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THE ENGLISH
STAIRCASE
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/englishstaircaseOOgodfiala
COLESHILL, BERKSHIRE (165O), (INIGO JONES, ARCHITECT).
THE ENGLISH
STAIRCASE
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF ITS
CHARACTERISTIC TYPES TO THE
END OF THE XVIIIth CENTURY
BY
WALTER H. GODFREY
Architect, Author of
" THE LIFE AND WORK OF GEORGE DEVEY,"
and "THE PARISH OF CHELSEA."
Illustrated from Photographs by Horace Dan, &c,
and from Measured Drawings and Sketches.
LONDON
B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN
MCMXI
BARNICOTT AND PEARCE
PRINTERS
SRLT
URL
PREFACE.
NO one will dispute the importance, from an architectural point
of view, of the position which the staircase holds in the
general design of the house. Yet it is curious that in the decline
of Domestic Architecture which took place in the last century, the
staircase reached perhaps a lower level than any other individual
feature. Turned mahogany newels of fantastic form with mean
and starved balusters of varnished pitchpine became the constant
companion of steep flights of steps which turned in a well, care-
fully excluded from the light ! Indeed the familiar sight of these
unlovely stairways had all but banished from the public mind any
memory of the broad stairs of our forefathers, with their easy rise,
their fine proportions and well-lighted situation.
Whether we turn to the wide and simple well-stairs of Eliza-
beth's reign, or to the richly carved examples of James I, or
whether we consider the massive balustrades of Charles II, the dig-
nified designs of Sir Christopher Wren, or the graceful lines of the
Georgian period, we cannot fail to see how varied and yet how beau-
tiful can be the methods of treating this central feature of the house.
The distorted products of the modern joiner's shop would, one is
confident, disappear with a wider knowledge of earlier methods.
It is the object of this book to place before the reader a con-
nected and continuous illustration of the principal types used in
England and Scotland until the end of the eighteenth century, irre-
spective of the size of the building of which they form a part.
The author has not attempted an exhaustive treatise, and many of
the fine and well-known examples have been omitted to make way
for subjects taken from houses that are not readily accessible to the
student or the public. The purpose throughout has been to read,
into the ancient forms of the models still left to us, all the beauty
and interest of the ideals of architecture which obtained in the past
centuries, and from such a study nothing but good can come.
vi PREFACE.
In the series of which this book is one the interpretation of the
broad lessons of style is made by means of special details, and in
this the appeal is as much to the general reader as to the trained
architect. To borrow a mathematical simile, the selection of a
single feature like the staircase as the " constant " in the archi-
tectural formulae, enables the variations of style to be discovered
all the more readily.
In the first place special thanks are due to the owners of various
houses mentioned in this volume for allowing the photographs and
drawings to be made, the reproductions of which form the chief
feature of the book.
Mention must next be made of Mr. Dan's important share in
providing the greater number of the photographic illustrations.
Many of those for which he is responsible have been brought to
light by him.
My grateful acknowledgments are due to the following ladies
and gentlemen for the use of their sketches or photographs : Mr.
A. Whitford Anderson, Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, f.s.a., Mrs. Ernest
Godman, Mr. Albert Halliday, Mr. R. S. Lorimer, Mr. W. G.
MacDowell, Mr. Ernest A. Mann, Mr. J. E. Mowlem, Mr. Baily S.
Murphy, Mr. W. Niven, f.s.a., Mr. C. H. Potter, Mr. A. E.
Richardson, Mr. Arthur Stratton, and Mr. S. H. Wratten. I am
further indebted to the Marquis of Salisbury for leave to publish
the plan from the Hatfield papers which I have been able to identify
as one of the schemes for rebuilding Chelsea House ; to Mr.
A. F. G. Leveson-Gower, f.s.a., for permission to use the drawing,
in his possession, of 8, Grosvenor Square, and to the proprietors of
the Connoisseur, for the loan of the block of Stoke Edith. Messrs.
W. H. Smith and Son have supplied the photograph of Hatfield.
I also have to acknowledge the assistance rendered by Mr. Edmund
L. Wratten, who has prepared the majority of the drawings found
in the text.
Lastly, my thanks are due to my publishers, who have been more
than helpful throughout the whole production of the volume.
WALTER H. GODFREY.
ii Carteret Street,
Queen Anne's Gate, s.w.,
December, 1910.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ..... i
MEDIEVAL STAIRS ..... 5
EARLY RENAISSANCE :
Elizabethan (Turned Balusters) . . .10
Jacobean (Arcaded Balustrade) . . .22
CONTINUOUS CARVED BALUSTRADES :
James 1 to Charles II . . 36
LATER RENAISSANCE :
Middle XVI Century to Queen Anne (Turned
and Spiral Balusters) . . . -45
THE GEORGIAN PERIOD. The Stepped String . 54
WROUGHT IRON BALUSTRADES . . .61
INDEX ....... 71
LIST OF PLATES.
Frontispiece Coleshill, Berkshire, Inigo Jones, Architect.
Photographed by Charles Latham.
Piatt
II DoWNHOLLAND HaLL, NEAR OrMSKIRK.
J. A. Waite.
III Oakwell Hall.
Showing Dog-Gates. H. Dan.
IV Great Kewlands, Burham, Kent.
V Restoration House, Rochester.
>>
VI Great Wigsell, Sussex.
W. G. Davie.
VII The Commandery, Worcester.
H. Dan.
VIII Great Nast Hyde, Hertfordshire.
A. Whitford Anderson.
IX Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.
W. H. Smith & Son.
X Lymore, Montgomery.
T. Lewis.
XI Lymore, Montgomery — The Landing.
>>
XII The Conservative Club, Hoddesdon, Hertford-
shire.
H. Dan.
XIII No. 9, Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate.
Now in Victoria and Albert Museum. A. E. Walsham.
XIV Staircase now at the Talbot Hotel, Oundle.
W. G. Davie.
XV Astonbury, Hertfordshire — First Stair.
H. Dan.
X
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
LIST OF PLATES.
Astonbury — Second Stair.
Photographed by H. Dan.
Castle House, Deddington, Oxfordshire.
W. G. Davie.
New Sampford Hall, Essex.
H. Dan.
Aston Hall, Warwickshire.
Harold Baker.
Rawdon House, Hoddesdon.
H. Dan.
Carved Panels on Staircase at Rawdon House,
Hoddesdon.
H. Dan.
Cromwell House, Highgate.
Three Finials to Newels with Figures of Cromwell's
Soldiers. H. Dan.
Ham House, Richmond, Surrey.
Stratton Park, Biggleswade.
Dunster Castle, Somerset.
No. 25, High Street, Guildford.
No. 25, High Street, Guildford.
Two Carved Panels.
The Close, Winchester,
potheridge, torrington, devon.
Cobham Hall, Kent.
Cobham Hall, Kent. Details.
Dawtrey Mansion, Petworth.
St. George's, Canterbury.
J. Phillips & Sons.
T. Lewis.
W. G. Davie.
H. Dan.
»
H. J. Earle.
H. Dan.
LIST OF PLATES. xi
XXXIV The Gordon Hotel, Rochester.
Photographed by H. Dan.
XXXV The Gordon Hotel, Rochester. The Dog-Gate.
>>
XXXVI No. 4, Crosby Square, London, e.c.
(now demolished). „
XXXVII No. 4, Crosby Square, London.
Detail of Newel and Balusters. W. G. MacDowell.
XXXVIII Circular Stair, The Friars, Aylesford.
H. Dan.
XXXIX Hever Court, Ifield, Gravesend.
>>
XL No. 9, St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury.
j>
XLI No. 9, St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury.
Details of Carved Newels. „
XLII Warden's House, New College, Oxford.
A. E. Walsham.
XLIII House in Botolph Lane, e.c.
»>
XLIV Bruce Castle, Tottenham.
XLV Hopetoun House, Scotland.
H. Dan.
XLVI Hopetoun House, Scotland.
Detail of Balusters and String. ,,
XLV1I The Orthopaedic Hospital, Hatton
Garden, London (now demolished).
u
XLV1II 44, Great Ormond Street, London.
j>
XLIX Harrington House, Craig's Court, London.
»j
L The Hook, Northaw, Hertfordshire.
>>
LI Friends' House, Croydon, Surrey — Upper Landing.
S. H. Wratten.
xii LIST OF PLATES.
LII Carved Brackets at
(a) Hatton Garden, London.
( b ) Great House, Cheshunt.
( c ) The Hook, Northaw.
Photographed by H. Dan.
LI 1 1 No. 5 John Street, Bedford Row, London.
»>
L1V The King's Staircase, Hampton Court.
11
LV Chesterfield House, Mayfair, London.
Bedford Lemere.
LVI Chesterfield House, London.
Iron Balustrade. „
LVII No. 25i Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.
Lower Stair Rail. T. Lewis.
LVIII No. 25i Lincoln's Inn Fields, w.c.
Panel on Landing. „
L1X Spiral Stair, Queen's House, Chelsea.
LX Whitehall Gardens.
ii
LXI Sheen House, Richmond.
A. E. Walsham.
LXII Baddow Hall, Essex.
H. Dan.
LXIII Old War Office, London.
(now demolished). „
H. Dan.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Fig.
I
2
3
9
io
1 1
12
13
15
16
Stairs to Dormitory, Hexham Priory, Northumberland.
Photo by J. P. Gibson, Hexham .
First Floor Plan, Castle Rising, Norfolk. •
Norman Stair, Castle Rising.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten .
Newel Stair, Castle Hedingham, Essex.
Drawn by Jessie Godman from a sketch by Cecil C. Brewer
Vaulting to Newel Stair, Linlithgow Palace.
Plan of Eastbury Manor House, Barking, Essex.
Chetham's Hospital, Manchester.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten
Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire.
Drawn from a photograph in " Country Life "
Newel and Baluster from Great Ellingham Hall, Norfolk
Plan of Astonbury, Herts.
Original Plan for re-building Chelsea House.
Drawn circa 1590. From the Hatfield Papers, by per
mission of the Marquis of Salisbury .
Finials at Langley, Kent.
From sketches by Arthur Stratton
Newel from the Archbishop's Palace, Maidstone.
From a sketch by Arthur Stratton
Detail of Stair at Astonbury, Herts.
Photo, by Horace Dan ....
Newel Staircase, Fyvie Castle
Knole House, Sevenoaks.
Drawn by Walter H. Godfrey
Page
4
5
10
11
13
H
16
J7
20
22
XIV
Fig.
17
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Cranborne Manor House, Dorset.
From a drawing by J. E. Mowlem
1 8 Plan of Cranborne Manor House.
19 Detail of Staircase formerly at Claverton, Somerset
20 Heraldic Finials from the " Old Palace," Rochester.
Photos, by Horace Dan ....
21 and 22 Details of Stair at Dorfold, Cheshire.
23 Holland House, Kensington.
24 Letchworth Hall, Hertfordshire.
Photo, by A. Whitford Anderson .
25 Detail of Stair at Charlton House, Kent (1607-12)
showing Ionic and Corinthian Pilasters.
26 Park Hall, Oswestry.
Drawn from a photograph in " Country Life "
27 and 28 Details of Newels and Balusters, etc.
From various sources ....
(27) 1. Newel, Inn at Scole, Norfolk.
2. Pendant, Old Manor House, Yatton Kennell, Wiltshire.
3. Newel, etc., Audley End, Essex.
4. 5, 6. Newels and baluster, Hall i' th' Wood, Bolton.
7. Newel and handrail, Star Inn, Lewes.
8. Baluster, Ightham Mote, Kent.
9. Handrail and baluster, Manor House, Sussex Place, Bristol.
(28) 1. Newel and baluster, etc., Bromley Palace, Bromley -by-Bow.
2, 4, 8. Balusters, Victoria and Albert Museum.
