Hotels With Titanic Ties
Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, Canada
Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa was set for its Grand Opening in April 1912, but the launch was delayed when Charles Melville Hays, the visionary behind the hotel, perished on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. There was also hotel furniture onboard. On June 2 and 3, Fairmont Chateau Laurier will welcome the public for special period costume tours, music and cake. Right now, guests can enjoy an adaptation of the very last dinner served on the Titanic.
On April 26, on what would have been the hotel's original opening date, a special Centennial Tea menu will be offered.
Vanderbilt Grace, Newport, R.I.
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who built the Vanderbilt Hall (now Vanderbilt Grace in Newport, R.I.) in 1909, was supposed to board the Titanic on the maiden voyage, but changed his mind after his mother had a premonition. His luck ran out in 1915 when he boarded the Lusitania on its final voyage and it was torpedoed by a German U Boat.
The hotel's restaurant, Muse by Jonathan Cartwright, will debut a "Vintage Vanderbilt" tribute menu next month. It's based on a historic menu from 1912, found in the Vanderbilt family records. It includes cream of mushroom and lobster broth; oysters with mignonette sauce and a main course of turkey supreme with roasted potatoes or sea bass with hollandaise and grilled asparagus. Vintage dessert options are chocolate meringues with coffee ice cream or roasted peaches with cinnamon ice cream.
The St. Regis New York, New York, N.Y.
John Jacob Astor IV, who was one of the richest men in America and built the St. Regis hotel in New York City in 1904, went down with the ship in 1912 after helping his pregnant wife escape into the last lifeboat. But at the St. Regis, one of Manhattan's oldest luxury hotels, the aristocratic sensibilities of the Gilded Age remain intact. Butlers in white ties and black tailcoats still roam the hallways. The lobby, with its frescoed ceiling and elaborate marble staircase, has not been altered since Astor died. And the thousands of leather-bound books that he collected have been preserved on the same bookshelves for 100 years.
To mark the anniversary, the hotel is working with Thornwillow Press to create the fourth in the series of the Thornwillow Libretto, dedicated to the Titanic. "A Survivor's Tale" recounts the first person account of John B. "Jack" Thayer, a young man of 17, who survived the Titanic by jumping overboard. The limited edition Libretto will be available for purchase in the Thornwillow boutique at The St. Regis New York beginning April 14.