QE2’s original décor was controversial. Many guests and passengers were surprised by her crisp and elegant modernism and astonished by her modern leather and chrome vibrancy and how different she was from the muted art deco, traditional brass, teak hardwoods, and exotic Empire veneers of the earlier Queens. QE2 interiors included extensive use of modern durable materials that were as hard wearing and easily cared for as they were elegant and functional as, rather than having to be constantly groomed and polished, they only needed to be wiped clean and some 186,000 square metres (two million square feet) of Formica laminate went into QE2.
Interestingly the décor of her First-Class public areas perhaps received more criticism than their Tourist-Class counterparts.
Daily Telegraph, Saturday 3 May 1969: “In fact, as one member of the crew put it: “You can tell by the décor when you’re in the luxe section of the ship. It gets drearier.””
On Thursday 12 March 1970 an article appeared in the Daily Telegraph claiming that public rooms on QE2 were to be re-decorated and that her décor was to be brightened after complaints, which also included issues with food and service as well as problems with vibration, with the Columbia Restaurant being singled out. The article claimed that Americans preferred the brasher and brighter red, white and blue scheme of the Tourist-Class Britannia Restaurant over the First-Class Columbia Restaurant with its bronze-tinted glass screens, ochre leather wall panels, pale apricot curtains, gold aluminium ceiling and chairs upholstered in dark brown. Cunard was said to be considering brightening the Columbia Restaurant.
Chicago Tribune, Sunday 25 May 1969: “Someone suggested that in the first-class Columbia restaurant the designer managed to achieve the effect of making the real leather-covered walls look as tho they had been finished off in genuine plastic.”
Cunard took the opportunity during QE2’s Tuesday 7 – Tuesday 21 April 1970 refit to redecorate the Columbia Restaurant in effort to brighten and lighten its décor less than a year after QE2 entered service.
The restaurants 500
Race chairs were taken ashore, and Vosper Thornycroft replaced the dark brown covering with a cream one while the room itself received a new carpet and new curtains. In addition, the plastic surrounds around the dumb waiters were renewed and stainless-steel plant boxes were attached to several of the black-painted bulkheads.
The ‘Boston Cup’To commemorate the establishment of the new Cunard service in 1840 the merchants of Boston commissioned a magnificent silver cup from the City’s most outstanding silversmith Obadiah Rich (1809 - 1888) for Lows, Ball and Company. Standing 2½ feet high the Cup was vase-shaped and spirited dolphins formed the two handles with cast coral and shells of all sorts decorating the base. The Cup originally had a lid on it.
Subscriptions were taken for a public dinner in Samuel Cunard's honour that was planned for his arrival in Boston aboard Britannia and at that dinner on Tuesday 21 July 1840 Samuel Cunard was presented with the ‘Boston Cup’ but had to return it straight after the dinner as it wasn’t quite finished. When it was re-presented or whether Samuel Cunard ever saw it again is unknown.
In 1967 Cunard’s Deputy Chairman Lord Mancroft discovered the cup, without its lid, in an antiques shop in Maryland and it was re-presented to Cunard and placed on Franconia for when she called at Boston on Thursday 27 July 1967 to mark the 127th anniversary of Cunard.
Franconia returned the cup to the UK where it was subsequently placed on QE2.
The Boston Cup was displayed as a centrepiece of the Columbia Restaurant during this refurbishment.
Images show Columbia Restuarant in 1969 (brown chairs) and in 1970 (cream chairs).