3. Balusters, etc., Friends' House, Croydon.
5. Baluster, Falstaff Hotel, Canterbury,
6. Handrail, Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate.
7. Handrail, Park Hall, Oswestry.
9. Newel and baluster, Ashburnham House, Westminster.
10. Baluster, etc., Cranborne Manor, Dorset.
Plate
24
25
26
27
28, 29
30
31
32
33
34.35
29 Clare College, Cambridge (earlier stair)
30 Crewe Hall, Cheshire.
From a drawing before the fire by Win. Twopeny
31 Cromwell House, Highgate.
Drawn by Ernest A. Mann
32 and 32A Cromwell House, Highgate.
Measured drawing by Wm. Dean .
37
38
39
40, 41
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. xv
Fig. Plate
33 Portion of Balustrade in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 42
34 Staircase in Crowley House, Greenwich (now destroyed).
From a drawing by A. Ashdown .... 43
35 Clare College, Cambridge — Newel of Stair dated 1688. 44
36 Ashburnham House, Westminster.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten .... 46
37 Wolseley Hall, Staffordshire.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten from an etching by
W. Niven in his "Old Staffordshire Houses" . 47
38 Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire.
Measured and drawn by Edmund L. Wratten . . 48
39 Staircase at Serjeants' Inn.
Drawn by J. B. Greenall, from measurements by A. E.
Richardson . . . . . .51
40 Stoke Edith, Herefordshire.
By permission of " The Connoisseur " 53
41 The Great House, Cheshunt.
Photo, by Horace Dan 55
42 The Great House, Cheshunt — Balusters.
Photo, by Horace Dan ..... 56
43 Wandsworth Manor House (now demolished).
From various sources . . . . -57
44 Carved Bracket at Bruce Castle, Tottenham.
Photo, by Horace Dan ..... 58
45 Iron Stair at Caroline Park, Granton, Scotland,
Drawn by R. S. Lorimer ..... 59
46 Iron Stair at Hampton Court.
Measured and drawn by Albert Halliday ... 60
47 Examples of Iron Balusters or Panels.
From Bailey S. Murphy's " English and Scottish Iron-
work " . . . . . . .61
48 " Geometrical " Stair, St. Paul's Cathedral . . 62
49 St. Helen's House, Derby.
Drawn by C. H. Potter ..... 63
xvi ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Fig. Plate
50 No. 8, Grosvenor Square, W.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten .... 64
51 Carved Stair-ends, Queen's House, Chelsea
Photo, by Horace Dan ..... 65
52 Plan of Queen's House, Chelsea .... 66
53 and 54 Designs by Robert Adam • • • . 67, 68
S$ Circular Ironwork Newel, Millerstain, Scotland.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten, from a photo, by H. Dan 69
THE ENGLISH
STAIRCASE.
'THHE part played by the staircase in the history of domestic
architecture is a very prominent one, not only because it is
necessarily the key to a large part of the planning of a house, but
because it performs a continual and public function, and as such, is
the proper subject for dignified and even ambitious treatment. It
was not until the renaissance had taken a firm hold upon English
life, in the sixteenth century, that there occurred a development in
house planning and building in any way comparable with the
ecclesiastical triumphs of the four preceding centuries. It will be
found therefore that the main body of the examples described in
this book belongs to the period between the years 1 500 and 1 800,
during which domestic architecture in England discovered a very
fine and thoroughly native expression, despite the foreign influences
which provided a strong stimulus from time to time.
It must not be thought, however, that within these three hundred
years any continued development can be traced from some early
and crude form to the polished and graceful types of the latter part
of the eighteenth century. Architecture, being the most closely
allied, among the arts, to man's common needs, and also to his
greatest ideals, follows his psychological moods, and is too dependent
B
2 THE NATURE OF ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
upon national and political events to proceed upon the even path of
an ordered progress. The Greek genius for beauty was succeeded
by the Roman virile construction. The great church architecture
of France and England rose on the ruins of their forerunners'
achievement with but a lingering reminiscence of the glories of
either. And yet again the builders of the renaissance learned to
scorn the sublime structures of the Gothic artists. And even if
the story of each single period is told, we still find that architecture
does not deign to lend herself to the vanity of those who believe
that each age is an advance upon its predecessor, but choosing the
right moment and the right place she springs to maturity and
beauty only to languish in the succeeding years, when the crafts-
man is most confident of his skill. So we see the perfection of the
Greek ideal in the fourth century, B.C., and the most exquisite
grace of the Gothic form in the thirteenth century of our own era.
It is important that this should be recognised at the outset, for
in the study of a single feature like the staircase, we may see mir-
rored, as it were, the various influences that were at work in the
formation of successive styles of architecture, and the chief interest
in such a study, apart from the intrinsic beauty of each example,
lies in the relationship which these styles bear to one another. For
the appeal of the single example is to the uncertain taste of the
chance onlooker, but its historical interest is abiding, and from this
we have all much to learn.
In approaching the subject before us from this standpoint we
shall feel that the Elizabethan period gave us a type of domestic
architecture which must live for all time. Freed from the necessi-
ties of church building, not only by the number of the churches
but by the silence of the dissolved monasteries, which until then
had never ceased to call the people to build for them, and filled
ELIZABETHAN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 3
with enthusiasm for the new and enticing ideals of the renaissance,
the builders of that day turned their thoughts to the architecture
of the home and to buildings for the accommodation of civic and
commercial life. In this they were amazingly successful, and along
with the invention of a plan, which with very slight modifications
is perfectly suited to the present time, they designed the many
domestic features which are indispensable to the complete dwelling-
house, and set an enduring quality upon their artistic treatment of
them. Among these features was the staircase. The new move-
ment, too, found fresh and amplified uses for the old materials of
building. The Gothic period of church and cathedral design was
essentially a period of mason craft, it produced an architecture
planned, wrought and adorned by the mason. Incidentally the
carpenter did great things, and produced the roofs of Westminster
and Eltham or carved the screens and stalls of a cathedral choir.
But the Elizabethan period was to produce the joiner and it gave
him the opportunity and incentive to carry his craft to perfection.
With the advent of the panelled room, the carved overmantel, and
the beautiful panelled screens and roofs came the triumph of the
joiner — the staircase, which donned a more domestic and a richer
quality by the change of its material from stone to wood.
We do not think too much emphasis can be laid upon the spon-
taneity of the birth of a new style in any department of art, and
upon its relative superiority when in its nascent state, for art is not
a product of evolution but is, in all its greatest phases, totally op-
posed to it. Yet we cannot altogether overlook what went before,
even if we regard it as rather the material of which the new style
makes some use, than as the direct cause of the change itself. The
directing force that turned men's thoughts to the fuller develop-
ment of domestic life, was without doubt that great European
4 THE PASSING OF GOTHIC INFLUENCE.
movement which we know as the renaissance. But the movement
had begun to make its influence known many a year before it
brought to flower, in
England, the arts of
architecture, litera-
ture, and the drama.
The fifteenth cen-
tury had already felt
the coming change
of ideals, the essen-
tial genius of the art
we call Gothic was
becoming weaken-
ed ; but the new
movement was not at
first strong enough
to create its own
style, and as yet
wrapped itself round
with garments of
Gothic form. Thus,
under the aegis of
Fig. i. stair to the dormitory, hexham priory, fag church a by no
means unimportant
type of domestic architecture had been developed before the middle
of the sixteenth century. Monastic life required a large establish-
ment apart from the church buildings proper, and the royal custom
of lodging ambassadors and other persons of eminence in the
greater monasteries, was either the effect or the cause of the most
elaborate domestic arrangements, both in the communal apartments
EARLY STONE STAIRCASES. 5
and in the abbot's rooms. The monasteries became the hotels of
that age, and as they were the schools for ecclesiastical architecture,
so they afforded the first models of the homes that sprang up im-
mediately before and after their dissolution.
At this time there were two strikingly different types of stair-
case which served two entirely different purposes. The one, a plain
straight flight of stone steps between two walls, was employed
wherever it was in the daily use of a large number of people.
The other, a circular or " newel " stair, formed generally of winding
steps of stone that circled about the centre newel within a small well,
was placed wherever required for occasional use, or where economy
of space was specially desired. The straight flight would be found
leading to the refectory or dining-hall whenever this was upon the
first floor as may be seen in the Vicars' Close at Wells, and in the
south transept of
Hexham Priory,
where the stairway
to the canons' dor-
mitory anticipates
the later balustrades
with its fine wall
and stepped parapet
(Figure 1). Another
well-known monas-
tic example is the
Norman stair (circa
1085) to the Stran-
gers' Hall at Canter-
bury, which is protected by an arcaded porch of which the arches
diminish as the stairs ascend. In the Norman military archi-
Entramce
SCALE UFi 1) 1 t t I 1 1
Fig. 2. CASTLE RISING, NORFOLK.
STAIRCASES IN STRAIGHT FLIGHTS.
tecture there was seldom room for the straight internal flight, save in
very narrow tunnels in the thickness of the walls, but the fine ex-
ample from Castle Rising (Figures 2 and 3) is an exception to the
rule. In other Norman keeps like Castle Hedingham the first floor
was approached by
external stairs in one
flight, and this cus-
tom continued for
many years. At
the beautiful moated
house at Stokesay in
Shropshire, built in
the thirteenth cen-
tury the room at the
upper end of the
great hall is reached
by an external stair,
and there are still in-
dications of the orig-
inal roof that cover-
ed it. At the lower
end of this hall is
a straight flight of
solid oak stairs, car-
ried on bold wooden
brackets from the
wall. This may well
be contemporary
with the building,
or but very little later, and represents the time when the carpenter
often imitated stone construction before the days of joinery.
Fig. 3. CASTLE RISING, NORFOLK.
Drawn by E. L. Wratten.
THE "NEWEL" OR CIRCULAR STAIR. 7
Of the other type — the newel stair, there still exist innumerable
examples, and there is nothing more striking in the plan of a
mediaeval building than the number of these small stairs dispersed
in all directions. For churches and military buildings they were
admirably fitted, for they occupied the minimum of space, and
often by projecting from the face of the building, formed a conve-
nient buttress or place of observation, the artistic possibilities of
which were quickly seen by the Gothic and later builders. Thus
we have the four angle turrets to the Norman keeps, the flanking
turrets to the Tudor gate-houses, the picturesque staircase pro-
jection to many a church tower, and finally the constant display of
these same features in the Elizabethan house. The reason for the
retention of the small newel stair, and for its frequency in the last
named building is a very simple one. The Elizabethan designers
were unaccustomed to the passage or corridor, and not till the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century do we see in one of John
Thorpe's plans, a passage which he calls a " longe entry throughe
all." In place of the passage, the rooms were all made to commu-
nicate with one another, as is usual on the continent to-day ; and
this necessitated a number of small stairs for access to various parts
of the upper floor, when any of the doors between the apartments
were locked, and approach from the main staircase prevented. This
solution of the problem was no doubt in favour with designers who
seemed never to lose an opportunity of traversing the low propor-
tions of their main facades with the bold but grace-giving vertical
lines of the oriel or bay window and the external stacks of chimneys.
The newel stair had no development in England at all com-
parable with that which took place in France, where it attained
magnificent proportions and required the most elaborate stone-
vaulting for its construction. With a very few exceptions it re-
THE MATERIALS OF CIRCULAR STAIRCASES.
mained here a stair of secondary importance, save in small buildings,
and where the exigencies of space forbade a more liberal provision.
The circular stair at Hedingham Castle (Figure 4) was over eleven
feet in diameter, and this,
though unusually large is
fairly typical in its form.
The steps were generally of
stone and in one length,
tapering towards the centre,
where they were shaped in-
to the circular projections
which, placed one over the
other, formed the newel.
Sometimes the steps were
solid blocks of wood (like
the stair already described
at Stokesay), and were either
built up in the same manner
as the stone ones, or tenon-
ed into a long central post.
Others were of brick, as at
Kirby Muxloe Castle, Lei-
cestershire (circa 1480), car-
ried on a continuous spiral
brick vault. These turret
staircases were generally car-
ried above the roof to form
a feature on the sky-line, and occasionally they were vaulted with
the help of the newel as in the charming example at Linlithgow
Palace, Scotland (Figure 5).
