Oceanic House

ST JAMES’S, SW1

Originally the London headquarters and ticket office of the famous White Star Line, the magnificent Grade II listed Oceanic House at 1 Cockspur Street has now been transformed into one of the capital’s most iconic luxury apartment addresses.

In 2016 the former headquarters building for the glamorous Titanic and Olympic ocean liners, was sensitively redeveloped to provide six luxurious lateral apartments and one twostorey penthouse for private sale. The beautiful apartments benefit from large spacious rooms, good ceiling heights and range from 1,679 sqft to 5,447 sqft in size. Each apartment has been designed to a high specification with features specially created to echo the luxury associated with the turn-of-the-century age of transatlantic ocean travel.

The restored Oceanic House opens the door to the history of the famous White Star Line, providing a fresh insight into the ambitions of Chairman Bruce Ismay and events surrounding the Titanic.

Founded in 1845 as a UK-Australia shipping firm by John Pilkington and Henry Wilson, in 1868 the White Star Line was purchased by Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899) and transformed into a North-Atlantic ocean liner business with the ships (from 1870) constructed by Belfast firm Harland & Wolff, headed by Sir Edward Harland. In 18961898 the White Star Line LONDON HEADQUARTERS built offices in Liverpool, OF THE WHITE STAR LINE known as Albion House, on James Street. OF TITANIC FAME

In 1895 Sir Edward TRANSFORMED INTO Harland died, followed in ICONIC LUXURY 1899 by Thomas Henry APARTMENTS Ismay, the latter succeeded by his son Joseph “Bruce” Ismay (1862-1937). The partnership between Bruce Ismay and new Harland & Wolff chairman Lord William Pirrie, brought in a new management style and vision to create the world’s most successful and luxurious ocean liner business. To fund these ambitions, in 1902 Bruce Ismay sold the White Star Line to American multi-millionaire John Pierpont Morgan, with Ismay remaining as Chairman. The sale provided money which Ismay lavished on a London headquarters building and a fleet of ocean liners. Oceanic House, located on a landmark site at 1 Cockspur Street was built between 1903 and 1906 as the London headquarters of the White Star Line. Constructed of Portland stone in a grand Neo-classical style typical of Edwardian era buildings in and around Whitehall, Oceanic House has a monumental central doorway, flanked by a dramatic threestorey engaged column portico complete with Baroque inspired detailing. Oceanic House was designed by architect Henry Tanner under the auspices of Bruce Ismay with the address being highly symbolic since at the time all the major liner and train company HQs were based on Cockspur Street including rivals Cunard, Hamburg-American Line, Peninsular & Oriental (P&O), The Grand Trunk Railway and the Canadian National Railway Company. The ground floor of Oceanic House served as the booking office for wealthy first class and other passengers, with the basement providing luggage rooms where trunks could be stored and transferred to passenger’s cabins ready for their arrival on-board. It was from Oceanic House that the Countess of Rothes, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon purchased their first class tickets to travel on the Titanic. The first floor rooms were for the White Star Line board of directors where they met bankers, clients, journalists and suppliers. The upper floors served as administrative offices. With the London headquarters completed, in early 1907 the White Star Line moved their transatlantic service from Liverpool to Southampton, because it was more convenient for London passengers and just a short crossing to Cherbourg for continental trade.

Bruce and his wife Florence, relocated from their home at Mossley Hill in Liverpool to a new rented home at 27 Chesham Street in Belgravia, later purchasing in 1909 a house at 15 Hill Street in Mayfair.

In July 1907 at a party at the 24 Belgrave Square home (now Spanish Embassy) of Lord Pirrie, plans were unveiled for the largest liners the world had ever seen – Titanic, Olympic and Britannic.

Meetings with Thomas Andrews (1873-1912), architect of the Titanic and its sisters, followed and it was from Oceanic House that Ismay ordered the reduction in lifeboats on the Titanic and Olympic from 48 to just 16, the minimum allowed under safety standards.

Sea trials for Titanic began on 2 April 1912, and in the boardroom at Oceanic House Ismay boasted to journalists that Titanic was “unsinkable”. Fatefully Ismay also said that Titanic might arrive in New York early on its maiden voyage, on the evening of 16th April, in time to gain stories in the next day’s papers.

On 10th April 1912 the Titanic’s maiden voyage began from Southampton, scheduled to arrive in New York on the early morning of 17th April 1912. Confident that Titanic was unsinkable, no lifeboat drill was carried out, and mindful of the papers, Ismay pressed Captain Edward Smith to sail at full speed,

despite warnings of icebergs.

At 11.40pm on 14th April the Titanic struck an iceberg and just before midnight Ismay escaped in lifeboat C, however the ship’s architect Thomas Andrews and Captain Edward Smith, along with a total of 1,517 people died due to the disaster.

After news of Titanic’s fate reached shore the most iconic image associated with the disaster was snapped outside Oceanic House. Taken on 16 April 1912, it shows 16 year old newsboy Ned Parfett clutching an Evening News poster about the great loss of life.

Ismay returned from New York to Oceanic House to find the building protected by police and surrounded by protestors and the world’s media, with inside queues scanning the Titanic passenger and crew list in the ticket office.

Called “the coward of the Titanic” and “Brute Ismay” by the media, on 13 June 1913 Ismay resigned as Chairman of the White Star, succeeded by Harold Sanderson under whose stewardship the Olympic and other liners became successful commercial ventures.

In 1927 the White Star Line was purchased by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC). Oceanic House remained the White Star Line headquarters until in 1929 when it was relocated to Leadenhall Street, where the RMSPC was based, finally in 1934 the White Star Line was merged with rival Cunard.

Oceanic House then became the London regional offices of Barclays Bank and later offices of the Ministry of Defence. Finally in the 1990s it became the Texas Embassy, a restaurant and promotional centre for the State of Texas, its glorious White Star Line origins long forgotten and submerged.