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Staircases can be so much more than just a means of getting to the next floor. A staircase can be a work of art, a conversation piece, a place to meditate, or a historical marker.
Floating on a Wall
This floating staircase by designer Jordi Vayreda looks dangerous, but the steps are made of steel welded to a thick beam inside the wall. The top of the wall can be used as a handrail for the upper half of the staircase. See more pictures and an explanation here.
Hanging Spirals
This design makes sweeping under the stairs easy! A hanging double spiral staircase is part of the Didden Village project in Rotterdam. There are two such staircases; the other is a single spiral.
Bookshelf Stairs
Levitate Architects of London designed this bookshelf staircase to combine storage space with access to a loft bedroom. The skylight above provides enough daylight to read a book while you sit on the stairs!
Staircase Drawers
Another way to use stairs for extra storage is to put drawers in the risers. That’s a lot of drawers. When this design went around the internet, everyone loved it, but all I could think of was how my kids tend to leave drawers open, and how easy it would be to trip over one that was left even the slightest bit ajar.
Alternating Stairs
Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom of TAF designed this unusual staircase for a private residence in Stockholm, Sweden. The alternating stair design takes up much less room than conventional stairs, but you cannot rush up or down without thinking about where you put your feet!
Step Up, Slide Down
Entrepreneur Scott Jones built a spiral staircase combined with a slide for his home. The mahogany slide took 15 months to build, and the spiral staircase was added afterward.
The Stairway as Art
Artist Olafur Eliasson created this steel sculpture called Umschreibung (Rewriting) in 2004 for the KPMG building in Munich.
Stairs to Nowhere
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, was built by Sarah L. Winchester, widow of the famous gun maker. The 160-room house was under constant construction for 38 years, until Winchester’s death in 1922. She believed that the house was haunted by the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles, and only constant building would keep them from taking her life. One of the many strange features of the house is this staircase that leads straight to the ceiling!
The Miraculous Staircase
The helix staircase at Sisters of Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico has legendary roots. The story goes that the chapel was built without access to the choir loft. There was no room for a normal staircase, so the sisters prayed to St. Joseph (the carpenter) for a solution. A mysterious man arrived, looking for work, and built the spiral staircase without a center support pole. He then left without being paid. The nuns believed the stranger to be St. Joseph himself. Later evidence points to the staircase as the work of French woodworker Francois-Jean Rochas. Some say the staircase is a miracle since it has no visible means of support, while others say the support is there, it’s just hidden from view.
Memorial Stairs
The Survivor’s Staircase was the only part of the World Trade Center left standing above ground after the destruction of September 11, 2001. The staircase was recently moved for the second time this year, as construction of the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum continues. It will be installed as part of the memorial, scheduled to be completed in 2012. Image by Phillip Ritz.
Some staircases were found at deputydog and Neatorama.
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
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One more would be the Holy Stairs at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. The 28 marble stairs are said to be the steps walked up by Christ on his way to trial before Pontius Pilate. St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, was a pioneering collector of relics, and the staircase is supposedly among her finds, brought to Rome in c.326 AD.
posted by Marty on 7-31-2008 at 8:41 am
I have coveted those bookshelf stairs since I first saw them some time ago on a design website I go to. It’s just such a good idea it makes my head explode.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 7-31-2008 at 8:45 am
Another would be the Holy Stairs at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. The stairs are said to be the steps walked up by Christ on his way to trial before Pontius Pilate. St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, was a pioneering collector of relics, and the staircase is supposedly among her finds, brought to Rome in c.326 AD.
posted by Marty on 7-31-2008 at 8:45 am
Very cool post! I remember seeing the ‘Miraculous Staircase’ years ago on Unsolved Mysteries. There’s another cool self-supporting (stone) staircase in the Old State Capitol in Frankfort. There’s also the staircase from the top of the Saigon embassy (up to the helipad) that’s featured in all of the end-of-the-war footage from Vietnam. That one’s actually in the Ford Presidential Library now.
I would totally fall off that first one.
posted by Roger on 7-31-2008 at 9:14 am
I had the exact opposite reaction to the bookcase/staircase than SpaceMonkey, with my immediate opinion being “what a bad idea!”
