First-class facilities of the Titanic

Reflecting the White Star Line's reputation for superior comfort and luxury, the Titanic had extensive facilities for First Class passengers which were widely regarded as the finest of her time.

In contrast to her French and German competitors, whose interiors were extravagantly decorated and heavily adorned, the Titanic emphasized comfort and subdued elegance more in the style of a British country manor or luxury hotel.

Although closely similar to her sister ship and predecessor RMS Olympic, Titanic featured additional First Class staterooms, augmented public rooms, and myriad minor improvements to enhance luxury and comfort.

The promenade deck connected to the first-class gangway entrances immediately forward, enabling the copious amounts of luggage typically carried by the richest passengers to be loaded directly into their suites.

[12] The suites on B and C-Decks were richly appointed in 11 different period styles, including Adam, Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, French Empire, Georgian, Jacobean and Italian Renaissance.

Bedroom B was the plainer of the two, featuring fielded wood panels painted white, resting on a 3-foot high carved oak dado, and furnished with a brass or wooden bedstead.

[15] In the "special staterooms", there was a wide range of finely carved panelling, veneers, and marquetry made from exotic imported woods like mahogany, sycamore, walnut, oak and satinwood.

Such was the attention to historic detail that every piece of furniture, light fixture, upholstery, and woodwork was recreated with an obsessive care for accuracy by designers and master craftsmen at Harland and Wolff.

Mutters & Zoon, for instance, fitted out twelve of the -"special staterooms" according to the chosen period styles, supplying everything from the paneling and doors down to the sofa pillows, down bed quilts, and wastepaper baskets.

These featured white-painted 'Venesta' panels (a durable type of plywood), pilasters, archways over the stateroom entrances, and a decorative frieze supported by gilt brackets running along the top of the walls which concealed the ventilation ducts and electrical wiring underneath.

Because the cabins were all framed in pine and teak, many of the walls between staterooms have deteriorated, leaving a warren of tangled electrical wiring, deep silt and wreckage treacherous to ROVs.

James Cameron's 2001 Ghosts of the Abyss expedition focused on the cabins of some of the most famous Titanic passengers, including Henry S. Harper, Molly Brown and Edith Russell.

[21] The more common remains that delineate staterooms include desks and other hardwood furniture, collapsed bunks, silver-plated lamps, doors, brass bed frames, and even upright cabinets with their contents still in place on the shelves.

The Titanic featured numerous sporting and relaxation facilities including: The first-class gymnasium was just aft of the forward grand staircase along the Starboard side of the Boat Deck.

Along the wall opposite the entrance was a carved oak installation with an illustrated cutaway of an Olympic-class ocean liner and a map depicting the travel routes of the White Star Line throughout the world.

The barber shop also offered small souvenirs and collectables for purchase, including postcards, White Star branded trinkets, tobacco, dolls, penknives, and hats.

[44] The 2001 Ghosts of the Abyss expedition attempted to gain entry to the À la Carte Restaurant, only to find that the aft end of A and B Decks in the seriously damaged stern section had collapsed upon one another.

[52] The ship's designers had originally planned to build an extravagant two-storey dining saloon topped by a dome for the Titanic and her sisters, like those on the rival Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania.

Surviving in this part were two of the rectangular leaded-glass windows still in situ along with remnants of wooden panelling, gilded brass light fixtures (dangling from their cords), and the cast iron supports for the tables.

[63] Reminiscent of an outdoor sidewalk café, its rooms were brightly lit by large windows and double sliding doors that opened onto the aft end of the first-class Promenade Deck.

[73] Square tables with raised edges (to prevent drink spillage in rough weather) dotted the room, surrounded by round club chairs upholstered in leather, of an unknown colour (probably green or burgundy).

Several pieces of wreckage from the lounge have been identified in the debris field surrounding the wreck, including the Artemis statue, bronze sconces, and portions of the window frames.

[90] The first-class dining saloon on D-Deck was preceded by a large reception room, measuring 460 m2 (4,951 sq ft), located at the foot of the forward grand staircase and encompassing the entire width of the ship.

In contrast to the linoleum floors on the Olympic, the Titanic's reception room was covered with plush Axminster carpeting and there were potted palms in built-in holders in the corners of the alcoves.

[96] The Titanic's reception room was enlarged in contrast to her sister ship through a reconfiguration of the two entry vestibules, reducing their size and adding broad arched entrances opening onto the foyer in front of the elevators.

The Titanic's vestibules differed from those on the Olympic – they were reduced in size to make the reception room larger and they eliminated the communicating corridor between the two sides in order to enlarge the elevator foyers.

It was reported that during the sinking 2nd Officer Lightoller ordered crew members to open the port side gangway doors on D-Deck for loading more passengers into the lifeboats nearer to sea level.

[99] Most of the exquisite leaded-glass windows remain in situ, along with much of the mahogany panelling, built-in plant holders, light fixtures, and carved framework surrounding the steel support pillars of the room.

Small amounts of the original white lead paint survive in the carved creases of the woodwork, and several of the swinging doors with their bronze grilles still hang in the entrance vestibule doorways.

B and C Decks probably had smaller replicas of these cherubs at either corner of the staircases, and contained landscape oil paintings as the focal points of their landings instead of the unique clock on A-Deck.