The White Swan Hotel in Alnwick and its Olympic connections

[Rob Lightbody]

I'm staying in the white star hotel in alnwick. I've just had breakfast in the Olympic suite. The stairs are also from the ship. It's all very beautiful very solid wood, with beautifully crafted railings and glass. Incredible really. How can this be recreated using modern fireproof materials??

[tdickson]

I know we are slightly off Topic, but I have stayed there also very many moons ago, absolutely fabulous hotel, well the restaurant surroundings are, I am sure you will, but before you check-out can you take lots of photos and post them, would not know were to start looking for my old slides
Curious as to why your are in Alnwick, or are you there just because of the Hotel interior etc.
I believe it was bought from an auction a long time ago, is that correct ?

[Rob Lightbody]

The hotel's owner in 1936 was a regular passenger on the Olympic and basically bought the entire restaurant and more when the ship was being dismantled. They even have part of the grand stairway and the hotel's rotating doors are from Olympic too.
Didn't come gone here specially because of this, but it's a nice bonus !

[andy liney]

The hotel's owner in 1936 was a regular passenger on the Olympic and basically bought the entire restaurant and more when the ship was being dismantled. They even have part of the grand stairway and the hotel's rotating doors are from Olympic too.
Didn't come gone here specially because of this, but it's a nice bonus !

I stayed there many years ago, specifically to see the memorabilia! Isn't the function room (at the back) the old First Class Lounge?

Edit: I've just looked it up on Wikipedia, and the Olympic Lounge does indeed contain parts from the First Class Lounge (although less bits than I thought). The staircase is, in fact, part of the aft First Class staircase (half of it, from memory) and not the Grand Staircase (as featured in the film). Apparently the revolving doors were unique to the Olympic, as a design change avoided their necessity (preventing draughts) on the Titanic and Britannic.

[Graham Taylor]

I'm staying in the white star hotel in alnwick. I've just had breakfast in the Olympic suite. The stairs are also from the ship. It's all very beautiful very solid wood, with beautifully crafted railings and glass. Incredible really. How can this be recreated using modern fireproof materials??

I have been wondering the self same thing.

[Rob Lightbody]

Yes sorry it's the first class lounge, not the restaurant, but there's loads of it, including the ceiling. It's a massive room. 300 attended a wedding there last night.

This is an interesting post that shows the part of the grand staircase that's in the white swan

http://socialdocumentary.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/recreating-rms-titanic/

If you do a Google image search for white swan rms Olympic you can see the loads of good photos.

[andy liney]

Yes sorry it's the first class lounge, not the restaurant, but there's loads of it, including the ceiling. It's a massive room. 300 attended a wedding there last night.

This is an interesting post that shows the part of the grand staircase that's in the white swan

http://socialdocumentary.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/recreating-rms-titanic/

If you do a Google image search for white swan rms Olympic you can see the loads of good photos.

I took loads of photos myself when I was there!

It's more than thirty years since I stayed there, and, at the time, I thought that their room was the entire First Class Lounge intact. Reading more today (the first time I've done any research into the White Swan as I didn't have the internet in those days), it appears that it contains only part of the ceiling, some of the windows, and part of the paneling, but isn't an exact replica by any means. If you compare photographs of the hotel's room and the Olympic First Class Lounge in Bruce Beveridge's 'Titanic: The Ship Magnificent' (which, again, I didn't have thirty years ago) there are significant differences, and their Olympic Suite is only really a pastiche. Perhaps the most significant missing part (presumably because it was too large to fit in, unless he didn't acquire it) is the central cupola and associated chandelier. None of the ten partitioned areas are present either, again because the present room is not large enough, not to mention three of the bay windows.

[Peter Mugridge]

In a similar vein, don't forget the Royal Highland Hotel in Inverness; this place has a claim to fame in that when a certain Thomas Andrews stayed there in the early 1900s the building inspired his designs for the Olympic class vessels, apart from the hotel's main staircase ( pictured here - the design was basically just doubled up on board ) the distictive arched windows in the breakfast room are instantly recognisable and I believe several other decorative features of the building were incorprated into the styling on board the ships.

