DOI Heft:
Nr. 231 (May 1916)
DOI Artikel:Modern stairways and their antecedents
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43461#0226
Modern Stairways and their Antecedents
and protection afforded by the mediaeval castle
persisted as an influence in these countries well
after even the days of the Renaissance. The
French staircase designer spent all the elaborate
ingenuity of his art upon the construction of the
stairs and worked out the necessary curved forms
in stone with consummate skill; wrought iron
rails are a distinctive feature in French stairway
design and contribute greatly to the elegance and
suavity of French interiors.
The development of English stairway design
the license of the Restoration in art and litera-
ture had been exchanged for the constrained
intellectuality of the Georgian era. This atti-
tude of mind is most faithfully mirrored in the
furniture of the age which represents the quin-
tessence of elegance.
In England the Georgian stair was built of
wood, a fact that, of course, fitted in admirably
with the requirements of Colonial builders. In
plan, however, the hall extending through the
width of the house is distinctly American. In
A HOUSE AT HACKENSACK KARL KORN, ARCHITECT
is probably more interesting to us, both because
of its greater variety and because of its close
relation to our own American architecture. No-
where more than in the stairway is the close con-
nection between our own architecture and the
contemporary Georgian work shown than in the
design of the staircase. In England the stairway
had previously to Revolutionary days gone
through a gradual substitution of the exuber-
ance of the early Renaissance for correct and
somewhat classic forms, in a similar way that
both English and American houses, the stairs
usually ran in short straight flights to a quarter
landing, then continuing in another flight at
right angles. In the process of development, the
handrail, which rose spirally from a small cen-
tral newel, was first intercepted by newels at the
landings which it later surmounted and which
were finally entirely suppressed, allowing the rail
to carry in one full sweep from floor to floor and
paving the way for that triumph of the late
Colonial designer, the full elliptical stair. This
LXXX
and protection afforded by the mediaeval castle
persisted as an influence in these countries well
after even the days of the Renaissance. The
French staircase designer spent all the elaborate
ingenuity of his art upon the construction of the
stairs and worked out the necessary curved forms
in stone with consummate skill; wrought iron
rails are a distinctive feature in French stairway
design and contribute greatly to the elegance and
suavity of French interiors.
The development of English stairway design
the license of the Restoration in art and litera-
ture had been exchanged for the constrained
intellectuality of the Georgian era. This atti-
tude of mind is most faithfully mirrored in the
furniture of the age which represents the quin-
tessence of elegance.
In England the Georgian stair was built of
wood, a fact that, of course, fitted in admirably
with the requirements of Colonial builders. In
plan, however, the hall extending through the
width of the house is distinctly American. In
A HOUSE AT HACKENSACK KARL KORN, ARCHITECT
is probably more interesting to us, both because
of its greater variety and because of its close
relation to our own American architecture. No-
where more than in the stairway is the close con-
nection between our own architecture and the
contemporary Georgian work shown than in the
design of the staircase. In England the stairway
had previously to Revolutionary days gone
through a gradual substitution of the exuber-
ance of the early Renaissance for correct and
somewhat classic forms, in a similar way that
both English and American houses, the stairs
usually ran in short straight flights to a quarter
landing, then continuing in another flight at
right angles. In the process of development, the
handrail, which rose spirally from a small cen-
tral newel, was first intercepted by newels at the
landings which it later surmounted and which
were finally entirely suppressed, allowing the rail
to carry in one full sweep from floor to floor and
paving the way for that triumph of the late
Colonial designer, the full elliptical stair. This
LXXX