The developed classicism combined with the Baroque of the later 16th century to give a new trend to staircase design through out Europe. Thus in France a gorgeous series of staircases was produced, of which the "Escalier des Princes" of Versailles is typi cal. The reaction to the lightness and gaiety of the Louis XV. period (see LOUIS STYLES) led to the development of many gracious and inviting house staircases of the type known as self-support ing, full of sweeping curves and with railings frequently of metal. In the Louis XVI. period the new, popular classicism restrained the exuberance of the earlier staircases but retained their gracious ness and lightness; of these, one of the loveliest is that of the Petit Trianon at Versailles (5766), by Gabriel, with a beautiful iron rail ing. Meanwhile, the classic trend had expressed itself in England by the substitution of open string for closed string stairs, that is with the balusters coming down to the top of each tread, rather than being supported on a slanting member, or string, which re ceived the ends of the treads. This at once made for a more inter esting treatment at the ends of the steps, and led, eventually, to the development of the bracketed step end, in which scrolls and leafage of great richness were carved under the end of each riser. Moreover, the fact that English stairs were largely of wood in spired the design of turned balusters and newels of great variety. During the last half of the i8th century, a growing trend toward lightness and delicacy of design led to the substitution of plain, tapered shafts in place of elaborate balusters, and the use of stairs rising in continuing curves instead of straight flights and landings. The same development took place during the i8th cen tury in the colonial work of North America. Thus certain of the
earliest houses, like the Capen house at Topsfield, Mass. (1683), have closed strings and heavy newels of Jacobean type, while the Lee mansion at Marblehead, Mass: (1768), has a magnificent open string staircase, whose steps have panelled and scrolled ends, and whose twisted balusters are as rich as any contemporary work in England. The curved staircase of the Valentine museum at Richmond, Va. (1812), is typical of the later delicacy.
Modern.—During the middle and the third quarter of the 19th century, staircase design reached its lowest ebb, not only in Eng land and France, but throughout Europe, except in the case of those monumental and official buildings on the Continent whose design never fell a victim to the current taste. Closed strings again became the fashion and balusters and newels of gargantuan proportions and bulbous and meaningless elaboration. Yet one of the most gorgeous and effective staircases in the world dates from this period, that of the Paris Opera by Charles Garnier.
Two elements have vastly affected modern staircase design, steel and reinforced concrete. The use of steel has led to simple plans of straight runs and railings delicate and straightforward in design, with newels usually accented, as in the Jacobean wooden stairs. Reinforced concrete, on the other hand, is a material so flexible that the most daring curves and fantastic sweeps become structurally sound. Probably the most brilliant example of this modern type of staircase design is in the new portion of the Galeries Lafayette at Paris (1926), by F. Chanat, a conception of dizzying lightness, with modernist iron railings.