80 
House & Garden 
STEPS AND STAIRWAYS FOR THE GARDEN 
If They are to be Comfortable and Beautiful , They Must be 
Considered as More Than Series of Ups and Downs 
RICHARD H. PRATT 
S TEPS and stairways 
in the garden should 
make climbing a lux¬ 
ury. No matter how long 
the flight it should seem 
something to be taken al¬ 
most without effort. Merely 
to sit and contemplate a 
steep and unbroken array of 
steps is a task in itself and 
one to bring on a state of 
exhaustion before the ascent 
is begun. Therefore, while 
the subject of garden steps 
is one to tempt you to stress 
the infinite possibilities of 
their artistic design and 
treatment, it is more to the 
point to emphasize'first the bare details 
which, correctly disposed, make them com¬ 
fortable and convenient. 
These details are largely concerned with 
three things known as treads, risers and 
landings. As the name implies, the tread 
is that part of the step upon which you 
tread. It should be firm underfoot and so 
imperceptibly sloped toward the front that 
it will appear level yet drain off readily. 
The riser is the vertical height between 
treads. To make the business of mounting 
steps seem unawkward it has been found nec¬ 
essary to maintain a certain relation between 
A close-up of a short flight of stone steps 
in which the stone courses fit nicely into 
the side piers 
the dimensions of the tread and riser. 
This relation is contained in a simple rule 
which requires that in garden steps (indoor 
stairs being necessarily steeper, as a rule) 
the height of the riser in inches, multiplied 
by the depth of the tread in inches, shall 
equal 90; the riser never being higher than 
7" nor lower than 4". In this way a 
.4 broad, formal flight, with low, rounded 
risers of cut stone, and treads made by 
filling in with gravel 
tread 15" deep would be 
combined with a riser 6" 
high, a riser 5" high with 
a tread 18" deep, and so on. 
Further to insure climbing 
ease on long flights of steps, 
landings should be placed 
at every 6' in height, where 
a rest may be taken. 
If these rules are fol¬ 
lowed it is hardly likely 
that the stairway will pre¬ 
sent any difficulties as a 
means of leisurely commu¬ 
nication between two levels. 
But it does not follow that 
the stairway will be either 
beautiful or appropriate to 
its situation. These qualities are gained 
by giving the steps the air of belonging 
to their situation and by building them of 
such materials and in such a way that 
they will harmonize with the accompany¬ 
ing garden architecture. In a broad, open 
garden, for example, the steps should have 
a similar feeling of breadth, as in the 
short but impressive flight shown at the 
bottom of this page. 
On a long steep slope it would be 
obviously impossible to build steps running 
with the slope which would make an easy 
climb. It is necessarv to break the direc- 
