After the first world war, many of the European liners had been damaged or lost. So nations launched rebuilding programs as part of the industrial recovery of countries like the UK, France, Germany and Italy. During the inter-war period, the competition for the fastest and most luxurious liner went full speed ahead. National prestige was at stake here, as liners like Ile de France, l, Atlantique, Normandie, Rex, Conte di Savoa, Bremen, Hamburg, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, were all  “ships of state”, floating showcases of the best a nation had to offer in terms of art, (interior-) design and naval architecture. This was of course the main reason governments heavily subsidized the construction of these great liners, apart from their potential as troop carriers during wartime.

Liners on the atlantic routes

Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (CGT) launched their new liner Paris in 1921. She can be seen as the first vessel to showcase French modernity. With Paris, CGT aimed at wealthy transatlantic travellers. She was a mixture of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, there was absolutely no place for historical revival styles. Many famous artists of the French Art Deco scene worked on the interiors of Paris, among them Paul Follot, Andre Mare, Louis Sue and others. A masterpiece onboard was the two-deck high foyer by Richard Bouwens van der Boijen, a French architect. It featured decorative railings by Edgar Brandt which would be copied later on many other liners.

Paris can be regarded as the start of showing France was THE nation for the trade in luxury products. This position was solidified in 1925 when the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs finally took place, consolidating the modern French Art Deco style. During her career, Paris did extremely well, attracting many wealthy passengers. At the time, due to the newly introduced US Immigration quota, emigrant trade was in decline, although leisure travel by middle class passengers was expanding, attracting for example teachers, students, office personnel and notables sailing from the US to Europe to experience the various ancient European cultures.

Now CGT planned a second great liner, which they took into service in 1927, the famous Ile de France. Her interiors were done in a pure Art Deco style. Like on board Paris, Richard Bouwens van der Boijen created a grand hall, this time a three-deck high space. Her impressive dining room by architect Pierre Patout and grand salon, done by Sue and Mare which featured Floral Aubusson tapestries (a classic French rug design originally made for the aristocracy and royalty with its magnificent flower details) and sculptural figures depicting French rivers. Apart from Patout, Pacon and Leleu who designed the first class dining room, smoking room and reading room respectively, other French artists worked on Ile de France’s interiors, who had previously showed their work at the Paris Art Deco exhibition in 1925 like Ruhlmann, Dunand and Dupas. Ile de France firmly laid the foundation of France being the centre of modern Art Deco art and French luxury goods which was emphasized by including the department store Au Bon Marche on board.

Launched  by Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1928, the German greyhounds Bremen and Europa immediately set new standards with their low, streamlined profiles. Soon, they captured the transatlantic speed record from the Cunarder Mauretania which had held the Blue Riband for an astonishing 22 years. Bremen and Europa were the first major ocean lines with a visible coherence between their exterior profiles and interiors. This was an important subject of debate at the time between interior designers and naval architects who had been in the lead up till then. But now, steel structures were openly exposed as was clearly visible in Bremen’s shopping arcade. Furthermore, Bremen was the first liner to feature a central axis of space, making series of wide as well as high public rooms possible. German architects involved in the interior design of Bremen and Europa were de Groot, Schroder, Troost etc. They all had conncections with the Deutscher Werkbund, which was clearly shown by the clean lines and shapes of their furnishings as well as their fittings.

Unfortunately the careers of both vessels with the Germans was all too short. Europa was given to France after WWII as war reparation and continued as Liberte after a thorough refit while Bremen was bombed and completely burnt during the war.

A famous French liner introduced in 1931 was the l’Atlantique. She was built for service on the South American run for Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique. She had an important technical innovation, split ventilation shafts which made the creation of large spaces midships possible, resulting in an uninterrupted series of public rooms called the “Rue de l’Atlantique”. Located in its centre was a shopping promenade featuring 36 showcases with the best products on display France had to offer at the time. Marc Simon was responsible for the design and chic atmosphere with its pillars, polished steel and marble walls. L’Atlantique was yet another example of what Paris and France could produce in taste, style, luxury goods and services. The open lay-out of l’Atlantique was also largely responsible for her demise when she caught fire in 1933 and the flames could easily consume her interiors.

