Stairs or a staircase are a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps.
The first stairs in the history would have been wood trunks fitted together to acquire strategic positions for survival.
One of the earliest staircases was a Jericho Neolithic Tower dated to 8000-7000 BC. The tower stood 26 feet tall and inside was an internal staircase with 22 stone steps.
Spiral stairs in medieval times were generally made of stone and typically wound in a clockwise direction (from the ascender's point of view), to place attacking swordsmen (who were most often right-handed) at a disadvantage.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the 19th century when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and had figured out how to walk up straight staircases when they smelled food cooking.
Thomas Jefferson designed his 35 roomed home in Monticello. It had only two very narrow staircases as he considered them a waste of space.
As a preacher the founder of the Salvation Army General William Booth was a populist crowd puller. For example he was known to demonstrate the easy road to hell by sliding down the stair-rail of his pulpit.
When the main structural work for the Eiffel Tower was completed at the end of March 1889, a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press were taken to the top of the tower. The elevators in the tower were not yet operating, so they went up the stairs on foot. It took them more than an hour.
When Theodore Roosevelt was governor of New York State, he would run up the steps of Albany's capitol building every morning for exercise. Allegedly, if reporters wanted an interview, they would have to get to the top of the stairs first.
The St Paul's Cathedral service for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 had to be held outside the building as the queen was too infirm to climb the stairs.
The silent film comedian Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton got his name when, at six months, he fell down a flight of stairs and was picked up unhurt by Harry Houdini, who said the child could really take a ‘buster’, or fall.
The first stairs in the history would have been wood trunks fitted together to acquire strategic positions for survival.
One of the earliest staircases was a Jericho Neolithic Tower dated to 8000-7000 BC. The tower stood 26 feet tall and inside was an internal staircase with 22 stone steps.
Spiral stairs in medieval times were generally made of stone and typically wound in a clockwise direction (from the ascender's point of view), to place attacking swordsmen (who were most often right-handed) at a disadvantage.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the 19th century when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and had figured out how to walk up straight staircases when they smelled food cooking.
Thomas Jefferson designed his 35 roomed home in Monticello. It had only two very narrow staircases as he considered them a waste of space.
As a preacher the founder of the Salvation Army General William Booth was a populist crowd puller. For example he was known to demonstrate the easy road to hell by sliding down the stair-rail of his pulpit.
When the main structural work for the Eiffel Tower was completed at the end of March 1889, a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press were taken to the top of the tower. The elevators in the tower were not yet operating, so they went up the stairs on foot. It took them more than an hour.
When Theodore Roosevelt was governor of New York State, he would run up the steps of Albany's capitol building every morning for exercise. Allegedly, if reporters wanted an interview, they would have to get to the top of the stairs first.
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| Albany Capitol Building |
The St Paul's Cathedral service for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 had to be held outside the building as the queen was too infirm to climb the stairs.
The silent film comedian Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton got his name when, at six months, he fell down a flight of stairs and was picked up unhurt by Harry Houdini, who said the child could really take a ‘buster’, or fall.
When the set of James Cameron’s Titanic movie was submerged during filming, the Grand Staircase dislodged and floated. This supported the uncomfirmed theory that the missing original staircase dislodged and floated away during the real sinking.
While approximately 27 people die from using elevators every year, 1,600 die from taking the stairs.
Fashion designer Laura Ashley died after falling down the stairs at her daughter Jane’s home on her 60th birthday.
Climbing five flights of stairs a week, one step at a time, will burn 302 calories. However, if you take the steps two at a time, you burn just 260 calories.
The longest stairway is listed by Guinness Book of Records as the service stairway for the Niesenbahn funicular railway near Spiez, Switzerland, with 11,674 steps and a height of 1669 m (5476 ft). The stairs are usually employee-only, but there is a public run called "Niesenlauf" once a year.
The UK's longest staircase, at the Cruachan power station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, climbs 324 metres (1063 ft) and is made up of 1,420 steps.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has two spiral staircases but because of the way it tilts, one has 294 steps and the other has 296 — an extra two are needed to compensate for the height difference on that side of the building.
The U.S. Capitol Building has a staircase of 365 steps from the basement to the top of its outer dome, to represent every day of the year.
The climb up the inside of the Statue of Liberty to the observation deck in the statue's head takes in 354 spiral steps — which is the equivalent of climbing 20 floors in a building. The stairs to the torch have been closed to the public since 1916, when German saboteurs triggered an explosion.
While approximately 27 people die from using elevators every year, 1,600 die from taking the stairs.
Fashion designer Laura Ashley died after falling down the stairs at her daughter Jane’s home on her 60th birthday.
Climbing five flights of stairs a week, one step at a time, will burn 302 calories. However, if you take the steps two at a time, you burn just 260 calories.
The longest stairway is listed by Guinness Book of Records as the service stairway for the Niesenbahn funicular railway near Spiez, Switzerland, with 11,674 steps and a height of 1669 m (5476 ft). The stairs are usually employee-only, but there is a public run called "Niesenlauf" once a year.
The UK's longest staircase, at the Cruachan power station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, climbs 324 metres (1063 ft) and is made up of 1,420 steps.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has two spiral staircases but because of the way it tilts, one has 294 steps and the other has 296 — an extra two are needed to compensate for the height difference on that side of the building.
The U.S. Capitol Building has a staircase of 365 steps from the basement to the top of its outer dome, to represent every day of the year.
The climb up the inside of the Statue of Liberty to the observation deck in the statue's head takes in 354 spiral steps — which is the equivalent of climbing 20 floors in a building. The stairs to the torch have been closed to the public since 1916, when German saboteurs triggered an explosion.
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