Fig. 4. CASTLE HEDINGHAM, ESSEX.
Drawn by Mrs, E. Godman, from a sketch by C. C. Brewer
THE RETICENCE OF GOTHIC BUILDERS.
A reference to the plan of Eastbury Manor House at Barking
(Figure 6), built in 1572, will show how a small house sometimes
depended entirely on the circular staircase. This little plan is a
model of convenience in
a small compass, and is
charmingly devised for ex-
ternal effect, the two stair-
cases rising in bold turrets
each side of the great
chimney stack. The stairs
are housed into centre
posts, and in one a hand-
rail is ingeniously carved
in the brickwork, as in
another example at Tatter-
shall Castle in Lincolnshire
(circa 1440) where it is
carved in stones built into
the brick wall.
In reviewing the Gothic
period, including the Nor-
man that went before it
and the Tudor work that
followed it, we may say
that as a rule the staircase
took a simple form, almost
invariably in stone, and that the English builders did not choose it
as the subject for the elaborate adornment which they bestowed so
generously upon other features. That they were ignorant of its
possibilities is not conceivable, and we have only to turn to Rouen
Fig. 5. LINLITHGOW PALACE.
IO
WOOD STAIRCASES INTRODUCED.
to see two exquisite examples of what our neighbours could do, in
the Cathedral and in the Church of St. Maclou where the delicately
pierced and panelled balustrade, the double flight of steps, and the
spiral stone casing, show how well the later forms might have been
employed in Gothic building. One curious piece of wooden balus-
trading, pierced with trefoiled openings is to be found in England
at Downholland Hall near Ormskirk (Plate ii).
The second half of the sixteenth century saw the introduction of
the new wooden type of staircase into all houses of importance in
the country. The use of thin boards (the " treads " and " risers ")
for the formation of the steps, in place of the solid blocks of stone
and wood, allowed a lighter
construction and dispensed
with the necessity for the
support of two parallel walls.
The stairs themselves were
let into long wooden bearers,
called " strings," set to the
slope of the stairway on
both sides. The strings were
framed into posts called
" newels," which supported
the whole framework, and
allowed the designer to break
the staircase into as many
flights as he desired, to interpose landings, and to lead the steps
round an open " well," or to double them back alongside the lower
flight in the manner known as the "dog-legged" stair. It was
then necessary to provide a handrail and some form of balustrade
between the newels, for safety, and this completed the material for
Fig. 6.
EASTBURY MANOR HOUSE,
BARKING.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BALUSTRADE.
the design. It is in the forms of these several features that the
changes of style described in the succeeding pages will be noticed.
No portion of the staircase escaped the influence of these changes
in style, but their characteristics are most faithfully and consistently
shown in the method of filling the balustrade, and this provides the
simplest basis for
classification. In
Elizabeth's reign
two fashions were in
vogue, and it is diffi-
cult to say whether
they were simulta-
neously introduced
or not. The one,
which was most pop-
ular, was effected by
turned balusters ; the
other, almost exclu-
sively followed in
the later Jacobean
work, made use of
dwarf pilasters, of
flat section that tap-
ered towards their
base, a type of or-
nament seen in ex-
traordinary profu-
sion and in every
kind of design of
the early seven- Fig. 7. chetham's hospital, Manchester.
12 THE VARIOUS FORMS OF TURNED BALUSTERS.
teenth century. Another form, sparingly used, is apparently found
as early as either. It partakes somewhat of the nature of both
kinds and might, conceivably, be a link between them, indicating
that one had developed from the other. It is shown in the
stair at Oakwell Hall — built in 1583 — (Plate iii) where it is the
silhouette of a baluster cut from a flat board, and in that at Chet-
ham's Hospital, Manchester (Figure 7) where it is a similar outline
of a pilaster. In all such cases this flat baluster is pierced, a form
of ornamentation that occurs in the pilaster proper, at Claverton,
Dorfold (Figures 19, 22) and elsewhere. There is a good ex-
ample of the Chetham type at Boleyn Castle, East Ham.
The turned baluster, once introduced, has held its own, with
varying popularity until the present day, but it is not difficult to
differentiate the examples of the various periods. The Elizabethan
baluster is large, from 2^ to 3^ inches in diameter, and is not much
cut away, thus giving a certain uniformity of substance throughout
the length. On the other hand, no opportunity is lost to give it
interest, and it is not only " busy " with features, but is further
adorned with incised lines or grooves cut round its main parts.
The examples given in this book will show what is meant if the
reader will turn to the stairs at Goldsborough Hall (Figure 8),
Great Kewlands, 1599 (Plate iv), Restoration House, Rochester
(Plate v), Bromley Palace* (Fig. 28), Ightham Mote and Hall i'
th' Wood (Fig. 27). The drum-shaped base to the balusters from
Hall i' th' Wood and Bromley, is of very frequent occurrence, and
the chamfered or notched angles where the square ends adjoin the
part that is " turned " are an almost invariable sign of early date.
The newly discovered art of turning was evidently dear to the
heart of the Elizabethan joiner, and he began to turn his newels as
* Practically the same detail as at Boleyn Castle.
Fig. 8.
i4 THE PLANNING OF THE ELIZABETHAN STAIR.
well as his balusters ; but soon, guided by his better judgment, he
confined the work of his lathe to the finials and pendants, which
form so important a part of the general design, giving point to
every rise and fall in the varying flights of the steps. Turned
newels are to be seen at Holland House (2nd stair), Ordsall Hall,
Salford (which has in the principal newel an elaborately carved and
turned column with an Ionic cap), Hall i' th' Wood, Bolton (Figure
27), and Great Ellingham Hall, Norfolk (Figure 9). Staircases
with pierced balusters seem often to have had newels framed on the
same model, as at Chetham's Hospital, where the outline — rather
awkwardly — follows the rake of the stair (Figure
7). With this should be compared the newel at
Claverton which has the pierced pilaster applied
to each face (Figure 19). With these and a few
other* exceptions newels will be found invariably
square until the entirely new fashions introduced
after the reign of Queen Anne.
The Elizabethan stair was a stair of many
flights. We have already remarked that the long
succession of stone steps found in the Gothic
period had been abandoned, and the sweeping
staircase of the later years of the seventeenth cen-
tury was the first to try a somewhat similar effect
with wood. The John Thorpe, and the Smithson
collection of contemporary plans (covering a period
some twenty-five years before and after 1600)
show the stairs designed as "dog-legged," and
"well" staircases arranged in short flights divided by many land-
ings. This involved a large number of stout square newels,
* Godinton has its upper newels carved in the shape of a square column or pilaster.
Fig. 9.
GREAT
ELLINGHAM HALL,
NORFOLK.
SIR ROBERT CECIL'S PLAN FOR CHELSEA HOUSE. 15
the effect of which can be seen in the views of Goldsborough
Hall (Figure 8), Park Hall, Oswestry (Figure 26), Aston Hall
(Plate xix), Crewe Hall (Figure 30), and indeed in most of the
examples given. The Great Hall was still, during this period, the
chief living room, and a position for the staircase had to be found
elsewhere. There were exceptions to this, chiefly it seems in
Yorkshire, where many houses have the main stair leading from the
Hall to a passage over the Screen,* as at Methley Hall, but the
Fig. IO. ASTONBURY, HERTFORDSHIRE.
more usual method is shown in the plan of Astonbury, Herts
(Figure 10) and the interesting plan of Chelsea House (Figure 1 1),
which shows one of Sir Robert Cecil's schemes for rebuilding the
old mansion of Sir Thomas More. Here the confined spaces
allotted to the stairs made it impossible to arrange the steps in one
long flight, and to the many flights thus occasioned is due much of
* For the information of readers who are not acquainted with the mediaeval plan it
may be noted that the invariable arrangement of the principal apartment or Hall during the
greater part of the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, was to have
the main entrance in the side wall at the lower end, close by the doors leading to the kitchen,
etc., all of which were veiled from the upper end (with its dais, oriel, etc ) by an elaborate
screen that stretched across the entire width of the Hall. (See Fig. 6.)
i6
ELIZABETHAN FINIALS TO NEWELS.
the impressive character which the Elizabethan designers were able
to effect by means of the elaborate finials and sculptured figures
with which they adorned the newels.
The earliest finials were of very simple form, a circular* or acorn-
shapedf ball being used with a small moulded base, and one or more
Fig. II. SIR ROBERT CECIL'S PLAN FOR THE REBUILDING OF
CHELSEA HOUSE (c. I590). FIRST FLOOR.
lines incised around its surface. The turned ball-finial, on account
of its simplicity is to be found in staircases of all periods, but the
earlier examples can be recognised by their small circular base, in-
cised lines, and the fact that they are often not a perfect sphere (as at
* Laindon Hall, Essex, and Holland House (second stair),
f Eastgate House, Rochester, 1595.
OCTAGONAL AND "SQUARE-TURNED" FINIALS. 17
Great Ellingham Hall (Figure 9), and Castle House, Deddington
(Plate xvii). Curious finials elaborately turned are used at Ightham
Mote, and Hall i' th' Wood (Figure 27), where they form part of
the turned newels already mentioned. The best finials approximate
to vases in shape, and indeed this was clearly the underlying idea in
many an exercise in turning, as at
Scole Inn (Fig. 27). The theory
of the vase-motif is strengthened,
too, by the subsequent general use
of elaborately carved vases as finials
in the middle of the seventeenth
century. Great Kewlands (Plate
iv) shows a very effective octagonal
top to the newel, and a house at
Langley, in Kent, furnishes another
example of this picturesque type
(Figure 12). From this to the
square was not a long step, and the
" square-turned " finial, shown in
its infancy on the upper stair at
Restoration House, Rochester
(Plate v), and in a more elaborate
form at Maidstone (Figure 13), be-
came the standard type, as most in
harmony with the square solidity
of the newel itself. The somewhat clumsy repetition of features on
what is really a square-turned newel at the Commandery, Worcester
(Plate vii) is in marked contrast to the two beautiful and simple
shapes that cap the newels at Goldsborough Hall (Figure 8).
The existence of a finial presupposes a pendant beneath the newel,
Fig. 12. LANGLEY, KENT.
i8
PENDANTS, STRINGS AND HANDRAILS.
and the two followed much the same lines, as at Yatton Kennell (Fig.
27) and at Bromley (Fig. 28). The pendant or drop was not un-
known before its introduction into the
staircase, for it had been used in the gables
of timber-built houses where it was often
most elaborate. Between each newel the
early strings were generally quite plain,
with perhaps a simple moulded capping
on which the balusters could rest. At
Rothamsted the string is moulded some-
thing in the same manner as the fascia-
board to a Gothic gable, and at Aston-
bury (Figure 14) it was, till lately, en-
riched with painting which may well have
been a copy of the original design. Above
the balusters, the Elizabethan handrail
was formed out of a stout oak beam, of
a section deeper than its width, well
moulded or grooved, and either flat at
the top as at Goldsborough Hall, or more
usually finished with a bold roll for the
hand to grasp as at the Star Inn, Lewes
(Fig. 27), and Park Hall, Oswestry
(Fig. 28). Much variety was possible in
the design of the handrail which gradu-
ally assumed the flat broad section in use
at the end of the seventeenth century,
and even as early a witness as one of the
John Thorpe drawings gives us a " rayle for a stayre " which ap-
proximates to that in vogue at the later date.
Fig- i3-
THE ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE,
MAIDSTONE.
FRENCH TYPES FOUND IN SCOTLAND.
19
Throughout the sixteenth century, while the changes which we
have related were taking place, there were remarkably few excep-
tions to the general adoption of the wood-framed staircase. At
Burghley House, Northamptonshire, there is a stone-vaulted staircase
(circa 1556) of considerable size, which runs either side of a solid
block of masonry, of a width sufficient to take the five treads which
Fig. 14. ASTONBURY, HERTFORDSHIRE.
join the two flights. At Hardwick (1576) there is a very severe
but imposing stone stair the walls of which are hung with tapestry,
and a stone staircase is to be found at Montacute. In Scotland,
which has often been in so much closer touch with the architectural
influence of France, than of England, there is the finest example of
the stone " newel " stair, brought to a considerable pitch of dignity
20
A STAIRCASE VAULTED IN STONE.