As the owner of a house with 100% hardwood floors, I’ve come to notice the majority of the dust, dirt, and cat hair in my house collects at the stairs. Putting books there would be a nightmare. The books would constantly be getting quite dirty and the spines would be kicked regularly. Plus, the only way to mop the staircase would be to remove all of the books. Way too much work.
posted by Florida on 7-31-2008 at 9:48 am
I agree with Florida. As appealing as it looks, I think the stairs would have to be pretty deep to avoid kicking the books. It might work ok if it was a seldom-used staircase–this one says it goes up to a loft, so if no one spends a ton of time up there, it might be ok. But yeah, it would be pretty impractical for a main first to second floor thoroughfare.
posted by kate on 7-31-2008 at 10:05 am
i have hardwood floors and i also have noticed how everything seems to collect on the stairs. why is that????? my books would be full of cat hair and dust. not a good idea for my house. but the drawers would be cool for storage.
posted by motorkitty on 7-31-2008 at 10:24 am
I too suffer from the hardwood stairs/cat hair phenomenon…I just always figured it was because the cats tend to run up and down the stairs, and more hair falls off then? Interesting….
posted by Kristi on 7-31-2008 at 11:03 am
The first set is doing nothing to assuage my completely rational fear of stairs.
posted by adrienne on 7-31-2008 at 12:23 pm
i’d hate to be the poor guy who had to move furniture up some of these staircases…
posted by tiffany on 7-31-2008 at 1:10 pm
I could stair at this page for ages…
posted by Paschkefan on 7-31-2008 at 2:27 pm
I think that the bookshelf staircase would be workable if it wasn’t actually used as stairs – it would just be a way to get to books on higher shelves. Since you’re not rushing to get somewhere, and if you made the steps pretty deep, you could probably avoid kicking the books, especially if you made a ‘no shoes’ rule.
A lot of these I would totally trip down and die. Especially the alternating stairs. Although the slide one would be so much fun to use.
But steps with nothing under them? That freaks me out.
posted by Rosalie on 7-31-2008 at 2:49 pm
Thanks for the cool post! I am glad to see the Winchester Mystery House stairs referenced. I am from San Jose and that is one of our main tourist attractions. It is a weird house with random, strange designs. Also the other staircases in the house are different since they are about 13 steps (Mrs. Winchester obsessed over the number 13) and the steps themselves are smaller than normal (not as high) since she was very short.
posted by G on 7-31-2008 at 3:08 pm
the bookshelf stairs are fine for houses with carpeting and/or people who like to clean alot. the first two would terrify me though. i’d be afraid to fall. That last one is amazing. i’ve always wanted a spiral staircase. they’re so much more interesting than regular ones.
good job
posted by Claire on 7-31-2008 at 5:12 pm
Cool stuff! When I saw the title, I thought of the Da Vinci staircase at Chambord. It’s a double helix, with one helix for going up, and the other for going down. The idea was, when it was Louis XIV lived there, that whoever was going up the stairs to see the king couldn’t see who was just leaving.
posted by Jim on 7-31-2008 at 7:38 pm
As for kids leaving the drawers open in the storage drawer stairs – my kitchen drawers close by themselves – I think that would be a mandatory feature.
Very interesting, very beautiful. Also terrifying, of course. That alternating staircase – YIKES!!!
posted by Susan on 8-1-2008 at 12:41 am
10 Notable Staircases | Deliggit.com…
\r\nStaircases can be so much more than just a means of getting to the next floor. A…
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 8-1-2008 at 8:49 am
Spiral staircases makes me nervous. I fear they are never going to end.
posted by Audra on 8-1-2008 at 10:46 pm
Great post! I absolutely love the hanging sprial staircase and the bookcase/staircase. I’m certain I would kill myself on the alternating stairs, though- I can barely manage not to trip up regular stairs!
Can’t show this post to my husband…or he will insist on replicating the slide/staircase!
posted by Dawn on 8-9-2008 at 6:28 pm
audra – me too! not the never going to end but i fell down spiral stairs…not that far and i kinda slid/fell on my butt but still i get nervous if i have to use them.
btw. LOVE the book stairs and drawer stairs. i never have enough storage! ;-)
posted by alison on 10-11-2008 at 4:30 pm
I think the hanging spiral staircases would seriously pose a problem to the morbidly obese.
posted by Audball on 10-30-2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m totally diggin’ the slide/stairs combo!
posted by Record Relics on 10-12-2009 at 2:39 am