Italy’s Lloyd Sabaudo, based in Genoa, introduced two ships in 1920 and 1923 respecively, the Conte Rosso and Conte Verde. Studio Coppede of Florence (run by three brothers Adolfo, Gino and Carlo) was responsible for their interiors. Coppede-designed interiors were known for their over the top eclecticism, an array of historical styles were used but always from the viewpoint of Italian historicism. Studio Coppede dominated  Italian ship design in the 1920’s (see my article on the Coppede-brothers) with their extreme details and abundance of decorations. They repeated this in Conte Biancamano in 1925 and Conte Grande in 1928, also owned by Lloyd Sabaudo.

In 1927, Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini decided Italy had to have ships of state of their own and the result was his country would enter the transatlantic liner scene with no less than two speed queens. He wanted the two superliners to be be built asap and so Rex and Conte di Savoia were launched in 1932. Comments on the interiors of Rex ordered by Navigazione Generale Italiana were quite negative from the start, they were said to be outmoded from the day she was introduced. She boasted several historical styles resulting in quite dull interiors. Lloyd Saboudo on the other hand had decided their Conte di Savoia would be a modern vessel, and hired Gustavo Pulitzer and German architects Michael Rachlis and Georg Manner for the job. Their designs were so different however, that they got cold feet and asked Adolfo Coppede to design her grand salon, which became the only ”old-fashioned” public space in an otherwise strikingly modern ship. Gustavo Pulitzer, in his usual restrained modernist style, created interiors that were not overwhelming but easy on the eye. Puitzer had been deeply impressed by the German Bremen when travelling on her and was later also known to merge passenger ship external profiles with their interior designs. He was the founder of studio Stuard and was responsible for the interiors of many Italian ocean liners after WWII (see article on Gustavo Pulitzer).

Of course the most famous French liner of all times was the Normandie (1935). She was the epitome of French design and represented the “artistic genius of the French nation” according to the CEO of the CGT. Not only was she technically advanced in terms of funnel and hull shapes but her clean lines and uncluttered profile made her an outstanding vessel. The same can be said of her interiors. The shipping world had never seen anything remotely like it. As on l’Atlantique, split uptakes made a spectacular open space along the ship’s central axis possible. Normandie measured 80,000 GRT, her vast size allowing for extraordinary interiors. A grand staircase led to the smoking salon, the fumoir, which featured a series of lacquered panels by Jean Dunand, “The Pursuits of Man”. Via double doors one entered the grand salon, decorated with verre eglomisé panels (the ancient process of gilding precious metals on the reverse side of glass creating a soft mirrored effect) by Jean Dupas with a navigational theme. The seating was upholstered in orange Aubusson tapestry with designs by Emile Gaudissard, while spectacular columns of light by Auguste Labouret illuminated the room. The 6 meter tall bronze doors leading to the fist-class dining room fetaured bas relief medallions depicting various themes of of Normandy and followed the theme of Normandie’s decorative schemes presenting the traditions and art of French culture at its finest.

Today, these doors nee medallions still exist (article “doors ss Normandie surviving in New York”). In the dining room sculptural panels showed sights of the region of Normandy. With the extremely luxury first class public spaces (almost half of her passengers travelled in first class) it can safely be said that onboard Normandie, luxury ocean travel was reinvented. Her top-accommdations consisted of four grand luxe appartments and ten deluxe suites which attracted the rich and famous, which was gratefully used by CGT’s marketing department to promote their ship. Normandie’s interiors showcased the ultimate in Art Deco which was at the time the French national style. Unfortunately, Normandie met de same fate as l’Atlantique when she caught fire during conversion to a troop ship in 1942 because of welding work onboard. Again, her vast open spaces made fighting the rapidly spreading fire completely impossible and filled with water poured in by fire figthing boats she capsized in New York harbour on February 10, 1942. Luckily, many of her priceless interior fittings had been removed before conversion work had started and they still survive today in museums and private collections.

Cunard saw after the commissioning of the Bremen, Europa and Normandie that action was needed to keep up. They ordered hull no. 534 from John Brown shipyards at Clydebank in 1930. But due to the economic depression, work on the new ship was halted and the entire workforce laid off. Cunard asked for a government loan which was granted, but only under the condition Cunard would merge with its main competitor White Star Line. The loan made it possible to resume work on the new Queen Mary and her near sister Queen Elizabeth. Cunard however, when interior design and artwork for the new ship needed to be commissioned, were quite nervous many of these would be too modern and feared they would not be appreciated by her future British passengers. On the other hand, it was clear they needed to say goodbye to dark panelling and country house style interiors seen in former British liners. In the end, Queen Mary emerged in 1936 as a vessel with modern art deco interiors, but far less glitzy and extreme as for example CGT’s Normandie. Queen Mary showed Britain still being in the centre of its empire and various materials and goods onboard clearly showed this. Over 30 different woods from British colonies were used in the ship. In her first class dining room was a large artwork by Philip Connard, “Merrie England” presented the vision of Britain being in the centre of its colonies. The sisters Doris and Anna Zinkeisen decorated several spaces onboard, working in a contemporary style. For example murals in the Verandah Grill by Doris Zinkeisen depicted stars as Mae West and Josephine Baker. The Verandah Grill with its  black floor and pink and white walls and impressive murals was seen as one of the most impressive public spaces of Queen Mary. In general, lighting and decoration onboard were mostly typically art deco, but far more “quiet” than on in the French liners.

