One raw and rainy afternoon this past week I walked by the staircase that leads down to the old Mount Royal Station (now part of MICA). I’ve always liked these stairs. They are old, wooden and a bit steep. They make me feel like I should run up and down them like a little kid.
Like many everyday things, no one really knows the origin of the staircase. They do date back to at least 6000 BC. People needed a device to travel over rough spots in the terrain, so they used what looked like a cross between a ladder and a staircase. (Picture a tree trunk with notches for people to step on.) Staircases then were mainly used outdoors. Soon, the Chinese pioneered the use of outdoor stone stairs because they believed that they would form a link between the land and the heavens.
In the Middle Ages castle architects made use of spiral stone stairs. These were excellent for defense as the man in the top position could swing freely while the man below (if right handed) could not because of the support column.
Mount Royal Station was built in 1896 and the stairs belong to what the Eleve Stairs website calls "the golden age of stairs". Many follow the standards of architect Peter Nicholson, who outlined his formula for stair construction in his books, such as The Mechanic's Companion (1831). He believed that stairs should not only be practical because they needed to facilitate movement around the building, but they should also be elegant and well made. Many of his theories are still in use today.
Sources:
Eleve Stairs
The Mechanics Companion by Peter Nicholson (1831)
Engineers Guide to Baltimore
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4 comments:
That's kind of cool. I mean, who thinks about stairs unless they're architects? Having been up many a spiral staircase in medieval European buildings (mostly cathedrals, so I can't imagine any swordplay going on), I guess I give more thought to how long it takes to get to where I'm going.
That detail about defense on a stairwell is fascinating. I never would have thought about that at all.
Karyn and hemlock, thanks for reading!
I love old staircases. When I was in Australia I had an opportunity to climb about 2000 stairs, and I turned it down because it was wet and rainy. :(
Love the history on Staircases!
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