Plates LIV and LV. Internal Staircases with “Straight” Flights

Plates LIV and LV. — Nearly every building of civic importance lends itself to monumental treatment internally, and the staircase whether designed as an introductory feature to a series of apartments or as a means of ascent to a principal floor should be so arranged as to impress at once by its scale and spaciousness. The examples shown on these and the three succeeding Plates have been selected to illustrate some of the dispositions best calculated to convey an imposing effect when used for grand staircases in public buildings. On Plate LV, No. I, is the plan of a central flight staircase arranged in an open hall giving direct access to a first floor with galleries returning at the sides and open corridors below. This form permits of similar flights being placed underneath in a parallel direction for access to a basement. In No. II the staircase is contained between side walls and is calculated to give the maximum effect of strength and dignity. The returning corridors at the first floor level are screened by means of columns resting upon the enclosing side walls: the famous staircase at the Luxembourg, Paris, erected under the regime of Napoleon, of which a perspective sketch is reproduced on Plate LIV, is perhaps the best example of this treatment. No. III shows the plan of a direct staircase of two parallel flights built upon solid walls forming an open access at the ground floor level: it is useful in connection with plans requiring the central approach to be kept open. No. IV shows plan and section of a monumental staircase arranged on either side of a central hall with subsidiary corridors on the ground floor and galleries over them: the central hall being ceiled at the first floor level. The perspective of such an arrangement admits of excellent possibilities architecturally, such as the introduction of barrel vaults for top-lighting, domes and semi-domes. No. V shows the adaptation of No. III duplicated on either side of a central vestibule.