e forerunner of the modern entrance
hall, with its accompanying stair. Considerations of comfort and beauty
began to be observed. The Italian staircase grew into a magnificent
affair, "L'escalier d'honneur," and often led only to the open galleries
and _salons de parade_ of the next floor. I think the finest staircases
in all the world are in the Genoese palaces. The grand staircase of the
Renaissance may still be seen in many fine Italian palaces, notably in
the Bargello in Florence. This staircase has been splendidly reproduced
by Mrs. Gardner in Fenway Court, her Italian palace in Boston. This
house is, by the way, the finest thing of its kind in America. Mrs.
Gardner has the same far-seeing interest in the furtherance of an
American appreciation of art as had the late Pierpont Morgan. She has
assembled a magnificent collection of objects of art, and she opens her
house to the public occasionally and to artists and designers
frequently, that they may have the advantage of studying the treasures.

To return to our staircases: In France the intermural, or spiral,
staircase was considered quite splendid enough for all human needs, and
in the finest chateaux of the French Renaissance one finds these
practical staircases. Possibly in those troublous times the French
architects planned for an aristocracy living under the influence of an
inherited tradition of treachery and violence, they felt more secure in
the isolation and ready command of a small, narrow staircase where one
man well nigh single-handed could keep an army at bay. A large wide
staircase of easy ascent might have meant many uneasy moments, with
plots without and treachery within.

Gradually, however, the old feudal entrance gave way to its
sub-divisions of guardroom, vestibule, and salon. England was last to
capitulate, and in the great Tudor houses still extant one finds the
entrance door opening directly into the Hall. Often in these English
houses there was a screen of very beautiful carved wood, behind which
was the staircase. Inigo Jones introduced the Palladian style into
England, and so brought in the many-storied central salon which served
as means of access to all the house. The old English halls and
staircases designed by Inigo Jones would be perfect for our more
elaborate American country houses. The severe beauty of English paneling
and the carving of newel-post and spindles are having a just revival.
The pendulum swings--and there is nothing n