13 Photos of Luxury Dining Rooms From a Bygone Era
Luxury dining used to involve elaborate dining rooms featuring elegant decor, fine china, and multiple sets of silverware at each setting. In today’s upscale restaurants, you’ll likely find patrons staring at their phones while plates of food meant to encourage viral TikTok moments land in front of them. For a quick trip down memory lane, we rounded up a handful of photos that encapsulate the beauty of luxury dining rooms from years past. These stunning rooms — found on cruise ships, in palaces, within railway cars, and beyond — just might inspire us to clean up our own dining room tables.
1. Yildiz Palace Dining Room (1890)
This dining room was used by Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II. I mean, just look at that chandelier.
2. Dining Room of an Ocean Liner (1940s)
This is a far cry from the endless buffets you get on a Carnival cruise.
3. Main Dining Saloon of the ‘Leviathan’ Ship (1930)
What happens to all those table lamps when the ocean is choppy?
4. Dining Room at the Royal White Palace, Serbia (2007)
Those chairs! That tapestry!
5. Dining Room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan (1902)
Can we start a petition to bring back massive tropical plants in dining rooms?
6. First Class Dining Room On Grosser Kurfurst (1899)
Questionable color choice, but absolutely amazing dining room considering it was housed on a German battleship.
7. Sherry’s Restaurant on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, New York (1906)
Can we get dressed up for dinner like this again?
8. Dining Room on the British R100 Airship (1929)
Someone put some real effort into that tablescape.
9. Lucius Beebee’s Dining Room on Wheels (1890)
Never has eating in a converted railroad car seemed so luxurious.
10. State Dining Room in the White House (1962)
If you don’t mind Abraham Lincoln watching you while you eat, the White House dining room is a pretty swanky place to dine.
11. Dining Room at Hearst Castle
Wood-carved ceilings decorate this grandiose dining room within Hearst Castle. Think they need more flags?
12. Dining Room at Sutton Palace (1960)
Looks like a game of telephone is needed to chat with someone on the other end of the table.
13. The Roeselzimmer (The Horse’s Room) in Castle Schoenbrunn (1754)
Something tells me there’s five different types of spoons at each place setting on this table.