Fig. 15. FYVIE CASTLE.
BACON'S TASTE IN STAIRCASES. 21
and beauty at Fyvie Castle (Figure 15). In the seventeenth cen-
tury a solitary attempt was made at Christ's Church College, Oxford,
to revive the vaulted staircase, in which the centre newel carries an
interesting roof of fan tracery.
All through Elizabeth's reign the small spiral stair was in general
request for its own special purpose of providing direct communi-
cation between two floors where there was not much traffic. Cecil's
Chelsea plan (Figure 11) shows this in a striking way, and we may
recall the passage in Bacon's essay " of Building " in which he does
not forget either kind of staircase : " The stairs likewise to the
upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel, and finely railed
in with images of wood, cast into a brass colour ; and a very fair
landing place at the top. . . Beyond this is to be a fair court, but
three sides of it of a far lower building than the front. And in all
the four corners of that court fair staircases, cast into turrets on the
outside, and not within the row of buildings themselves."
In Bacon's own house formerly standing at Gorhambury, near St.
Albans, Aubrey tells us, "was a delicate staircase of wood which
was curiously carved ; and on the post of every interstice was some
pretty figure, as a grave divine with his book and spectacles, a
mendicant friar, and not one twice." His essay "of building" was
written when James I had already reigned some years, and when
the Jacobean culmination of Elizabethan architecture had been
reached. The luxuriance of the ornamentation, the crude magnifi-
cence of the carving and the unrestrained adaptation of structural
forms in the service of pure decoration, have often been criticised,
but it cannot be denied that beneath all this show there were some
very fine elements of design. The refreshing abandon of the de-
signers of this time should be welcomed when we see them capable
also of the finely restrained proportions of the staircases at Rotham-
sted, Great Wigsell (Plate vi), or New Sampford Hall (Plate xviii).
22 A FINE EXAMPLE OF JACOBEAN WORK.
At Hatfield (1612), (Plate ix), Blickling (1620), Rushton Hall
(1626), and Temple Newsam (1630), can be seen the rich combina-
tion of all the finest Jacobean details. The square newels are
covered with carving in low relief ; the square-turned finials (formed
so that each face is the proportion of a short pilaster, and carved with
a lion's head or shield), support heraldic animals and sculptured
Fig. l6. KNOLE HOUSE, SEVENOAKS.
Drawn by Walter H. Godfrey.
figures ; the pendants are beautifully shaped, pierced and enriched ;
and the dwarf pilasters which form the balustrade are of the most
elaborate workmanship, and being connected to one another beneath
the handrail by light keyed arches, they make a long line of arcading
of great beauty. Other features go to produce even a greater and
JACOBEAN SCREENS AND CONTINUOUS NEWELS. 23
richer effect. At Hatfield the entrance to the stair is overhung with
elaborate scroll-work, an idea which was carried out more fully at
Wakehurst, Sussex, where the surmount has almost the proportions
of a screen without the lower supports. At Blickling, after the
first flight, the staircase divides, and going left and right, becomes
two stairs which balance one another, — a device that is very frequent
in the large houses of the eighteenth century. At Rushton Hall
and Temple Newsam the effect is heightened by the beautiful
screens which partly shelter the stair from the Hall and upper land-
ing, and at the same time reveal and frame its beauty beneath their
luxurious arches. This arcaded screen is to be found indicated on
many of the Thorpe drawings. Two of the best examples are at
Dorton House, Bucks, and at Knole House, Sevenoaks, built in
1605 (Figure 16), where the arcade is repeated on the first floor
and adds great dignity to the stair. It also occurs in a most
charming form at Great Wigsell (Plate vi) which we have already
mentioned. The strength and yet the simplicity of its two square
columns with Ionic caps, the graceful arches, the well-modelled
finials to the other newels, and perhaps above all the quiet reserve
in the use of the carving, — a simple guilloche ornament being the
sole enrichment to the most effective string — are all much to be
admired. This method of carrying up certain newels in the form
of columns to support the landing above added of course great
strength to the stair, and the practice was not confined by any means
to the Jacobean period. A less frequent arrangement but based on
very sound ideas of construction, is met with in those stairs of which
all the newels are continuous and run from floor to floor. Arches
were often placed between them, and they formed in effect an
arcaded screen to the well. The idea (if any prompting were
necessary to so simple and desirable a form), may have been derived
24 POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF FRAMED STAIRCASES.
from the old well
staircases sometimes
found in square
towers, where the well
is enclosed by timber
framing, plastered be-
tween the beams. At
Canonbury Tower,
Islington (circa 1520)
this well is divided
into a series of large
cupboards, and it
would require little
ingenuity to open the
framing and insert a
balustrade. Indeed
we find that the space
below the handrail, at
places like Boughton
Malherbe and Leeds
Castle, has retained
the old plaster filling,
the upper portion
being open. How-
ever this may be, an
example of the con-
tinuous newels is
found as early as 1523
at Layer Marney in
Fig. 17. cranborne manor house, Dorset. Essex, and later ones
CARVED FIGURES AND HERALDIC FINIALS.
25
at Burton Agnes (1602-10), Audley End (1603-16), and Cran-
borne Manor, Dorset (Figures 17, 18 and 28). The last-named is
a very simple and effective design, while the first is peculiar in that
the well is long and narrow, and the arches are thrown across the
well at various heights. At Audley End the well is of similar pro-
portion to that at Burton Agnes and the number of newels is the
same, but the arches follow the direction of the handrail. The
CAR DEN
Fig. l8. CRANBORNE MANOR HOUSE.
newels here are decorated with very delicate pilasters and strap-
ornament, and the balustrade adheres to the model of Hatfield and
Blickling but is of a rather more refined type. The upper part
of the newels is shown in Figure 27.
It is to be remarked that the use of figures and heraldic animals
upon the newel has been associated, in the four chief examples men-
tioned on page 22, with the arched balustrade, as being perhaps the
finest form so far designed. To these we must add Charterhouse and
Claverton (Figure 19). At the former of these the heraldic finials
26
ELABORATE CARVING.
are placed upon pedestals of which the ornament differs in each case,
while the latter is quite an unusual type, bold and well modelled,
relying less upon superficial carving, than upon the
simple lines of its pierced pilasters and the restful
severity of its statues. Knole (1605) and Godinton
(1628), both in Kent, form important exceptions, in
that they combine heraldic finials with a balustrade of
finely turned balusters of the Elizabethan type. We
have already mentioned the screen at Knole (Figure
16), and the stair is covered with the usual carving on
newels and string. Godinton, which bears its date in
scribed on a panel, resembles Knole in the form of its
heraldic animals and
their shields, as well as
in the design of its
balusters. It is, how-
ever, overloaded with
ornament, the handrail
is carved with a flowing
pattern of vine leaves
and grapes, the first as-
cent is overhung with
elaborately pierced carv-
ing in imitation of
Gothic tracery, and the
front of the balustrade is
richly panelled. Several
Fig. 19. formerly at claverton, somerset, of the newels are carved
with archaic and gro-
tesque busts forming the upper part of pilasters, as at Sydenham
THE ARCADED BALUSTRADE.
27
House, Devon, but the most curious feature is the division by a
horizontal line of each length of the balustrade into two triangular
portions, the lower part panelled, and the upper filled with turned
balusters, which are thus of different sizes and varying in design.
The principle is the same as that shown in the Great Kewlands
staircase (Plate iv),
where the upper
triangle is closed
by a rail and the
lower is plastered.
Some good heraldic
finials are shown
in Figure 20.
Of the other il-
lustrated examples
which have an ar-
caded balustrade,
the one at the Com-
mandery, Worces-
ter (PI. vii), seems
the most immature,
and that at Great
Nast Hyde (Plate
viii) is unusual,
though most strik-
ing in its total
effect. The Dor-
fold stair (Figures
21 and 22), already
referred to, pos- Fi^ 2°' NEWKL FINIALS-
"THE OLD PALACE," ROCHESTER.
28
USE OF PILASTERS IN PLACE OF BALUSTERS.
sesses particularly fine newels with char-
acteristic Jacobean carving in low relief
adorned with the "drop" ornament, and
a freely modelled finial. And at the
princely Holland House in London, we
find in the newels and the balustrade that
imitation of rusticated masonry (Figure
23), affected by the designers of the early
years of the seventeenth century which
appears again at Lymore (Plates x and xi),
the Conservative Club, Hoddesdon (Plate
xi), and Rawdon House (Plates xx and
xxi) at the same place. The balustrade
composed of pilasters unconnected by
arches includes a large number of very
fine staircases, which are notable for their
excellent newel finials. An apparently
early example is that at Letchworth Hall
(Figure 24), which attempts rather un-
successfully to follow with its lines the
rake of the stair. A brilliant design is
shown in Lymore (Plates x and xi),
where the pilasters and newels are stud-
ded with "jewel " ornament. Charlton
House, Kent (Figure 25), has the three
orders represented with Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian capitals in ascending flights.
It is remarkable too for the lion's head
shown in the sketch as carved against each
Fig. 21. dorfold, Cheshire, newel, anticipating the "ramp" of the
THE DOUBLE NEWEL AND ITS FINIALS. 29
handrail which came later and will be described
in its place. The newel-tops at Charlton are
varied and include finials of carved foliage,
pierced pinnacles and seated lions. The stair-
case is the reputed work of Bernard Janson and
dates from 1607-12. Park Hall, Oswestry
(Figure 26), is quite a
typical example. The
stair is designed to
avoid the necessity, in
a dog-legged stair, of
cutting: off the lower
handrail where it comes
beneath the string. It
is therefore made with
double newels which
allow the handrail and
balustrade to pass by
instead of intersecting
the upper string. Two
other examples of this
are shown in the Con-
servative Club, Hod-
desdon (of the Park
Hall type) and in the
Castle House, Ded-
dington (Plates xii and
xvii). In these the
finials are taken to an
Fig. 22. dorfold, Cheshire. equal height, but at
30 A JACOBEAN EXAMPLE FREE OF ALL ENRICHMENT.
Park Hall one stands well above the other. This difficulty
in design was more successfully met at a later date
(1688) at Clare College, Cambridge (Figure 35). The
newels and string at Park Hall are covered with plain
rectangular sinking, and the finials are of the usual fine
type where no statuary is introduced, being composed
HOLLAND HOUSE
KENSINGTON
Fig. 23.
of the pedestal base crowned with elaborate
square-turned ornaments. Rothamsted, Herts,
provides the simplest and most striking form of
both newel and balustrade free from all carving.
Sydenham House, Devon, and Wick Court
possess unusually bold and well-modelled
pilasters placed close together in their balustrades, each having
TYPICAL JACOBEAN FINIALS AND NEWELS. 31
characteristic Ionic caps. The newels at the former are curious,
and are now crowned with old lamps of quaint design, and those at
the latter have finials very much like the usual hollow carved
pendants inverted. At Sussex Place, Bristol (Figure 27) a pierced
Ionic pilaster is used in the balustrade, and in a late example from
Bishopsgate preserved in the museum at South Kensington may be
seen a type almost square in plan, carved on each of the four faces
and requiring a very heavy string and handrail to cover it (Plate
xiii, Figure 28.)
As already indi-
cated those stair-
cases which re-
tained the turned
baluster are gener-
ally furnished with
bold and simple
finials, but in these
there is to be
found great diver-
sity in form. The
Talbot Hotel at
Oundle (Plate xiv)
has a bold design
over a plain pan-
elled newel. The
two staircases at
Astonbury have
both excellent de-
tail. In the larger
one (Plate xv) the Fig. 24. letchworth hall.
32
THE USE OF ARCHES BENEATH THE STRING.
tops are formed of obelisks upon four balls (a motif not unusual in
the design of Jacobean tombs), over a small sunk panel of a shape
reminiscent of a Gothic cusp, and pendants in the shape of acorns.