Queen Mary‘s near sister Queen Elizabeth was still under construction when WWII broke out. She was completed by John Brown, Clydebank, Scotland in 1939 and it was decided to let her cross the Atlantic in total secrecy on her maiden voyage out of fear the Germans would sink her. Even her seatrials had been skipped. She reached New York from Liverpool on March 7, 1940. without the grand welcome new transatlantic liners normally received when they reached New York after their first crossing. Queen Elizabeth, although technically more advanced and with interiors that easily matched those of the Mary always was the less popular ship, she never became as famous.

George Grey Wornum was in charge of her interior decorations. The Main Lounge on the Promenade Deck was panelled with a yellow-brown and pink Canadian maple veneer. Panels covered in leather of light grey, pale blue and buff showed the world in rlief and a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen was also on one of its walls as well as two paintings called “Elsinore” and “Dover Harbour” made by Norman Wilkinson who was known for his paintings on board the Titanic (Plymouth Harbour) and the Olympic (Approach to the New World). The Veranda Grill had its own kitchen and it probably was the most famous public room on board. It was decorated in ivory to compliment the yellow-orange coloured velvet curtains. Eating in the grill was exclusive and cost extra like the spacialty restaurants on today’s cruise ships.

Liners on other routes

Orient line

New Zealand interior architect Brian O’Rorke had established his own interior design studio, specialising in transporation like ships, aircraft, and trains at the beginning of the 1930’s and his work had immideately caught the attention of  Colin Anderson, director of Orient Steam Navigation Company, who was deeply impressed and asked him to design the interiors of their new liner, RMS Orion, in 1934.

Anderson had just taken over responsability for Orient Line’s design department and his principal goal was to realize modernist interiors for his new liner. He believed interior and exterior design of passenger ships needed to form a unity, showing coherence between the two. He commented that “we are fighting baroque elements like veneered panelling and insisting that straight and uneventful grain is what we need to have. We reject damask patterns, the cut velvet, plush and chintz, the salon, boobles and vague Louis cutlery”.

Indeed, O Rorke used modern marterials such as bakelite and chromium in combintion with grain woods which wasn’t seen on any ship of the day. Spaces without any decoration, but with unadorned finishes and simple clean lines were the result. Unadorned columns, clean lined modern furnishings partly made of chromium as well as the use of bakelite and wood with matte finishes made the new ship’s interiors stand out. These materials were also used because they would withstand the wear of the salty sea air far better. He made interiors flexible by using removable and folding walls as well as sliding glass doors bringing interior and exterior together as cooling breezes could flow from the promenade decks into the ship’s public rooms. Rooms without access to the deck of the ship were also made to feel spacious by designing them as light and uncluttered as possible.

With his completely new approach of designing passenger ship interiors, O’Rorke entirely departed from the traditional passenger ship interiors with architectural details originating from land sources which had been the case since late 1800’s.

Apart from being the first British ocean liner fitted with airconditioning, more importantly, Orion was the first passenger ship with interiors truly following modernist principles. Iin short, modernist interiors are characterised by clean lines, open-plan layouts, functional and adaptable furniture and minimalist designs. Often natural materials such as wood, but also new ones like chromium or bakelite are used, making the designs functional yet futuristic. Surfaces are smooth with little to no ornamentation or decoration. There is no connection with historical styles whatsoever. Orion introduced a completely new image in the distinctive art-deco style of the 1930s on the high seas which was suited for the tropics and life at sea there: everything on board was light, uncluttered and stylish.

