_Staircase_ADeck_Level-1024x772.jpg
The Olympic, renamed Titanic, carried the original carving, with most likely a mirror instead of a clock, down to the abyss; while the Titanic, a smaller ship in length and somewhat tonnage-was renamed Olympic and had a replica clock-seen here-

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/RMS_Olympic_Honour_and_Glory_Crowning_Time.JPG

-installed sometime after 1912.
The ships only had one lotus dome per forward staircase.

 

[peterpeak362]

I know this is probably a rather difficult topic to answer, as there are no known photos of Titanic's forward Grand Staircase, but from some of my research it seems that there were some substantial differences between Olympic and Titanic's grand staircase designs.

From what I've read online the Titanic's grand staircase was slightly larger than the one found on the Olympic. Being that there have been more support columns found on the wreck, a different design of wood panelling around elevators, larger reception area, different flooring pattern and even a myth/rumour of multiple light cherubs found on every deck level of the staircase. I have also heard that the Honour and Glory crowning time clock, although still Honour and Glory, was a completely different take on the design compared to the one found in the Olympic. Does anyone have any idea what this would have looked like?

The intended design of the Britannic staircase was quite different from that of the Olympic, no Honour and glory clock, being slightly wider and the main feature was to be the addition of a pipe organ, so is it reasonable to assume that there were also major differences between the Olympic and Titanic staircases too?

Hope someone can help

This is a picture of Titanic's forward grand staircase, before the installation of the replica clock from the Olympic: Honor and Glory crowning Time, circa 1911-1912; Google Image Result for https://www.titanicconnections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Olympic_1st_Class_Aft_Staircase_ADeck_Level-1024x772.jpg
The Olympic, renamed Titanic, carried the original carving, with most likely a mirror instead of a clock, down to the abyss; while the Titanic, a smaller ship in length and somewhat tonnage-was renamed Olympic and had a replica clock-seen here-

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/RMS_Olympic_Honour_and_Glory_Crowning_Time.JPG

-installed sometime after 1912.
The ships only had one lotus dome per forward staircase.

 

[peterpeak362]

I've often seen the claim floating about that the width of the set was increased because 'people now compared to 1912 are taller', however the data that i've been collecting disagrees with that. Take J. Bruce Ismay for example, he was 6'4" in length. I believe the reason why the staircase was extended had to do with that camera's needed to go up and down the staircase instead, however presently I cannot confirm it.

I've often seen the claim floating about that the width of the set was increased because 'people now compared to 1912 are taller', however the data that i've been collecting disagrees with that. Take J. Bruce Ismay for example, he was 6'4" in length. I believe the reason why the staircase was extended had to do with that camera's needed to go up and down the staircase instead, however presently I cannot confirm it.

This is a picture of Titanic's forward grand staircase, before the installation of the replica clock from the Olympic: Honor and Glory crowning Time, circa 1911-1912; Google Image Result for https://www.titanicconnections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Olympic_1st_Class_Aft_Staircase_ADeck_Level-1024x772.jpg
The Olympic, renamed Titanic, carried the original carving, with most likely a mirror instead of a clock, down to the abyss; while the Titanic, a smaller ship in length and somewhat tonnage-was renamed Olympic and had a replica clock-seen here-

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/RMS_Olympic_Honour_and_Glory_Crowning_Time.JPG

-installed sometime after 1912.
The ships only had one lotus dome per forward staircase.

 

[Thomas Krom]

This is a picture of Titanic's forward grand staircase, before the installation of the replica clock from the Olympic: Honor and Glory crowning Time, circa 1911-1912; Google Image Result for https://www.titanicconnections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Olympic_1st_Class_Aft_Staircase_ADeck_Level-1024x772.jpg

That's the after Louis XIV staircase on A-deck of the Olympic in May 1911 as taken by Robert Welch, who was Harland and Wolff's personal photographer. The forward Louis XIV staircase had Honour and Glory crowning time.

The Olympic, renamed Titanic, carried the original carving, with most likely a mirror instead of a clock, down to the abyss; while the Titanic, a smaller ship in length and somewhat tonnage-was renamed Olympic and had a replica clock-seen here-

The Olympic wasn't switched as the Titanic and the Titanic wasn't switched with the Olympic. This has long been debunked: The Titanic 'Switch' Theory: Exposed

The theory, as proposed by Robin Gardiner and Dan van Der Vat, suggests that the Titanic was switched in the Olympic in October 1911 while the ship was in the state as you can see below:

Anyone who knows a little bit about Edwardian shipbuilding knows that the fitting out of a ship takes months. The Titanic at the time had only two operational boiler rooms and practically none of her interior fittings between October 1911 to November 1911 when the Olympic was being repaired after the Hawke collision.

And beyond that, the Titanic and Olympic both had the same measurements in terms of the length at 882 feet and 9 inches