The string (Figure 14) which has been painted with flowing orna-
CHARLTON HOUSE, KENT.
ment, is further adorned as at Great Nast Hyde with flat keyed
arches which spring from the pendants and appear to give support.
The secondary stair (Plate xvi) has pierced finials. The Castle
House, Deddington (Plate xvii), has a fluted double newel capped
by two balls, and the Methley stair combines a striking hollow finial
THE DOUBLE NEWEL AT PARK HALL.
33
Fig. 26.
34
ELIZABETHAN STAIRCASE DETAILS.
Wrt at SCOLE
NORFOLK* ^^
' Old Manor Moose
Yattom M/viell
Auoley End
ESSEX..
4. 5. 6
Hall i'th" Wood
LEWES J~.i.*.
Ightham Mote
'Maaiob. House
Sussex "Place.
Bristol c ««x
Scale tr
Feet
Fig. 27. DETAILS OF NEWELS AND BALUSTERS.
XVIIth AND XVIIIth CENTURY STAIRCASE DETAILS. 35
C=7
5
iTRinO
Bromley Palace
BROtiLtl-BY-8oW fi6o&)
•>i<wv Balusters
Kdi... tAu^ni*^;'*" '/'0<
Friends' House
Croydon. '5*<a-£.y.
rf.torU 1 J/i,^ /Ifuttu.
^Falstaff Motel
CANTERBURY.
Grvot 5*" Helen's. S.shops^otc
7 Park Hall
Oswestry ui^j..
Balusters cvk* yjoc
\Cdin* t*tOt,/ fy.n<.«.
"ASHBUR/tMAAI HOUSE
WESTMINSTER c 16^0
CRAfiDORflE flAflOR
Mouse. Dorset. i£u
* "^
6
:^0
-$Fee:t
Fig. 28. DETAILS OF NEWELS AND BALUSTERS.
36 THE CONTINUOUS CARVED BALUSTRADE.
with a richly chased newel, and balusters of very elegant shape.
But the staircase at New Sampford Hall (Plate xviii) is the most
beautiful example. The carving on the newel, the delicately en-
riched pedestal finial, — ready for statuary but quite complete without
it, — and the well turned balusters, could not well be surpassed.
Before the reign of James I was over a new fashion was intro-
duced in the method of filling up the space between the handrail
and the string of the staircase. Its simplest form can be seen in
the earlier of the two stairs at Clare College, Cambridge (Figure 29),
where the whole space is filled in with thin boarding pierced in such
a way as to show the outline of a pattern in the contemporary strap-
work design. The idea was quickly developed, carving in relief
was introduced and the balustrade was soon converted into great
panels of interlacing ornament. It is difficult to give an exact date
to these staircases, for the large houses were many years in building,
but the fashion had become fully established at the accession of
Charles I, and continued with important changes to the end of the
century. The two finest examples of this first period are un-
doubtedly Aston Hall, Warwickshire, and Crewe Hall, Cheshire,
both erected about 1 620-1 625. They belong in every sense to the
Jacobean type in all their detail, the former (Plate xix) showing as
much reserve and dignity as the latter (Figure 30) an extravagant
luxuriance. At Rawdon House, Hoddesdon (Plate xx), with its
curious crudely carved panels (Plate xxi), on one of which appears
the date 1622 ; at Aldermaston, finished in 1636, and well known
through Nash's view although since destroyed ; and at so late a
stair as that in Cromwell House, Highgate (Figures 31 to 32a),
built about the time of the Commonwealth, the Jacobean influence
still prevails. The groundwork in the ornament of the panels is still
the old strapwork although other subjects occur, and all three
THE SUBJECTION OF THE NEWEL. 37
have heraldic finials or sculptured figures. The rusticated work on
the newels at Rawdon House, the rich carving on those of Alder-
maston and the beautiful pedestals with Ionic caps which are
provided for the types of Cromwell's soldiery (Plate xxii) — each and
all proclaim their affinity to the time of James I. But these are
the last stairs of which
Blickling was the type.
The all-conquering tide
of the Later Renais-
sance was soon to con-
demn the newel to a
completely subservient
position in the design,
and the first step that
was taken abolished its
figures and its finials,
and merely marked its
position by a modest
vase adorned with fruit
or flowers. This was ac-
companied by the intro-
duction of naturalistic
carving into the balus-
trade. These great stair-
cases with continuous
balustrades of flowing foliage have been made famous by the exquisite
workmanship of Grinling Gibbons and his school of carvers. But
before them there were many less successful attempts which paved
the way for the greater triumphs. There is a vigorous and interest-
ing stair of this type at Hutton-in-the-Forest, Cumberland, where
Fig. 29.
CLARE COLLEGE, FORMERLY CLARE
HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
38
BASKETS OF FRUIT AS FINIALS.
the finials to the newels have already lost all character. There is the
stair at Ham House, Richmond (Plate xxiii) with its flat carving of
■*el
"iXC
i >
Fig. 30 STAIRCASE, FORMERLY AT CREWE HALL, CHESHIRE.
Drawn by W. Twopeny.
war trophies and its baskets ot fruit upon the newels, although a
stair in King Street, Norwich, on somewhat the same lines but with
THE LAST OF JACOBEAN CHARACTERISTICS.
39
Fig. 31. CROMWELL HOUSE, HIGHGATE.
Drawn by Ernest A. Mann.
4o CHANGING FASHIONS OF THE XVIIth CENTURY.
less carving possesses the rare feature of continuous supporting
newels. Other continuous newels of an altogether unusual type
are found in a rather later example at Castle Ashby, where they
consist of straight columns, the shafts of which are completely
covered with a carved imitation of ivy and creepers twined round
them. Yet another stair on the somewhat rigid lines of Ham House
is to be found in a
second house near
Kingston. This has
ball finials and re-
calls the fact that
Number 5, Chandos
Street, Strand (since
destroyed), had
quite an early type
of ball finial com-
bined with a crude
but determined at-
tempt at a continu-
ous balustrade of
flowing foliage.
One of the first of
the later and finest
period of these stair-
cases is that at Tyt-
tenhanger, Herts
(circa 1654), which
is beautifully carved with leaf and flower. The broad handrail has
a bead enrichment, the string is carved with leaves, and the newel,
panelled with fruit and foliage, rises a little above the handrail to
— lJJIHtMlMf1li?lf?^l> PP-r
Fig. 32. SECTION OF THE STAIRCASE, CROMWELL
HOUSE, HIGHGATE.
Drawn by W. Dean.
li 6* 0 I 2 3 + ? k 7 8 9, 10 II 12 M I* 15
'^^ M 1 i i i i i i I l i i M i i FffET-
Fig. 32A. CROMWELL HOUSE, HIGHGATE.
Measured and drawn by W . Dean.
42 THE WORK OF JOHN WEBB.
support a plain vase with fruit. This last feature
is wanting in an otherwise very similar staircase
at Stratton Park, Biggleswade (Plate xxiv).
Tyttenhanger was probably built by John Webb,
to whom must be ascribed the stair at
Thorpe Hall (1656). Here the hand-
rail runs over the top of the newel and
Fig- 33-
BALUSTRADE IN THE
VICTORIA AND ALBERT
MUSEUM.
the vase of fruit is a little more
elaborate. A gracefully carved
scroll in the form of a buttress adds
strength to the bottom newel. Two
years later it was probably Webb
also who carried out the beautiful stair at Forde Abbey, Dorset,
with a massive handrail, carefully ramped or curved up to each
newel, over which it is mitred, and made to support a boldly
modelled vase of fruit. A long flight of fourteen steps with a small
AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF FLOWING FOLIAGE. 43
Fig. 34. STAIRCASE AT CROWLEY HOUSE, GREENWICH (BEGUN 1647).
NOW DEMOLISHED.
44
FAMOUS STAIRS OF THE XVIIth CENTURY.
landing breaking it in the centre gives the occasion for four newels,
and increases the strength of the design.
With the accession of Charles II the fashion for these monumental
staircases was at once confirmed, and we have a surprising number
of those vast works which must have
absorbed the best craftsmanship of the
day. The stairs at Durham Castle (1665),
Eltham Lodge (1663), Sudbury Hall,
Wentworth Castle, Cassiobury, Tythrop,
Dunster Castle (Plate xxv), and Tredegar
Park (circa 1670), are among the finest
and must all have been completed within
ten years. There is not the same finish
in all the carving, but it is nowhere lack-
ing in high decorative quality. Intro-
duced at first in panels, it ultimately
stretched the whole length of the balus-
trade. The handrail and string show a
tendency to increase the boldness and en-
richment of their mouldings (the latter
taking the form of a long carved entab-
lature) and the vertical lines are almost
completely eliminated, until it is thought
no longer necessary to mark the position
of the newels, and the vases which had
lost all meaning are finally omitted with
great advantage, as at Tythrop and Wentworth Castle. The newel
in fact becomes a massive pedestal, with the handrail and string
breaking round it to form its cornice and base. The examples
given from smaller houses illustrate the same principles in some
Fig- 35-
CLARE COLLEGE (l688),
CAMBRIDGE.
THE RESUMPTION OF THE BALUSTER. 45
measure. Crowley House, Greenwich (Figure 34), is comparatively
early. No. 25, High Street, Guildford (Plates xxvi and xxvii),
furnishes a fine type of the balustrade and vase, while the beautiful
stair from The Close, Winchester (Plate xxviii), gives all the char-
acteristics of the later development, with the exception of the newel
which is not capped by the handrail. A very elegant undated piece
of balustrading from South Kensington Museum (Figure 33) may
be mentioned here, although the delicate handrail indicates the
work of the eighteenth century. The foliage is interspersed with
scroll-work after the French manner and the effect is so good that
the idea is worthy of imitation.
From this time forward the reign of the baluster is resumed in
the whole kingdom of the staircase, with the single reservation of
the iron balustrade to which we shall presently allude, and in which
will be discovered some reminiscence of the wooden scroll work
just described. But first we must retrace our steps and turn
our attention to a certain number of stairs which did not follow
the lines we have already sketched. It must be remembered that
from the reign of James I we date the intrusion of the personal
element into design, or in other words the birth of the modern
architect. While the vernacular building — to borrow an expression
from language — was pursuing its ordinary course, still wedded to
the traditions of the past, a man like Inigo Jones was pursuing his
own ideals and producing in the large country house designs which
would not become popular until half a century later — a separation
which has continued to the present day. At Coleshill, Berks,
1650 {Frontispiece), Inigo Jones constructed one of the most
beautiful of all staircases, irrespective of period, having all the
harmony in design and workmanship that comes from the invention
and directing skill of a great artist. At a time when even the largest
Fig. 36. ASHBURNHAM HOUSE, WESTMINSTER.
Drawn by Edmund L. W ratten.
THE BALUSTRADE AT COLESHILL.
47
houses were making use of the balustrade of continuous foliage, lnigo
Jones revived the baluster, but in a form that differed vastly from the
earlier type. He introduced the simplest type, which made its first
appearance in stone in the Italian renascence, short in length, but
broad in section, cut away well beneath a simple ovolo cap, encircled
Fig. 37. WOLSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE.
with a necking, and gradually swelling to its full diameter before curv-
ing in again over a simple base. The cap is carved with egg-tongue,
a ring of acanthus leaves surrounds the belly, and the base is further
enriched. The whole stair, otherwise, might well have been the
model for those at Cassiobury and Tythrop, except that the string,
as befitting a more delicate treatment, is carved with simple festoons
48
s
<
INCHES
Fig. 38.
CASTLE BROMWICH,
WARWICKSHIRE.
THE INFLUENCE OF INIGO JONES.
and is not heavily moulded. We do not know
that Inigo Jones himself ever used the balustrade
of pierced foliage. Houses like Forde Abbey
which he altered, were completed after his death,
and places like Tyttenhanger are ascribed to him
on but slender grounds. On the other hand, the
beautiful and ingenious stair at Ashburnham
House, Westminster (Figure 36), one of the
most justly celebrated in England, of which the
design at least is persistently ascribed to him,
follows Coleshill in the essential character of its
construction and detail (Figure 28). Both these
stairs bear one mark of their comparatively early
date, the handrail is not ramped to the newel as
in a similar example at Powis Castle. Coleshill,
unlike the Jacobean staircase at Blickling, is
really a double stair, leading up on either side
of the Hall. The influence it had upon the
coming fashions is shown by the general adoption
of its main lines in all work at the close of the
seventeenth century. Its spirit is reproduced in
the beautiful stair at Potheridge (Plate xxix).
At Cobham Hall, Kent (Plate xxx), it is also
seen but a desire for elaboration has given the
balusters Ionic volutes, and has stopped the hand-
rail against the newels in order to re-introduce a
carved finial which is reminiscent of Charlton
House and Wick Court, an inconsistency rectified
in the portion shown on Plate xxxi.
There was another novel factor introduced in
THE TWISTED OR SPIRAL BALUSTER. 49
the middle of the seventeenth century which was to have far-reaching
results. This was the twisted or spiral baluster. If we may trust
the date (1652) on the newel at Dawtrey Mansion, Petworth (Plate
xxxii), as referring to the stair as a whole, we have here a curious
transitional phase which links the new feature with the fine old finials
of Jacobean origin. The first balusters of this kind were turned in
such a way as to give the appearance of being actually twisted, not
carved with spiral grooves like the Georgian type. They usually
had a small vase-shaped feature at the base of the twisted shaft.
(See examples in Figure 28.) A stair at St. George's, Canterbury
(Plate xxxiii), has continuous newels formed in spirals like the balus-
ters, but the spirit of the age soon imposed the yoke of the flat heavy
handrail, characteristic examples being those at Restoration House,
Rochester (lower stair), and the Gordon Hotel in the same town
(Plate xxxiv), which latter possesses an interesting and characteristic
dog-gate of this period (Plate xxxv). The staircase which stood
at No. 4, Crosby Square (Plates xxxvi and xxxvii) until its demolition
in 1908, carries the type to perfection. The string and newels are
beautifully carved, the handrail and balusters are slightly enriched,
while the graceful ramp of the rail to each newel binds the whole
together most effectively. At a staircase of this kind dated 1688,
in Clare College, Cambridge, occurs the successful treatment of the
double newel, already mentioned, where the lower post finishes
against the upper with a neat carved console* (Figure 25). The
Friars, Aylesford, gives a curious example of the application of the
twisted baluster to a circular stair (Plate xxxviii) as well as to some fine
straight flights. But the most sumptuous of them all is at Wolseley
Hall (Figure 37), where the design and scale invite comparison with
the triumphs of the two earlier classes represented by Cassiobury
and Coleshill. The sweeping curves of the handrail are excellent,
* Good examples of the same feature, by Wren, are to be seen at Chelsea Hospital
(completed 1691).
50 THE BROAD HANDRAIL OVER-RIDES THE NEWELS.
and the carved mouldings and beautiful vases over the newels give
a very rich effect. All the fine lines of the type are to be seen too
at Halswell Park, Somerset (1689), which is almost without carving.
Here, as was the invariable custom, is a beautiful panelled dado,
that reproduces the slope of the stair on the wall and follows the
ramp of the handrail.
Along with those just described, the plain turned baluster had a
considerable vogue, and many were the shapes devised by each
designer's fancy. They were in the main short and stout, a good
deal cut away from the solid and formed of full rounded shapes as
shown in Figs. 28, 38, etc. It was some time before the fact was
fully perceived, that the logical result of classicising the stair was to
cut short the newel, over-ride it with the broad handrail, and abolish
the finial. The tardiness with which this conclusion was reached
caused a large number of more or less incongruous attempts to
effect a compromise, chiefly by the use of the strange vases of fruit
and flowers that had a brief popularity, as in the example given from
Hever Court, Ifield (Plate xxxix), and in that at Farnham Castle.
The stair at 9, St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury, affords a rare
instance of a successful treatment on these lines, but the whole
design is unique and owes its interest to the apparent mixture of
features of two periods. The delicate little arched screen (Plate
xl) is almost Jacobean in its lines, but the twisted columns and
cherub's heads in the spandrils belong to the latter part of the
century, as do also the balusters. The details of the upper part of
the stair (Plate xli) reveal some good balusters with the incised
lines that mark an earlier origin, and the boldly carved newels and
finely proportioned vases would seem to antedate the screen. The
excellent design of each feature and the skilful craftsmanship make
the staircase a noteworthy one. At Westwood Park the newels are
Fig. 39. SERJEANTS' INN, FLEET STREET, LONDON.
52 A LATE EXAMPLE OF CONTINUOUS NEWELS.
carried up as stout columns with elaborate Corinthian capitals, but
they do not support anything beyond some ball finials, which make
the design curious but not altogether satisfactory. Such were some
of the compromises attempted during the Commonwealth and the
reign of Charles II.
Of the latter part of the seventeenth century is the charming
staircase in the Warden's House, New College, Oxford (Plate
xlii), which has continuous newels, turned somewhat after the model
of the baluster of the period. This treatment at so late a date is
quite uncommon, and it was not long before the general fashion
had purged itself of all survivals of the earlier modes and sur-
rendered to the quiet and simple lines which we have seen at
Potheridge, and which are well brought out in the house at Botolph
Lane (1670), associated with the name of Wren (Plate xliii). The
new style continued until the reign of Queen Anne, and countless
houses built at this time in London and provincial towns are fur-
nished with staircases of which the elements are essentially the
same : long straight flights with a low balustrade, standing on a
string moulded in the form of a simple entablature, and capped
by a broad moulded handrail that serves as the cornice to the
pedestal newel. The only feature left to remind us of the earlier
function of the newel is the existence of the pendant, which, as-
suming the form of a carved rosette or a very shallow drop, was
rarely omitted even to the last. The chief variety in these stairs
was in the shape of the balusters, one of the best designs being
figured in the detail from Castle Bromwich (Figure 38). Simpler
types are shown from the Falstafr* Hotel, Canterbury (Figure 28),
and from some specimens in S. Kensington Museum (Figure 28).
Quite another form is seen at Bruce Castle, Tottenham (Plate xliv),
which was altered at the end of the seventeenth century.
o
be
54 THE IDEAL OF THE GEORGIAN DESIGNERS.
These staircases persisted in solitary examples well into the
eighteenth century, as witness Rushbrook Hall (circa 1735) and
Houghton (1722-35), but the general trend of design in this
century was on very different lines. The extreme and somewhat
constrained intellectuality of the Georgian era, mirrored so faith-
fully in the character of its furniture, made chiefly for that rather
elusive quality known as elegance. We have already seen the
exuberance of the early renaissance restrained by the desire for the
correct classic forms which obtained from Charles II to Queen
Anne. But the very essence, as it were, of the staircase was now
to be materialised and expressed in the simplest lines. It was to be
a flight of steps in one continuous curve from floor to floor and to
effect this the covering string must be abolished, the heavy handrail
must give place to a light and polished roll and the newel — in order
that it may not obstruct the essential line — must become little more
than a slightly accentuated baluster. This ideal was not completely
reached until the finest examples of iron balustrades were intro-
duced in the later years of the century, but every alteration that
occurred was with this object in view. The first step was to get
rid of the string, the necessity for which change is well shown by its
unfortunate retention in the otherwise fine staircase at Hopetoun
House (Plates xlv and xlvi). At Hatton Garden (Plate xlvii) we
see the new method, the stairs being brought well out over the
small constructional string, and the ends beautifully carved with the
brackets or consoles which were to become the great feature of the
Georgian designs. The ramp of the handrail now looks a more
natural expedient, although in this case the newel rises inde-
pendently a little way, and three slight balusters are allotted to each
tread. The curve of the rail, and of the angle of the landing
above, together with the carved bracket and drop below the latter,
THE GEORGIAN BALUSTER.
55
help to bind the design together and give it an added grace.
No. 44, Great Ormond Street (Plate xlviii) shows the newel as a
simple column beneath the handrail, the lowest one being sur-
rounded by a circle of balusters, a feature maintained in most of
the other examples. Here the string appears enriched, beneath the
stairs. The balusters, of which there are two to each tread, are of
the usual slight form and show the small square block, introduced
just beneath the shaft,
which is the mark of
the Georgian type.
The grand staircase at
Harrington House (PI.
xlix) has three balusters
to each tread, among
which there are two
distinct designs, one
having a hollow groove
worked as a spiral
round the shaft and
the other vertical
fluting. The Hook,
Northaw (Plate 1), has
all three balusters dif-
ferent, the third being
an adaptation of the
old twisted baluster,
and this triple type
became the general custom. The twisted balusters were still used
exclusively in a few of the earlier stairs as at Sergeants' Inn
(Figure 39), No. 6, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea (17 18), and at its neigh-
THE GREAT HOUSE, CHESHUNT.
56 DESIGN DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
bour, No. 4. This last named has its walls covered with painting,
like the fine stair at Stoke Edith (Figure 40), which was painted
by Sir James Thornhill. The three-baluster-type is again shown in
the Great House,
Cheshunt (Figures
41 and 42), where
the curve of the
handrail at the
half-landing is well
illustrated. In the
beautiful staircase
at Friend's House,
Croydon (Plate li),
we may see that the
carved string has
not been altogether
forgotten, but is
commemorated in
the face of the
landing above,
where no stair-ends
would be possible.
Here the twisted
type of baluster has
attained a very re-
fined form, and is
carved so that the
r\g. 42. THE GREAT HOUSE, CHESHUNT.
outer spiral is cut
free of an inner core about which it seems to wind in close coils
(Figure 28). This idea was carried to something like excess during
£li
58 CARVED STAIR-ENDS.
the Georgian period in the American colonies, where extraordinary
ingenuity was lavished upon these spiral balusters and even newels.
Every form of twisting flutes and mouldings were employed, and
in some cases the core itself was carved with a spiral grooving that
ran the reverse way to the outer coil.
Much variety was also shown in the design of the carved brackets,
three of which are given on Plate lii and one in Figure 44. Occa-
sionally, as at the Home for Aged Jews, Stepney, and the house of
—I INCHES
Fig. 44.
CARVED BRACKET AT BRUCE CASTLE, TOTTENHAM."
John Wood, 1 5, Queen Square, Bath, the outline of these brackets
was projected the whole width of the soffit, forming a richly
moulded ceiling under the stair. Other features of luxury were intro-
duced in individual examples. At Glastonbury Hall (1726) is an oak
stair, inlaid with light wood and mahogany, of which the risers are
panelled. Wandsworth Manor House, now destroyed, had a carved
screen (Figure 43), the Georgian counterpart of those at Temple
Newsam, Knole and Great Wigsell. An unusual balustrade of laths
* This Bracket is from a different staircase to that illustrated in Plate xliv.
SCOTTISH IRON SCROLL-WORK.
59
Fig. 45. CAROLINE PARK,
GRANTON, SCOTLAND.
Drawn by R. S. Larimer
Fig. 46. THE KING'S STAIRCASE, HAMPTON COURT.
Measured and drawn by Albert Halliday
APPLICATION OF IRON TO THE STAIRCASE.
61
arranged in a geometric pattern is that at 5, John Street, Bedford
Row (Plate liii), although the secondary staircase in some houses
was sometimes furnished with a rather simpler pattern, as at No. 6,
Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
. 1
3
s
6/ss?
Fig. 47. PATTERNS OF IRON BALUSTERS.
IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, EXCEPT C WHICH IS AT DRAYTON
HOUSE, NORTHANTS.
The application of iron to the staircase balustrade was introduced
in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, and it rapidly became
the fashion in the greater mansions. Suggested at first perhaps by
the continuous balustrade of foliage in wood, it was afterwards re-
tained owing to its peculiar suitability to the designs which, as we
have seen, the following century required. It is not our intention
to go, at any length, into the development of eighteenth century
ironwork, a large subject and capable of occupying a volume in
62
A CURVED IRON BALUSTRADE BY WREN.
