Why Victorian Staircases Were So Dangerous

Publish date: 2024-05-05

The quality of a staircase can vary in architecture from any period, depending on who did the building, what they had to work with, and how much they cared. In the Victorian period, according to the Lakeshore Museum Center, houses of a certain size and grandeur would have a prominently featured staircase, sometimes carpeted and richly decorated, at the front of the house, meant only for the family that lived there. Another staircase would be built in the back — the back stairs, second stairs, or servants' stairs, to give a few names. These staircases connected the living quarters of the servants with a major work area, like the kitchen.

Some family staircases from the Victorian period push up against modern safety recommendations on angle, length, width, and height, but not excessively so. The back stairs were another story. These were often built to be as steep and narrow as possible to minimize the space they took up. Cheap materials were used, and safety features like handrails and landings weren't included. Because they were such confined spaces, and because the servants of the day often walked the steps in constricting clothing while carrying heavy loads, the chances of a mishap (or worse) could be uncomfortably high.

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