Did you know that we do staircases too?
Staircases don’t just have to serve a purpose. They can become a beautiful decorative statement in your home. There are unlimited possibilities that can exceed design and aesthetic goals for your home. Check out these iconic spiral staircases and be sure to contact Western Fence Company so we can get started on making your stairs today.
The Santa Fe chapel is known for a very cool looking set of spiral stairs built in 1877 by a mysterious stranger. With no central support the stairs are said by the sisters of Loretto Chapel to be miraculous in construction. While there are those who beg to differ about the miraculousness of the stairs, no can deny that the stairs look, well, really cool!
The miraculous staircase at Loretto Chapel (photograph by Michael Martin)
In the past I have admitted a somewhat obsessive love of libraries, and looking at the Loretto stairs, made me realize I have a bit of a thing for spiral staircases as well. Like secret passageways and hidden doors there is something intriguing, adventurous even, about a spiral staircase. The narrow twists, and slight dizzy feeling as you ascend, it always seems as if something fantastical awaits you at the top, or alternatively, something dark and ominous at the bottom. Either way, a spiral staircase calls to you saying “find out… if you dare.”
So without further ado, the Atlas Obscura presents to you the most intriguing, fantastical, dizzying spiral staircases from around the world. First the Vatican Museums!
The spiral staircase at the Vatican Museums (photograph by Dimitry B.)
The Vatican Museums spiral staircase is one of the most photographed in the world, and certainty one of the most beautiful. Designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932, the broad steps are somewhere between a ramp and a staircase.
The Vatican stairs (photograph by Sebastian Bergmann)
As you may be able to see more clearly here, the stairs are actually two separate helixes, one leading up and the other leading down, that twist together in a double helix formation. Little did the Vatican Museum know in 1932 that this formation would come to represent life itself, with the discovery of the double helical DNA strand.
Looking up at the Vatican stairs (photograph by Hailé F)
Many more spiral staircases on the way… just try not to get dizzy.
Another set of very famous spiral stairs are the “Tulip Stairs” in the Queen’s House, in Greenwich, England. These, like the Lorretto Chapel stairs, have no central support, but here they are supported by being cantilevered from the walls, with each step resting on the one below it.
Tulip Stairs at the Queen’s House (via Visit Greenwich)
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