On May 15, 3:32�pm, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Just looking for a little history info. and hoping that someone can
help. My friend is "House Hunting" and looking for a new home. I went
with her the other day, and looked at a house that she really liked. It
is a 2 bedroom ( possibly 3 ) Colonial home built in 1926 that is
completely renovated.

The thing that is "weird" about this house, is because it has a spiral
staircase right in the MIDDLE of the small living room that leads
upstairs to a finished attic or possible 3rd bedroom or rec. room/kids
play area.

But at the back of the house, on the other side of the kitchen, there is
another regular wooden staircase that also leads to the upstairs. This
staircase is only located about 30 feet from the metal spiral staircase
thats in the middle of the living room.

The house is only 936 sq. feet of living area, so why when building this
thing, would they need to put 2 staircases about 30 feet apart from one
another that both lead to the upstairs? Why have a regular wooden
staircase located at the back of the house, and then roughly 30 feet
away, have a metal spiral staircase right in the middle of the living
room!?

We are very curious about this? Can anyone please explain why the house
would have been built like this?

Thanks!

The main benefit of spiral staircases is they save a lot of space.
People also put them in as a "feature" too. The main problem is
peopl are not used to them and have accidents by falling. Also you
can't get large objects up them. (Beds etc.)
I had a medieval house that had massive stone spiral starcases, they
were ok when you got used to them. They were incorporated into the
chimney structures.
They originated in medieval castles where the purpose was to make it
easy to defend if you were upstairs and difficult to attack if you
were downstairs.
Spiral staircases in castles always were a right handed bend making it
hard to wave a sword about if you were trying to fight your way up.
Whereas the person facing you could wave his sword about. Also,
missiles could be dropped down the staircase with exposing the
defender. The defender was not exposed to arrows either as he would
be on a straight staircase.