Window into the past, and some old stairs

[Jonhilgen]

Ok, so I've been lucky to be working in an old home as of late (built in the early 1800's, so kinda old for this side the pond).  In the secondary staircase, going from the third to fourth floors is an opening that has been cut into the wall with a glass door.  The house had a substantial remodel in the 1980's, and I'm assuming it was put in at that time so you could see the back side of an alcove along the stairs.

If you look close enough, you might see tree branches that were used to make the radius!  Anyways, I've included some pictures of the staircase as well, because it was really fun  to look at since stairs are a mystery to me.

Jon

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Jon,

What you're calling tree branches, I've seen before.  If you want to get technical, yeah it's kind of a branch, but what happened is that they used fresh green lumber with very little dimensioning from its tree state to make the lath for the radius.  I kind of doubt someone  broke off a few small tree limbs from outside, back in the day.  Then again, maybe they did.  [big grin]  Great pictures of building history.  Thanks!

 

[Jonhilgen]

Ken, its the first I've ever seen something like that...but thanks for the history lesson[embarassed].  Such an awesome house, and I'm regretting not taking more pictures of the interior when I had the chance.  Luckily, we re doing some more work there in the spring.

The basement has an old water cistern, and the downstairs rooms have the most ornate plaster moldings I've ever seen!

Will post some more pics of the kitchen now that I'm done with it.

Jon

 

[Ken Nagrod]

It's funny some of the old construction practices you find when you open up walls or take stuff down.  I love the houses that seem to be built with standard lumber/timber of the day on the lower levels and then when you get to the upper level, they use "patch scraps".  [big grin]  Gee, is that why that window doesn't open or the door doesn't look anything like it would fit the jamb opening.  Now a days, it's all termed settling.  Why?  Those thrifty "Yankees".

 

[GhostFist]

funny and cool that you posted these. i've spent the day reading old carpentry manuals, available for free on google books, and there's a lot of illustrations depicting how to lay out complex shapes and elliptical staircases. any way, check it out.https://market.android.com/details?id=book-ZygBAAAAQAAJ

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Love the hand rail on the steps.