irection of the flight was reversed by a curved portion of the run
instead of a landing. The breadth and length of the hall made landings
possible and desirable, but instead of one wide midway landing between
the upper and lower runs of the flight, there were two square landings
separated by three steps, the stair stringers, balustrade and wainscot
swinging upward in broad-sweeping curves. The wainscot consists of a
charmingly varied paneling, while the balustrade is lighter in treatment
than was usually the case. A simple dark wood handrail, slender, square
molded balusters and stairs having a low rise and broad treads lend
grace of appearance rarely equaled. Jig-sawed outline brackets of
unusually harmonious scroll pattern placed under the molded overhang of
the treads provide additional ornamentation of a refined character. The
spiral newel is but a simpler form of those already alluded to.
Altogether it is a staircase that charms the eye through its unaffected
simplicity, a quality that never loses its power of appeal whether found
inside the house or out.

Two other stairways with balustrades of slender grace are worthy of
note, especially as instances of a single, small turned newel on the
lower step, the handrail terminating in a round cap on the top. The
simpler of these is at Roxborough and has balusters of unique contour
standing not on the stair treads but on the cased-up stair stringer. The
staircase in the Gowen house, Mount Airy, has a balustrade with three
slender, but more or less conventional, balusters on each step, the
treads, like the handrail and newel, being painted dark. A graceful
jig-sawed bracket of scroll pattern adorns each stair end under the
overhang of the tread, and the space under the stairs is closed in by
well-spaced molded and raised paneling.

Another distinctive scroll outline bracket for stair ends forms the
principal feature of a graceful staircase in the Carpenter house, Third
and Spruce streets. The pattern manifests great refinement and has
excellent proportion. In contrast with these lighter designs for
domestic architecture, it is interesting to examine the stair-end
treatment in Independence Hall, which is equally pleasing as an example
of heavier, richer detail for public work. The brackets are solid, of
evolute spiral outline and beautifully hand carved.

CHAPTER X

MANTELS AND CHIMNEY PIECES

In Colonial times fireplaces were a necessity. They supplied the on