Famous Staircases: Loretto Chapel
Monday, September 14th, 2009The Loretto Chapel
The Loretto Chapel was a chapel commissioned in 1872 as a convent chapel and designed by Antoine Mouly in the Gothic revival style with spires, buttresses and stained glass windows. It is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and its staircase is considered by the Sisters as a miracle. The architect died suddenly and only after the building was mostly complete did the builders realise that there was no staircase to the choir loft.
Many churches of this period actually had ladders rather than stairs, but this would have been most inconvenient for the Sisters of Loretto- the caretakers of the Chapel. The problem was that the chapel was too small for a standard size staircase.
In the legend of the Loretto Chapel staircase, a stranger appeared at the chapel after the nuns had been interceding, volunteering to build the staircase if he had complete privacy. Upon completion, the carpenter disappeared. The uniqueness of the staircase is that it ascends 20 feet, making two 360° revolutions, without the use of nails or an apparent central support. Furthermore, he constructed it entirely out of non-native timber, and its appearance at the chapel is a mystery.
The Mysterious Stairs
Recent studies of the impressive staircase shows that it is possibly not very safe as its helix shape makes it waver back and forth like a large spring. A railing was not added until ten years after it was built, and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of nails or glue, timber pegs were used, which is not actually that unusual as early techniques evolved without these due to their scarcity.
As for the central support, spiral staircases do not necessarily need one as lateral or outer supports function much the same. Yet in this case, the staircase was actually supported by a concealed central support of an inner wood stringer of a very small radius that functions effectively as a central pole. However, the staircase is still a beautiful and innovative example of excellent craftsmanship.
