Announcing the Titanic Hotel Belfast

It’s here. After two years of restoration and construction work, the highly anticipated Titanic Hotel has opened in Belfast. Reported to have cost £28 million ($37.9 million), the hotel is housed inside the Harland & Wolff headquarters and historic Drawing Offices—where the Titanic was built in the early 20th century. The property was designed to be “the world's most authentic Titanic-themed hotel.” Of course the tragic tale of the legendary oceanliner, the world’s largest ship when it set sail on its doomed maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, has gone done in history.

To quote the hotel’s official website: “The Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices, the earliest parts of these historic buildings, date from the 1880s and over the following 100 years played an important part in the design of many of the world’s most famous ocean liners and the creation of the ‘floating hotel’, influencing the design of many of today’s cruise ships.” The Drawing Offices have been converted into function/event space.

The Titanic Hotel showcases Belfast’s shipbuilding heritage, and the project carefully preserved original details (like moldings, arched vaults, parquet floors, and the old Telephone Exchange that received the first alert of the Titanic’s crash into an iceberg). There are 119 guest rooms, designed with Art Deco touches and all the latest technology. The restaurant offers views of the Titanic Belfast attraction, the Harland & Wolff cranes, and the historic slipways.

Nice touch: The original tiles around the bar are the same as the ones used for Titanic’s swimming pool.

To celebrate the hotel’s grand opening, there’s a special offer of overnight accommodations plus a “1st Class Titanic Breakfast.” Note that a free exhibition, telling the story of the building’s history, will run for six weeks.

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