Halls and Stairways 



137 



Gothic style, and extended even into the Renaissance. In fact, with the Ger- 

 mans and French this latter,, style was for a long period simply an application 

 of classic detail to the old lines and arrangements. Later, they learned from the 

 Italians the possibilities and true importance of the staircase and profited accord- 

 ingly, but it never entirely lost the clearly defined earmarks of feudalism. 



In Italy the existing conditions served to bring about far different results. 

 Her walled towns made the castellated building of the North unnecessary. 

 Being the birthplace of the simple and regular plan, the importance of the 

 stairway as a decorative feature was soon recognised and its true relation to the 

 house and hall established. 



Therefore the tortuous, winding staircase was early abandoned for other less 

 secret communications, and the stairway became a feature of the design. The 

 principal forms used were that of the straight staircase between two flanking 

 walls and that which had one landing and a half turn in its flight. This latter 

 form admitted of a continuous motive from the bottom to the top of the building, 

 and galleries on the second story and above, which occupied about the same 

 space and held the same relation to the apartments of these stories as the general 

 hall below did to the first-floor plan. These two forms were also those used 

 by the English in their work following the feudal period. 



As has been previously stated, the northern staircase was thrown in without 

 regard to the hall. One was more likely to find oneself in the privacy of a lady's 

 chamber or hanging over the edge of a cliff than in any close relation to the room of 

 many uses. Hence the guest who wandered at night was very apt to meet with 

 trouble, if not positive danger to life and limb. With the Italians, on the con- 

 trary, the staircase 

 often started from 

 the entrance way, 

 thus being easily ac- 

 cessible. The Eng- 

 lish outlay was 

 somewhat more 

 complicated. In the 

 Gothic houses the 

 entrance door open- 

 ed directly into the 

 hall. Frequentfy a 

 screen was erected 

 across the end of 

 this room, which 

 replaced in a meas- 

 ure the vestibule 

 and at the same 

 time afforded pri- 

 vate passage to the 



staircase located at one end. For some reason or other the English architect, 

 though at a later period borrowing extensively from the French, never quite 



An upper stair-landing, showing the ramp and curve of the hand rail 



