The Second Class Library
Second class or
'Tourist' passengers didn't have a room called a
Lounge but its function was taken by a Library on
'C' Deck between the two second class stairways.
The ship builder
described it: "The
second-class library is another beautiful
apartment, the style in this case being Colonial
Adams... The panelling is in sycamore, hansomely
relieved with carvings, and the dado is in
mahogany."
The photo below shows the
starboard forward wall of the room during stripping
out in Jarrow in 1935.
The forward second class staircase can be seen
through the windows in the door.
Second class
Titanic survivor, Lawrence Beasley, described the
equivalent room on Olympic's ill-fated sister:
"I can look back and see every detail of the library that afternoon—the beautifully furnished room, with lounges, armchairs, and small writing-or card tables scattered about, writing-bureaus around the walls of the room, and the library in glass-encased shelves flanking one side—the whole finished in mahogany relieved with white fluted wooden columns that supported the deck above. Through the windows is a covered corridor, reserved by general consent as the children’s playground"
The Library's
sycamore panels now reside in same place as the
chandeliers from the First Class Lounge: The
Cutler's Hall in Sheffield.
The fireplace is not from the Olympic but the panels above it are. The main panel was a window frame that would have been divided into two windows originally. The wood partition is missing.
The fine quality of the panels can still be seen today.
The square
half-pillars lined the walls of the library...
While the round
ones held up the ceiling of the Library.
They appear to have be sliced in two during their
fitting into the Cutler's Hall.
A pillar capital with the distinctive 'egg & tongue' carving and the Electrolier just appearing. The ceiling was almost twenty feet high.
Close up of the woodwork on the panels. Note how plain they are in comparison to First Class.
