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Stair Millwork by the Book
Understanding historic catalog designs helps with
buying stylistically appropriate parts.
By Brent Hull
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| When Rochester, New York, nurseryman Patrick Barry built an Italian Villa mansion in 1855, designed by the famous planbook architect Gervase Wheeler, he set off the entrance hall with a long staircase replete with octagonal newel and balusters.
Photo Courtesy of Andy Olenick
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Like boatbuilding, stair building has always been one of the pinnacles of the carpenter's art. Stairs are demanding to build because they must be strong and composed of many precisely dimensioned parts. For example, making the moulded handrail for a wreathed (curved) staircase demands proficiency in solid geometry as well as advanced joinery skills. As is the case with other types of fine interior woodwork, staircases have long been stylistic features in a house. The elegant turned outlines of Colonial balusters, the intricate ornament of Victorian newel posts, and even the simple lines of Arts & Crafts-era staircases are all characteristic of each period. In staircase restoration of any sort, getting these details right is an important part of the job.
Along with porch parts, decorative staircase parts were among the many millwork items mass-produced and sold by catalog by the 1850s (see "Porch Details by the Book," March/April 2004). One way to help choose the most historically appropriate stair parts today is to study the myriad designs and models available in millwork catalogs of the past-the original source behind vast numbers of staircases still at work in old houses.
Staircase Basics
Even 150 years ago millwork catalogs were selling tools, and each catalog tried to cover a wide range of tastes to appeal to the greatest number of builders and homeowners. Individual parts were rarely labeled according to a particular style (which increased the risk of making designs appear pass³ when fashions changed) and were often popular across many eras. Nonetheless, it's still possible to organize them into four general stylistic groups: Mid-Century, Victorian, Colonial Revival, and Arts & Crafts Inspired. All four eras use basically the same components-newel posts, balusters, and railings-that were configured or created in different ways, depending upon the technological capabilities and tastes of the time. A grasp of some fundamental stair nomenclature also helps:
Open stringer/closed stringer In an open stringer staircase, the stringers or strings-inclined members that support the steps-are exposed on one side. With closed stringer staircases, they are enclosed (often by walls).
Starting newel/angle newel The newel is the first or main starting post in the staircase-a large, prominent feature usually on the first step. It may also be followed by one or more angle newels where the staircase turns a corner.
Balustrade Balusters are the turned or square-edged vertical spindles rising from each step to support the handrail. In combination, these parts are called the balustrade.
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Mid-Century (1850 to 1870)
Gothic Revival, Italian, Second Empire
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The first wave of mass-produced catalog millwork was made possible not only by advances in machine woodwork production and printing but also railroad shipping. These innovations coincided with the vogue for Italian- and Second Empire-style houses, as well as the increased attention to the decorative possibilities of halls and staircases, all of which were popularized by the new architectural planbooks.
Newels Newels ranging from plain, turned posts to large, square boxes built up from hardwoods were recommended by tastemakers of the 1850s. Turned octagonal newels are very common in houses across all styles by the 1860s and echo the popularity of this geometric form during the era. The design of Italian houses often played off the interplay of circles and straight lines, and hints of this motif show up in staircase millwork, too.
Balusters Often diminutive forms of newels, octagonal or otherwise, they may be embellished with carvings or simply turned.
Railings Railings are moulded, often of black walnut, and designed to mate with newel tops if turned.
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Victorian (1870 to 1910)
Queen Anne, Eastlake, Stick, Folk Victorian
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In the Victorian era, new technology affected staircase design. In-creasingly sophisticated power woodworking machinery not only made possible more elaborate carvings and turnings, it also made them less expensive and more widely available. Like mantels, Victorian staircases became a place to show off manufacturing ability and money.
Newels Victorian staircases start proudly with an elaborate newel, which is invariably highly detailed. Covered with embellishments-sometimes from a mixed bag of stylistic idioms-the most ornate examples are wonderfully rich with worked turnings and chamfers or applied carvings and rosettes. Newels with deeply turned balls or beaded decoration may show a geometrical influence associated with Eastlake furniture styling.