[highlander0108]

I'm staying in the white star hotel in alnwick. I've just had breakfast in the Olympic suite. The stairs are also from the ship. It's all very beautiful very solid wood, with beautifully crafted railings and glass. Incredible really. How can this be recreated using modern fireproof materials??

There are companies that can laminate thin veneers of wood to non-combustible substrates and achieve non-combustible ratings and smoke ratings now.  They even have it available in a wallpaper type format.  Amazing technology.  We looked into it on a recent building project.  It would not surprise me that some of that technology is not already onboard the current Queens in some shape or form.  Here is one such company, which touts that their products are used on cruise ships.

http://www.koroseal.com/woodwallcovering.php

I have no doubt that a Titanic II could have recreated "wood" like interiors if one really wanted to go through all the effort.

[andy liney]

There are companies that can laminate thin veneers of wood to non-combustible substrates and achieve non-combustible ratings and smoke ratings now.  They even have it available in a wallpaper type format.  Amazing technology.  We looked into it on a recent building project.  It would not surprise me that some of that technology is not already onboard the current Queens in some shape or form.  Here is one such company, which touts that their products are used on cruise ships.

Whatever decorative technology is on the new Queen Elizabeth, the interiors don't bear close scrutiny as they are very cheaply made, with extremely thin sheeting that feels like loosely fixed plywood, softwoods dressed up as hardwood ('mahogany' furniture where the softwood is already showing through at the edges), and softwood stained and lacquered to look like teak round the jacuzzis which they will live to regret doing. (That's not to mention the plastic 'teak' elsewhere on the decks). It looks the part from a distance, but in my view it's all a bit MFI (and I'm referring to the days when MFI sold furniture in classified newspaper advertisements, not when it became a more 'quality' shop!).

[Waverley]

The cruise ship Celebrity Millennium has the Olympic Restaurant using the wooden panels from the RMS Olympic.

[highlander0108]

The cruise ship Celebrity Millennium has the Olympic Restaurant using the wooden panels from the RMS Olympic.

Excellent point noted Robert!  How are the fire rating aspects of using the Olympic millwork onboard a modern ship meeting SOLAS requirements met?

On my Farewell to the UK QE2 trip, we took the excursion to Alnwick Castle, while others ventured off to see the hotel and the Olympic connection.  I did not know of this potential trip until I heard about it afterwards.   

[Clydebuilt1971]

In a similar vein, don't forget the Royal Highland Hotel in Inverness; this place has a claim to fame in that when a certain Thomas Andrews stayed there in the early 1900s the building inspired his designs for the Olympic class vessels, apart from the hotel's main staircase ( pictured here - the design was basically just doubled up on board ) the distictive arched windows in the breakfast room are instantly recognisable and I believe several other decorative features of the building were incorprated into the styling on board the ships.

I stayed in the Royal Highland quite a lot '05 / '06 and it was a really pleasant, well run place. The staircase is especially attractive.

Always meant to pay the White Star a visit but have never got around to it (so far)

G

[andy liney]

Just in case there actually is a White Star in Alnwick, I should point out that the Olympic Suite is in the White Swan!

[Rob Lightbody]

Here are some of my photos taken in the last couple of days.  It was a bit tricky, because the room was in constant use any time I was there.

The fireplace is there.  I do believe a large proportion of the 1st class lounge - in terms of the walls and ceiling woodwork - is there - it is just not laid out as it was on board, obviously. 

I was very pleasantly surprised as, to be honest, I didn't expect much.  The hotel isn't otherwise remarkable, and I wouldn't otherwise recommend it to be honest.

Enjoy!  I did.  (sorry the photos are from my phone)


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr


The White Swan Alnwick with RMS Olympic interiors by Rob Lightbody, on Flickr