For 89 years – from 1902 until 1991 – the Columbia faithfully did her job of transporting families and children from Detroit to Boblo Island in Ontario, Canada. During that period the vessel was well maintained but suffered some “modernizations” typical of an era when Edwardian stylings were thought of as “old fashioned.” Immediately following the Second World War the Columbia’s boilers were converted to burn oil. Consequently her owners replaced her coal burning tall stack with a shorter and broader one, thus modernizing and streamlining the Columbia’s appearance. Her lifeboats, davits, and cowl ventilators were also replaced with modernized versions. Her dining room was truncated to half its original size in order to create room for two crew cabins.

In the 1960s, during repairs to the C deck, the delineating partitions of the oak-paneled salon were removed and never replaced. During these alterations the ceiling murals and gilded gesso work in the grand salon was removed. The net result of these alterations was to create a modernized external profile and simplified interior that no longer reflected the intentions of the Columbia’s designer or naval architectural practice of the period of her construction. These later interventions are now deteriorated and require renewal that will permit a restoration according to Frank Kirby’s drawings reflecting his intentions and the aesthetics of the period.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS