Monumental Stairs

4th Week of September

After a rather slow August for our house construction, there has been a lot of progress in the month of September.  I can start to believe the house just might get done in two months.  But that is a discussion best saved for another blog.

THE stairs have been installed!  When I say "the" stairs I refer to the one staircase that takes us to the second floor.  I know I have mentioned before that the "heart" of the house is the Family Room, but a close second is probably the stairs.  They are spatially the center the house, around which almost every room abuts.

We made what some might think is a drastic design decision when we turned the stairs away from the front entry of the house.  We have a very traditional entry to the house, into a Entry Foyer.  The Living and Dining rooms are to either side of the Foyer.  In most homes the primary stairs leading to the second floor would be accessed from this front area of the house.  But as homes have gotten bigger, and the orientation of living spaces has migrated to the kitchen and casual living areas, builders have been providing a second, more practical stair.  We didn't want this.  Not only does it take up space, it tends to create long and circuitous hallways upstairs.  Instead we decided to orient the access away from the front of the house.  Our stairs are accessed from the main corridor of the house, and adjacent to the Family room.

View of the Stairs, from Family Room

The staircase is in three sections, forming a U-shape.  The space is open to the second floor.  The space the stairs take up could be a small room.  When stairs are designed in this fashion they are often called "monumental" stairs.

Standing on the lower landing of the Stairs, looking toward the Family room

Standing on the lower landing of the Stairs, looking up

The hallway at the top of the stairs overlooks the Family room.

Standing at the top of the Stairs, looking down

Right now the house has such an open feeling (because it is still a sea of wood studs) that it is hard to imagine that it will be the openness of the stairway and corridors that visually and spatially "connect" the living spaces of the house.

One last detail about the stairs.  They are 42-inches wide!

P.S.  The "temporary" stairs are gone; not needed any more.