London - Downshire House

Downshire House Berkley Square London

Downshire House, 24 Berkley Square, was the London residence of Lord Pirrie, Chairman of the Harland And Wolf Shipyard.  

Berkley Square London

In July 1907, Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Start Line, dined  with Lord Pirrie. The topic at dinner was the White Start Lines rivals on the Atlantic Crossing, ,Cunard, newset ships the Lusitania and the Mauretania. The question as how would the White Star Line compete with Cunard.

Lord Pirrie                                                   Bruce Ismay

After dinner, Ismay and Bruce discussed the construction of three sister ships. The White Star Line looked to provide the most luxurious and comfortable accommodation, primarly aimed at wealthy passengers, though all three would have to be capable of significant speed. As a result, these three ships would make the White Star Line once again prominent on the Trans-Atlantic route.

The chosen names ascribed the three ships would signify might and powerful,t he biggest the world had ever seen; the Titanic, Olympic and Gigantic (would be actually named Britannic).


The Olympic and the Titanic would be nearly one and a half times larger than Mauretania and the Lusitania. Rough drawings were made of the three ships which envisaged three funnelled ships each with two or three masts. The final plans added a forth "dummy funnel" for ventilation but the ships would only have two masts.

Titanic Sketch - three funnels

Downshire House Berkley Square London
February 2019