Spiral staircases (vice stairs) can be found in better houses early in the period.  These developed from the massive square central stair case of the medieval period with newels of brick or stone, which by the mid-16th century had evolved into the framed newel stair.

Here, the solid central newel is replaced by a timber-framed tower surrounded by a stone or brick stairwell. With carved oak stair parts balusters and spindles and finials.

Most Elizabethan balusters and spindles are turned and carved to resemble columns or they are wasted.  Some carved or pierced flat balusters and spindles are found from the middle of the 16th century, but they are more typical of Jacobean staircases.  They are curvaceous or tapering shapes, mostly based on strap-work.  All stairs are closed-string; that is, the balusters are set on a diagonal brace rather than on the stairs themselves.  A wide variety of mouldings was adopted for the handrail.  The piêce de résistance was the newel post and mounted carved Finial, which could be elaborately turned and carved in even quite humble houses.

Baroque Staircases 1625-1714

The Baroque staircase is often a massive affair.  The stairs balusters spindles and newel posts are usually of wood, commonly oak, and until the end of the period are of the “closed string” form, with a diagonal beam enclosing the ends of the treads and risers and supporting the balustrade.  The grandest stairs are of oak balustrades. Spindles newel posts because stone stairs could not rest on a diagonal beam and had to be cantilevered, engineering skills were needed.  Such staircases were reserved for the wealthy but with ingenuity less expensive grand wooden stairs could be made to imitate stone: either they were cantilevered or they appeared to be so by setting the beam back out of sight. 

The most expensive wooden carved balustrades panel’s balusters spindles and Newel Posts were continuous pierced panels, at first of strapwork and later of acanthus scrollwork, sometimes with additional carved figures.  Individual turned and carved balusters are more common.  At first these were waisted but by the mid-17th century their centre of gravity had dropped so that they became vase-shaped; the more expensive ones have carved acanthus enrichments.  After 1660 twisted balusters became fashionable.  Newels are usually square-sectioned with carved finials on top.  From c.1660 they were sometimes also braced from the floor by a carved console.  Square-sectioned newels were eventually replaced by a form of classical carved column.

Early Georgian Staircases 1714-1765

Fashionable houses have a main staircase and a secondary “backstairs” for servants.  Ordinary houses have one wooden staircase of straight flights joined by landings, or a winding flight for each story.  The most elaborate decoration is reserved for the main flight from the entrance hall to the floor above.  Staircases become plainer as they climb the building and are at their simplest up to the attic and down to the basement.

During this period the “closed string” staircase, with carved balusters Newel Posts classic carved spindles and spaced along a continuous diagonal board masking the steps was supplanted by the “open string” for main flights.  In this type the blusters or spindles are fixed into the treads, which are exposed: this allows for carved or fretted decoration on the tread-ends.  The turned carved balusters spindles of the first half of the century are usually placed two or three to a step.  Cantilevering is rare until the end of the period.

Apart from the handrail which was polished, the woodwork, including the treads, was wood grained in oil paint or finished in a flat colour such as chocolate.  The treads were protected by a narrow strip of carpet or drugget, tacked to the steps.

Particularly fine houses with stone staircases have oak or mahogany stair parts or, from the end of the period, carved balustrading. panels or baluster spindles  The very best examples are in mahogany or oak  finished with polished finish with gilt details.

Colonial Staircases 1607-1780

Moat early staircases were rudimentary, consisting of a simple ladder or open tread up to the loft in single-story houses.  Some 17th-century New England houses have a joined and carved or moulded staircase leading from the lobby-like entryway, while turned carved balustrades panels or spindles are more common in the American colonies common Colonial stairway was the box winder, usually contained in the space next to the chimney flue and hidden behind a door in the fireplace wall.  This was often balanced by a cupboard or pantry door on the other side of the hearth.  Such an arrangement is typical of small but often fine houses of the 18th and well into the 18th centuries.  Box winders were also frequently used as a back stair in the service wing of substantial Georgian houses.  The handrail was often attached to the outside wall.

In classically designed houses the stairway was conceived as a showpiece.  Central hall staircases tend to be open-string (with the stair-ends visible) and have carved  moulded, turned and other carved decorations. Stair parts, Newel posts baluster and spindles and handrails are the pinnacle of the wood carver turner’s art.  Some balustrades and spindles have a repeated pattern of three different turnings, typical of early Georgian designs. The sides of staircases are decorated with carved stair-ends and panelling.  Cantilevered and double staircases are rare; open circular staircases were not found until the post-Revolutionary period.