Messageries Maritimes

One company had a completely different approach concerning the interior-design of its liners. The interiors of their ships related to the destination country they sailed to. For example their liners Champollion (1921) and Mariette-Pacha (1926) running between Marseille and Alexandria had beautifully decorated interiors with Egyptian motifs which could be found everywhere on the ship from the carpets with lotus and papyrus patterns to the lift cages’ decorative metalwork. Champollion featured Egyptian-style statues and a painting of an ancient Egyptian barque adorning the magnificent glass-roofed main hall. At the time, there was a world-wide interest in all things Egyptioan (“Nile-style”) after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamon by British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

Later ships were likewise decorated, Felix Roussel (1930) sailed on the route to the Far East and was given interiors with an Indo-Chinese twist, while the Aramis‘ (1932) interiors showed Greek-Cretan influences. Messageries Maritimes designing its liners in this way wanted to present more modern ships compared to the French liners with their Beaux-arts and later Art deco interiors customary until then. Also, they wanted to show elements of both France and its colonies in the interiors of their ships.

KDF – Kraft durch Freude organisation

The thirties saw the introduction of cruises organized by the German Labour Ministry for German workers (a kind of incentive cruises). The NAZI-fleet consisted of several ships, the Wilhelm Gustloff (1937) and Robert Ley (1939) being the most famous. They were called the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) ships. These ships introduced a new feature in cruising: large numbers of cabins with exactly the same lay-out, a phenomenon found today on every cruise ship. First seen on board Bremen and Europa, but now in a more extreme manner, as apart from a few more de luxe staterooms, the remaining cabins only had two different lay outs. A four berth cabin kind of embraced the smaller two berth cabin, so to speak, assuring all cabins would be outside cabins. Wilhelm Gustloff and Robert Ley were forerunners of the All Outside Cabin (AOC) lay out, re-introduced by Royal Princess in 1984!

They were designed for cruising at slow speed, and had wide bulky hulls to provide as much interior space as possible. Their interiors had to reflect the homes and taste of their passengers, so it had to be a cosy (gemutlich) and with a bit austere and severe atmosphere, reflecting the conservative German society of the time. It all had to fit in the Nazis’ general guidelines drawn up for interior design those days. However, also outside Germany, passenger ships operating at the time featured these austere, dark and conservative interiors.

Waldemar Brinkmann, an interior architect of the neo-classical school designed the interiors of both vessels. Public rooms were on the Promenade Deck. On both ships, simple and solid furniture and fittings were used. Wilhelm Gustloff was the more “simple” vessel of the two, the art onboard consisted mostly of romantic paintings of German rural life and landscapes.

Brinkmann went a step further onboard Robert Ley, both main public rooms were 2 decks high, featuring balconies with balustrades some of which even showed swastika’s , the Nazi-symbol. Also, the were the only public spaces which was fitted with wood panelling, the artwork (paintings) in this salons also reflected the romantic side of life.

Both KDF-ships will be remembered  for  their innovations, which had great consequences for passenger-cruise vessels built in later years: all cabins were outside cabins and were interlocked, the larger, having an L-form being wrapped around the smaller square cabins. Apart from this, all cabins on all decks were exactly the same in fittings and dimensions, built in series into all of the vssel’s decks. It took until 1984 before another large AOC (all outside cabin) passenger ship, the P&O cruise ship Royal Princess would be taken into service. In this way, the Germans introduced series of equally fitted passenger cabins, like we see on most cruise ships today. Before that, passengers sailed in many different cabin layouts being available on the same ships with different grades of luxury. As a result of their socialist background, the Germans even went as far as accommodating the crew in cabins, fitted out equally to passengers staterooms. Unfortunately, both ships wer lost during the war, Robert Ley wa bombed in the port of Hamburg in 1945 while Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by a Russian submarine in January 1945 while repatriating German soldiers and their families from Poland back to Germany resulting in the loss of 9,500 lives, the worst shipping disaster in history.

When World War II broke out in 1939, all major (transatlantic) passenger shipping lines had their “Ships of State” in service: Britain had their Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth underway, France the Normandie, Germany their Bremen and Europa and finally Italy the Conte di Savoia and Rex. Only a few of these technological wonders, acting as ambassadors for each country showing the best a nation could do in shipbuilding, interior decoration, art and luxury products, would see the end of WWII undamaged while others were sunk or bombed. Both Cunard Queens survived the war, having carried thousands of troops to the battlefields around the globe. According to Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the Queens shortened the war by at least a year.

So after the war, again, shipping lines faced the huge task of rebuiding their fleets while facing the challenge of the introduction of long distance aviation, severely impacting passenger loads on all routes…