First Class Staterooms

Empire Rooms C-84 and C-65

The Empire Style was created by French architects Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine during the First French Empire (1804-1815) and was designed to idealize the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. The most famous example of the style can be found in the Arc de Triomphe du Caroussel in Paris.

The Panelling from Stateroom C-84 at the Marquis of Granby

The 1998 sale at Sotheby's also included panelling from one of the Marquis of Granby Hotel's Bedrooms that was in the Empire Style.

Although the panelling had been painted white, it appeared to have come from the same stateroom in the photograph above. The detail of the carving is seen below

The removal of the panelling, as with the other staterooms at the hotel, revealed the Harland & Wolff fitting out markings on the back.
It identified the room as having come from Empire Room F on C Deck which was c-84. Thanks to Daniel Klistorner for identifying the panelling as being from C-84.

The Hotel's owner told me in 2001 that this panelling had failed to sell at the 1998 Sotheby's Auction and she subsequently sold it to a dealer whose name she could not recall. Please get in touch if you know where this panelling is now of if you have any other photos of it, especially of when it was fitted in the hotel.

The Wardrobe from Stateroom C-65

This wardrobe from Stateroom C-65 was on display at Southampton Maritime Museum and the woodwork on it indicates that the cabin it came from was in the Empire Style.  According to the Museum's records, it was donated in 1987 from a old peoples' home in the Shirley area of the city. This is indicative, along with the presence of some deck benches from the Olympic turning up in City Parks, that some items from the ship were taken off during her laying up between March and October 1935.

I took the photographs on visits to the museum in 2000 and 2003.

As with the wardrobe from C-82, the number stencilled by Harland & Wolff's workers on the back pinpoints exactly was stateroom it came from. There is also a name written in pencil which is possibly the name of the craftsman who produced this fine piece of furnture. 

              

 The Light Fittings

The Marquis of Granby Hotel also had two light fittings installed in its dining room. While they were attached to panels that came from the Georgian Stateroom, their style is completely different to those in the Shipbuilder illustration of C-86. I think they are originally from an Empire Style stateroom based on similarities with their style and the motifs found on the panelling and wardrobe.

The light fittings when installed at the Marquis of Granby Hotel and their ghostly outline after their removal for sale.