Titanic’s first-class cabins and suites were spread over five decks and located amidships where the Ship’s motion through the waves would be least felt, and the main staircase and elevators were immediately adjacent for convenience. The accommodations ranged from single-berth cabins to parlor suites and could be configured to accommodate anywhere from 689 to 735 first-class passengers.  

Today, the term “suite” has come to mean luxury accommodation, but in the Titanic’s era, the term reflected its original French meaning of together; hence, when we speak of Titanic’s first-class suites, we really mean a class of cabins with interconnecting doors through which occupants could walk directly from one room to another. Most of the suites on B-deck met this description.  Adjacent bedroom cabins could be engaged for a crossing with the master and mistress of the household in the first bedroom, children in the second, servants in the third, etc., frequently with attached private baths.

Titanic was able to boast four luxurious suites that not only had bedrooms, trunk rooms, and private baths with marble sinks (87/0159), but most importantly, private parlors, dining tables, “special” china (87/0318), and even private promenade decks for exercise and contemplation of the changing sea.  The intent behind this was to enable the ultra-wealthy to travel in complete seclusion, if they so desired, with everything arranged to anticipate their needs.

The rooms were large, well lit, and well appointed in a variety of historical styles. Ship’s interior decorators had recently learned an important lesson: less is more.  The earlier styles for the ultra-wealthy onboard ships tended to be examples of Rococo and Baroque as found in the palaces of Europe.  These dense styles were fine in the ballroom, but cramped even a large ship’s cabin.  Therefore, the Titanic’s decorators wisely chose simpler varieties out of the Neo-Classic family of styles.  Adams, Chippendale, and even the official style of Napoleon’s France, appropriately called “Empire,” were trotted out.  The effect was to make the suites seem even larger than they were.  For those who still clung to the older periods, Baroque was introduced under the guise of Louis the Fourteenth, but only after it had been tamed and restrained to fit the room.

Despite being decorated in then hundred-year-old styles, the suites spilled over with modern electrical conveniences: telephones, gimbal lamps (87/0243) designed to remain level in the roughest of seas, heaters, steward call bells (in case the personal staff of servants was busy), table fans to cool, and electrical blowers to provide fresh air from the outside. Silken counterpanes and extra wide bedsteads also added to the comfort of the journey.

All of this luxury and the conventions of the era required that the correct wardrobe and jewelry be donned for every event of the passage.  Though the following artifacts from the collection cannot be attributed to any particular first-class passenger, they are typical of items that would have been used or worn by that elite class of traveler:  Gold Mesh Bag (00/0311g), Platinum and Diamond Pendant (87/0046), Diamond Ring (87/0075), Necklace with Heart-Shaped Pendant (87/0081), Cuff Links (87/0088.2) fashioned from gold and onyx, and a Fox Head Stick Pin (94/0408).