Balusters Victorian baluster designs span a wide range of turnings, square and tapered supports, and combinations of both. Sometimes the balustrade is not composed of true balusters but is instead an assemblage of horizontal and vertical members that forms a decorative grille.
Railings Handrails are also more elaborate, with decorative beads and coves along the sides below the basic face moulds. Oak is highly popular, as it is for all woodwork, but yellow pine is also sold.
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Colonial Revival (1880 to Present)
Georgian Revival, Queen Anne, Shingle
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The earliest true Colonial staircases from the pre-revolutionary period are almost exclusively functional. Often steep stairs that run to an attic, they are typically paneled or boxed-in with no balustrade and possibly a few small turnings at the top. The Colonial stairways most admired today are from the Georgian and Federal period (about 1725 to 1820) and based on classical proportions and motifs. As reinvented for the Colonial Revival style, they are ubiquitous to the point of being a clich³ but nonetheless admirable for their complexity and enduring popularity.
Newels Compared to Victorian staircases, Colonial Revival newels are rela-tively simple, often resembling a large
baluster. Square newels were also widely sold, especially during the 19th and early 20th century, but here the Colonial
influence is readily identified by Georgian/Adam ornaments, such as urnlike turnings on the tops or carved swags and cameos applied to the sides.
Balusters Colonial-influenced balusters are typically turned on a lathe and very thin. (Remember, turning was a favorite woodworking technique for furniture makers of the 18th century.) They use classical shapes for the patterns, and on very high-style homes, there may be more than one style of baluster in a balustrade. By the 1890s, mass production made possible a fashion for the complex turnings of twisted balusters that appeared in many architect-designed houses. Open-string stairs, where the balustrade could be featured to best advantage, often varied baluster patterns and spacing.
Railings The spiral volute that starts many classically inspired staircases goes back at least as far as the Greek Revival designs of Asher Benjamin and is a hallmark of 20th-century Colonial Revival staircases. Equally characteristic are railings that approach a newel in a curve (called a ramp when vertical), a swan neck (a ramp mitered to a short, level length of railing), or an easing (a change in direction from level).
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Arts & Crafts Inspired (1900 to 1940)
Bungalow, Foursquare, Tudor Revival
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Unlike the heyday of the Victorian era in the 1890s, when embellished wood decorated almost every surface of a house, by the turn of the 20th century the Arts & Crafts movement was introducing new design ideas and alternate materials, such as tile, metal, and exposed brick on fireplaces. Innovative staircases in landmark Arts & Crafts buildings like Red House (designed for William Morris by his friend Phillip Webb) and the Gamble House (designed by the brothers Greene) left their mark on stair millwork for decades to come.
Newels Like the furniture, most Arts & Crafts staircases are, at first glance, clean, unornamented, and deceptively simple. Ideally, there is no carving or other ornament, and what decoration does exist is meant to appear structural-for example, the workings of mortise-and-tenon joints or other connections. The square-topped newel ringed with a shallow moulding like the brim of a hat is, fittingly, nearly ubiquitous in Foursquare houses.
Balusters Balusters are square-edged and unadorned. Sometimes you see tapered sides, cutouts, or fretwork in wide, flat balusters. Treads might be dominated by a single board baluster as wide as 7", or pairs that alternate between 4"-wide boards and narrow 7/8"-square sticks.
Railings Typically bearing little or no moulding, handrails are very smooth and merely rounded at the upper corners, often looking proto-Modern in the most high-style examples.
Brent Hull is the author of Historic Millwork (John Wiley, 2003) and the principal at Hull Historical Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas; www.hullhistorical.com.
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SUPPLIERS
Staircase & Millwork Co.
165 Tidwell Dr.
Alpharetta, GA 30004
(800) 878-9778
www.mrstair.com
Stairways Inc.
4166 Pinemont
Houston, TX 77018-1106
(800) 231-0793
www.stairwaysinc.com
Stairworld
2-110 Bentley Ave.
Ottwa, ON K2E6T9
Canada
(800) 387-7711
www.stairworld.com
Related
Story
see:
Stairs with A Twist
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