Fig. 48. st. paul's cathedral.
SCOTTISH EXAMPLES.
63
itself. We will therefore content ourselves with giving examples of
the different types, and comment on the function that each was able
to perform.
WROVGMT \Wn DALV5TRADL-
A1AIH STAIIJCA5L.
Fig. 49. sr. Helen's house, derby.
Drawn by C. H. Potter.
In Scotland we find the most curious attempts to follow the lines
of the continuous foliage designs, the stair at Caroline Park,
Granton (Figure 45), dated 1685, Demg one of the most successful.
64
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN'S DESIGNS.
The foliage is divided into panels by upright bars and the treatment
is simple and effective. With this should be compared the work
at Holyrood Palace, Hopetoun House and Craigiehall.
Under Sir Christopher
Wren, who may or may
not have designed the iron-
work himself, we find the
adoption of the more
familiar treatment of the
metal, a treatment that led
the craft to such an ex-
traordinary pitch of suc-
cess that it has made this
period famous for its beau-
tiful examples of gates and
railings. Using bars of a
square or oblong section,
the designer worked them
into simple scrolls and
curves, generally in long
vertical panels, the out-
lines being symmetrically
repeated each side of a
central bar. The main
lines, or skeleton, of the
design were thus always
emphasised and the panel
was further elaborated with
smaller scrolls and foliage,
which followed or grew out of the guiding curves. The beautiful
Fig. 50. 8, GROSVENOR SQUARE.
Drawn by Edmund L. Wratten.
IRON BALUSTERS.
65
vv 1 miiiwi'
staircases at Hampton Court (Plate liv and Figure 46), the work-
manship of Jean Tijou, show this type in perfection. Wren's pupils
and successors followed on the same lines, as (to take one example
by Hawksmoor) at Easton Neston (1702-13), where however the
' flowing work is confined to the landings, the rest being divided into
small panels, one to
each stair. This il-
lustrates that ten-
dency to resume
the " baluster "
idea, which declares
itself most openly
in Sir John Van-
brugh's staircase
at Beningbrough
Hall, Yorkshire,
where stout iron
balusters are actual-
ly used, relieved at
intervals by panels
of scroll - work.
Here, however, the
result was scarcely
satisfactory, and the
more usual practice
took the form of a
compromise. The
scroll-work of the panels was freed from the rigid enclosing lines
seen at Easton Neston, and being made in a form, the individ-
uality of which was easily recognisable, they were placed in suc-
Fig. 51. queen's house, chelsea.
66
USE OF IRON PANELS.
cession along the balustrade in exactly the same way as the
earlier balusters themselves (Figure 47). In the masterly design
for his circular stair in St. Paul's Cathedral (Figure 48), Wren
himself used this form, and its appropriateness here is as readily
discernible as in such final types as the one at Sheen House, Rich-
mond (Plate lxi), which we shall notice in a moment. The long
continuous line of the balustrade curving in one sweep from floor
to floor, is emphasised more by a succession of vertical balusters or
panels, than by an unbroken filling of flowing lines. The principle
is the same as that which underlies the facade of a Greek temple,
the horizontal effect of which is
accentuated by the row of vertical
columns. The forms taken by
these panels do not number a
great variety but are usually taste-
ful and elegant (Figure 47). The
earlier types are somewhat the
shape of a lyre, as in the charming
stair at St. Helen's House,* Derby
(Figure 49), the work of Robert
Bakewell, the Derbyshire smith
(flourished 1707-23). Later in the
eighteenth century the S type
found much favour, as at White-
hall Gardens (Plate lx) and at
8, Grosvenor Square (Figure 50).
The last-named shows the sweeping curve of the flight of steps in a
marked degree, and it soon became fashionable to have at least one
circular stair, and that often the principal one, in the house. Two
examples of small stairs are shown in the illustrations, one from
Cf . Okeover Hall, Staffs. , where an almost precisely similar design occurs.
Fig. 52. queen's house, chelsea.
STAIRCASE DESIGNED FOR THE DUKE OF CHANDOS. 67
Queen's House, Chelsea (Plate lix and plan in Figure 52), and
one from Baddow Hall, Essex (Plate lxii). In both of these the iron
panels are curiously reminiscent of the pierced wooden balusters of
early Elizabethan days. The stair at Queen's House is remarkable
for the beauty of the carved brackets, which appear at the end of
each step from the basement to the top floor (Figure 51). An
example of monu-
mental work is ■wwwi^s^
given in Plates lv
and lvi which illus-
trate the staircase
inserted by Isaac
Ware in the Earl
of Chesterfield's
house. This stair
was brought from
Canons, Middle-
sex, the property
of the Duke of
Chandos, and be-
yond the change in
the coronet needed
no further altera-
tion. The Earl remarks that "the staircase particularly will form
such a scene as is not in England. The expense will ruin me but
the enjoyment will please me."
The brothers Adam and their disciples put the finishing touch to
the eighteenth century staircase. However much of innovation we
may consider they introduced into other features, in the staircase at
least they found a subject which had attained a form almost equal
Fig- 53-
DESIGN BY ROBERT ADAM FOR GAWTHORP HOUSE.
68
DESIGNS OF THE BROTHERS ADAM.
to their own delicacy and refinement. Two graceful sketches for a
balustrade by them are shown in Figures 52 ar,d 54- If not actually
an "Adam" stair, the one from Sheen House, Richmond (Plate lxi),
is a typical example and a perfect embodiment of the idea which we
have endeavoured to show was the goal of the Georgian designer :
the subservience of every part to the upward gliding plane of the
stair itself. Another stair of this period is shown from 35, Lincoln's
Inn Fields (Plate lvii), but here, either from deliberate choice, or
because the owner re-
used some old material,
the lower portion pos-
sesses the lyre-shaped
panels of an earlier
fashion. The stair pre-
sents an interesting con-
trast and the panel on
the landing is worthy of
Jean Tijou (Plate lviii).
The lines of the hand-
rail in these examples
are very graceful and
they finish on the
ground floor in the
same hollow circular
newel which we ob-
served in the wooden
Georgian stairs. A par-
ticularly successful de-
sign which covers the circular staircase at Millerstair is shown in
Figure $S-
Fig. 54. DESIGNED BY ROBERT ADAM.
THE DECLINE OF THE STAIRCASE.
69
From this time design became impoverished. Sir John Soane
made a felicitous composition in his stair at the old War Office
(Plate lxiii) which, lit from above,
invested the circular colonnade
and the simple lines of the steps
with a certain charm and dignity.
The plain iron bars which do duty
as balusters are curved, and this
arrangement became the fashion
for a brief period since it main-
tained the severity of character,
at the same time affording to the
eye a little relief. The way, how-
ever, was being prepared for the
cast-iron balustrades and the mis-
erable successors of the old turned
balusters in wood, which were
to last throughout the decline of
architectural art, until the days of
the revivals had come. In some
of the greater mansions staircases
in " the grand manner" were being
constructed of stone or marble, as
at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, built
circa 1754. At Devonshire House,
London, is a successful design with
marble steps, bronze scroll-work
and an alabaster handrail.
In the short period of the three 1 / ^' 5^"
r / MILLERSTAIR HOUSE,
centuries which have been the Scotland.
70 THREE CENTURIES OF DESIGN.
main subject of our review, the staircase is seen to have mirrored
with remarkable fidelity not only the great changes in style but even
the minor modifications and eccentricities of fashion. It reflected
the glory of the early renaissance, the solidity and restraint of the
later classical design, and the whimsical intellectuality of the
eighteenth century, and in the end, it faded from interest, with the
death of all invention and inspiration in the art in which it had
held so high a place.
INDEX TO TEXT AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Note : The Roman figures in brackets refer to the plates.
Adam, Robert, designs of
(^gs. 53» 54) • 67, 68
Aldermaston . . 36, 37
Ashburnham House, Westmin-
ster (Figs. 28, 36) . . 48
Aston Bury, Herts, (xv, xvi,
Figs. 10, 14) 15, 18, 31, 32
Aston Hall, Warwickshire (xix) 15, 36
Aubrey, John . . .21
Audley End, Essex (Fig. 27) . 25
Aylesford, The Friars (xxxviii) . 49
Bacon, Sir Francis . .21
Baddow Hall, Essex (lxii) . 67
Bakewell, Robert . . 66
Bath, 15, Queen Square . 58
Beningbrough Hall, Yorks . 65
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
22, 23, 25, 37, 48
Boleyn Castle, East Ham, Essex 12
Boughton Malherbe . . 24
Bristol, Manor House, Sussex
Place (Fig. 27) . . 31
Bromley Palace, Bromley by
Bow (Fig. 28) . 12,18
Bruce Castle, Tottenham (xliv,
Fig. 44) . . .54
Burghley House, Northants . 19
Burton Agnes, Yorks . . 25
Cambridge, Clare College
(Figs. 29, 35) . 30, 36, 49
Canonbury Tower, Islington . 24
Canons, Middlesex . . 67
Canterbury, Falstaff Hotel
(Fig. 28) . . . 52
,, St. George's (xxxiii) 49
PAGE
Canterbury, 9, St. Margaret's
Street (xl, xli) . 50
„ Strangers' Hall . 5
Caroline Park, Granton, Scot-
land (Fig. 45) . . 63
Cassiobury, Herts . 44, 47, 49
Castle Ashby . . .40
Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire
(Fig. 38) • • • 52
Castle Hedingham, Essex
(Fig. 4) . . 6,8
Castle House, Deddington,Oxon
(xvii) . -17- 29, 32
Castle Rising, Norfolk
(Figs. 2, 3) . .6
Cecil, Sir Robert . 15, 19, 21
Chandos, Duke of . .67
Charlton House, Kent (Fig. 25) 28, 48
Charterhouse, The, London . 25
Chelsea House (Fig. 11) 15, 21
Chelsea, No. 4, Cheyne Walk . 56
,, No. 6, Cheyne Walk 55, 61
Chelsea Hospital . . 50
Chelsea, Queen's House, Cheyne
Walk (lix, Figs. 51, 52) . 67
Cheshunt, The Great House (lii,
Figs. 41, 42) . .56
Chesterfield House, London (lv,
lvi) . . . . 67
Chetham's Hospital, Manchester
(Fig. 7) . . 12, 14
Claverton, Somerset (Fig. 19)
12, 14, 15
Cobham Hall, Kent (xxx, xxxi) . 48
Coleshill, Berks (i, Frontispiece)
45> 48> 49
Craigiehall, Scotland . . 64
72
INDEX.
Cranborne Manor House, Dor-
set (Figs. 17, 18, 28) . 25
Crewe Hall, Cheshire (Fig. 30) 15, 36
Cromwell House, Highgate (xxii,
Figs. 31, 32, 32A) . . 36
Crowley House, Greenwich
(Fig- 35) • • • -45
Croydon, Friends' House (li,
Fig. 28) . ... 56
Dawtrey Mansion, Petworth,
Sussex (xxxii) . . -49
Derby, St. Helen's House
(Fig. 49) . . . .66
Devonshire House, London . 69
Dorfold House, Cheshire
(Figs. 21, 22) . . 12, 27
Dorton House, Bucks . . 23
Downholland Hall, Ormskirk (ii) 10
Drayton House, Northants
(Fig- 47) • • • • 61
Dunster Castle, Somerset (xxv) 44
Durham Castle . . . -44
Eastbury Manor House, Bark-
ing, Essex (Fig. 6) 9
Easton Neston . . . -65
Eltham Lodge, Eltham, Kent . 44
Falstaff Hotel, Canterbury
(Fig. 28) . . . .52
Farnham Castle . . -50
Forde Abbey, Dorset . 42, 48
Fyvie Castle (Fig. 15) . .20
Gawthorp House (Fig. 53) . 67
Gibbons, Grinling . . -37
Glastonbury Hall, Somerset . 58
Godinton, Kent . . 14, 26
Goldsborough Hall, Yorks
(Fig. 8) . . 12, 15, 17, 18
Gorhambury, Herts . . .21
Great Ellingham Hall, Norfolk
(Fig. 9) . . . 14, 17
Great House, Cheshunt (Hi,
Figs. 42, 43) . . . 59
Great Kewlands, Burham (iv) 12, 17
Great Nast Hyde, Herts (viii) 27, 32
Great Wigsell (vi) . 21, 23, 61
Greenwich, Crowley House
. (Fig. 35) : • • -45
Guildford, 25, High Street (xxvi,
xxvii) 45
Hall i' th' Wood, Bolton
(Fig. 27) . . 12, 14, 17
Halswell Park, Somerset . . 50
Ham House, Richmond (xxiii) 38, 40
Hampton Court, King's Stair
(liv, Fig. 46) 65
Hardwick Hall . . . .19
Harrington House, London (xlix) 55
Hatfield House, Herts (ix) 22, 23, 25
Hawksmoor, Nicholas . . 65
Hever Court, Ifield (xxxix) . 50
Hexham Priory, Northumber-
land (Fig. 1) . . . 5
Hoddesdon, The Conservative
Club (xii) . 28, 29
„ Rawdon House (xx,
xxxi) . 28, 36, 37
Holkham Hall . . . .69
Holland House, London
(Fig. 23) . . 14, 16, 28
Holyrood Palace, Scotland . 64
Hook, The, Northaw (1, Hi) . 55
Hopetown House, Scotland (xlv,
xlvi) . . . 54, 64
Houghton Hall . . . 54
Hutton-in-the-Forest, Cumber-
land 37
Ightham Mote, Kent (Fig. 27) 12, 17
Janson, Bernard
Jones, Inigo
. 29
45» 47> 48
. 40
Kingston, House at
Kirby Muxloe Castle
Knole House, Sevenoaks, Kent
(Fig. 16) . . 23, 26, 61
INDEX.
73
55
PAGE
Laindon Hall, Essex . . 16
Langley, Kent (Fig. 12) . -17
Layer Marney Towers, Essex . 24
Leeds Castle, Kent . . .24
Letchworth Hall, Herts (Fig. 24) 28
Lewes, Star Inn (Fig. 27) . 18
Linlithgow Palace, Scotland
(Fig. 5) .... 8
London.
Ashburnham House
(Figs. 28, 36) .
Botolph Lane (xliii)
Bruce Castle, Tottenham (xliv,
Fig. 44) ...
Canonbury Tower, Islington .
5, Chandos Street, Strand
Charterhouse, The
Chelsea, 4, Cheyne Walk
„ 6, Cheyne Walk
Chelsea Hospital .
Chelsea House (Fig. 14)
Chelsea, Queen's House,
Cheyne Walk (lix, Figs. 51,
52) . . .
Chesterfield House, Mayfair
(lv, lvi)
Cromwell House, Highgate
(xxii, Figs. 31, 32, 32A)
4, Crosby Square, E.C. (xxxvi
xxxvii)
Devonshire House
9, Great St. Helen's, Bishops
gate (xiii, Fig. 28)
44, Great Ormond Street
(xlviii)
8, Grosvenor Square, W.
(Fig. 50) .
Harrington House, Craig's
Court (xlix)
Hatton Garden, Orthopaedic
Hospital (xlvi, Hi)
Holland House, Kensington
(Fig. 23) . . 14, 16, 28
5, John Street, Bedford Row
. 61
48
52
55
24
40
25
56
61
• 50
16, 21
67
67
36
49
69
31
55
66
55
54
;, John Si
(iiii) .
London — continued.
35, Lincoln's Inn Fields (lvii,
lviii) 68
St. Paul's Cathedral (Fig. 48) 66
Serjeants' Inn (Fig. 39) . 55
Stepney, Home for Aged Jews 58
Wandsworth Manor House
(Fig. 43) .... 58
War Office, The old, Pall Mall
(lxiii) . . . . .69
Whitehall Gardens (lx) . . 66
Lymore, Montgomery (x, xi) . 28
Maidstone, Archbishop's Palace
(Fig. 13) . . . .17
Manchester, Chetham's Hospital
(Fig. 7) . . . 12, 14
Methley Hall, Yorks . 15, 32
Millerstair, Scotland (Fig. 55) . 68
Montacute Priory, Somerset . 19
More, Sir Thomas . . .15
Nash, Joseph . . . -36
New Sampford Hall, Essex
(xviii) . . . . 21, 36
Norwich, House in King's Street 38
Oakwell Hall (iii) . . .12
Okeover Hall, Staffs ... 66
Ordsall Hall, Salford . . 14
Oundie, Talbot Hotel (xiv) . 31
Oxford, Christ's Church College 21
,, New College, Warden's
House (xlii) . . 52
Park Hall, Oswestry
(Figs. 26, 28) . 15, 18, 29, 30
Potheridge, Torrington (xxix) 48, 52
Powis Castle . . . .48
Richmond, Ham House (xxiii) 38, 40
„ Sheen House (Ixi) 66,68
Rochester, Eastgate House . 16
,, Gordon Hotel (xxxiv,
xxxv) . . -49
74
INDEX.
PAGE
Rochester "Old Palace"
(Fig. 20) . . 27
,, Restoration House
(v) . 12, 17, 49
Rothamsted, Herts . 18, 21, 30
Rouen, Cathedral and St. Maclou 10
Rushbrooke Hall . . .54
Rushton Hall . . . 22, 23
Scole, Norfolk, Inn at (Fig. 27) 17
Sheen House, Richmond (lxi) 66, 68
Smithson, Robert (plans) . . 14
Soane, Sir John . . .69
Stoke Edith, Herefordshire
(Fig. 40) . . . .56
Stokesay, Shropshire . . 6, 8
Stratton Park, Biggleswade,
Beds (xxiv) . . .42
Sudbury Hall . . . . 44
Sydenham House, Devon 26, 27, 30
Tattershall Castle
Temple Newsam
Thornhill, Sir James
Thorpe Hall
Thorpe, John (plans)
Tijou, Jean
22, 23, 58, 61
. . 56
. 42
7, 14, 18, 23
. 65, 68
Tredegar Park .
Tythrop
Tyttenhanger, Herts
. 44
44. 47
4.0, 42, 48
65
Vanburgh, Sir John .
Victoria and Albert Museum,
Examples in
(xii, Figs. 28, 34, 47) 31, 45, 52
Wakehurst, Sussex . . 23
Wandsworth Manor House
' (Fig. 43) .... 58
Ware, Isaac . . . « 67
Webb, John . . . .42
Wells, Vicars' Close ... 5
Wentworth Castle . . -44
West wood Park . . .50
Wick Court . . .30, 48
Winchester, The Close (xxviii) . 45
Wolseley Hall, Staffs (Fig. 37) . 49
Wood, John . . . -59
Worcester, The Commandery
(vii) . . . . 17, 27
Wren, Sir Christopher 64, 65, 66
Yatton Kennell, Old Manor
House (Fig. 27) . . .18
Plate II.
DOWNHOLLAND HALL, NEAR ORMSKIRK.
Plate III.
OAKWELL HALL, (1583). SHOWING DOG-GATES.
Plate IV.
GREAT KEWLANDS, BURHAM, KENT (1599.)
Plate V.
RESIGNATION HOUSK, ROCHESTER, UPPER STAIR.
Plate VI.
GREAT WIGSELL, SUSSEX.
Plate VII.
THE COMMANDERY, WORCESTER.
Plate VIII.
GRKAT NAST HYDK, HERTFORDSHIRE.
Plate IX.
HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE (l6l2).
Plate X.
LYMORE, MONTGOMERY.
X
Plate XII.
THK CONSERVATIVE CLUB, HODDESDON, HERTFORDSHIRE.
Plate XIII.
9, GREAT ST. HELENS, BISHOPSGATK.
Plate XIV.
THB TALBOT HOTEL, OUNDLK.
Plate XV.
ASTON BURY. HERTFORDSHIRE. FIRST .STAIR.
Plate XVI.
ASTON BURY, HERTFORDSHIRE. SECOND STAIR.
Plate XVII.
CASTLE HOUSE, DEDDI.N'GTON, OXFORDSHIRE.
NEW SAMPFORD HALL, ESSEX.
Plate XVIII.
Plate XIX.
ASTON HAT.L (l6l8-35), WARWICKSHIRE.
RAWDON HOUSE, HODDESDON, (l622).
Plate XXI.
CARVED PANELS ON STAIRCASE AT RAWDON HOUSE, HODDESDON. (l622.)
SUBJECTS: "SAMSON AND DELILAH," AND "MUSICIANS."
Plate XXII.
@
CROMWELL HOUSE, HIGHGATE.
THREE FIN'IALS TO NEWELS WITH FIGURES OF CROMWELL'S SOLDIERS.
Plate XXIII.
HAM HOUSE, RICHMOND, SURREY.
Plate XXV
DUNSTER CASTLE, SOMERSET.
Plate XXVI.
NO. 25, HIGH STREET, GUILDFORD, SURREY.
>
u
Plate XXVIII.
THE CLOSE, WINCHESTER.
Plate XXIX.
I'OTHEKIDGE, TORRINGTON, UKVON.
Plate XXX.
COBHA.M HALL, KENT.
Plate XXXI.
mlim «... . ..t im im-
COBHAM HALL, KENT. DETAILS.
Plate XXXII.
DAWTREY MANSION, PETWORTH (I652)
Plate XXXIII.
ST. GEORGE'S, CANTERBURY.
Plate XXXIV.
THE GORDON HOTEL, ROCHESTER.
Plate XXXV.
THE GORDON HOTEL, ROCHESTER, THE DOG-GATE.
Plate XXXVI.
NO. 4, CROSBY SQUARE, LONDON, E.G.
Plate XXXVII.
NO. 4, CROSBY SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. DETAIL OF NEWEL AND BALUSTERS.
Plate XXXVIII.
THE FRIARS, AYLESFORD. CIRCULAR STAIR.
Plate XXXIX.
HKVKk COI K'i", IFIELD, GRAVKSEN'O
Plate XL.
NO. 9, ST. MARGARET'S STREET, CANTERBURY.
Plate XLI.
NO. 9, ST. MARGARET'S STREET, CANTERBURY. DETAILS OF CARVED NEWELS.
Plate XLII.
WARDEN'S HOUSK, NKW COLLEGE, OXFORD.
Plate XLIII.
HOUSE IN BOTOLPH LANE, B.C. (CIRCA I670).
Plate XLIV.
BRUCE CASTLE, TOTTENHAM.
Plate XLV.
HOPETOUN HOUSE, SCOTLAND.
Plate XLVI.
HOPETOUN HOUSE, SCOTLAND. DETAIL OF BALUSTERS AND STRING.
Plate XLVII.
THE OKTHOIVEDIC HOSPITAL, HATTON GARDEN, LONDON (NOW DEMOLISHED.)
>
-J
H
Plate XLIX.
HARRINGTON HOUSE, CRAIG'S COURT. LONDON.
Plate LI.
friends' housk, ckoydon, surrey, upper landing.
Plate LII.
(a) HATTON GARDEN.
(b) GREAT HOUSE, CHESHUNT.
(c) THE HOOK, NORTHAW.
CARVED BRACKETS.
Plate LIU.
No. 5, JOHN STREET, BEDFORD ROW, LONDON.
Plate LIV.
THE KING'S STAIRCASE, HAMPTON COURT.
CHESTERFIELD HOUSE, MAYFAIR, LONDON.
Plate LVII.
NO, 35, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON. LOWER STAIR RAIL.
Plate LIX.
QUKKN'S HOUSK, CHELSEA. SPIRAL STAIR.
Plate LX.
FROM A HOUSE IN WHITEHALL GARDENS.
Plate LXI.
SHKEN HOUSE, RICHMOND.
Plate LXII.
BADDOW HALL. ESSEX.
Plate LXIII.
OLD WAR OFFICE, LONDON,
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