Beauty Stair, Hampton Court Palace

This staircase looks really effortless.

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There is some very clever jointing of stone going on in this landing – would most people risk standing on that small piece that isn’t fixed back to a wall if they had a chance to think about it?

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Some joints between the top treads and the landings have opened up slightly – this can mean that the flight cannot behave like a rebated flight, which means that the stresses in the stone are doubled. This can be a serious problem with very slender treads and the joints should be refilled.

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This midflight landing deals with a doorway by neatly stepping in where the flight begins again.

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I like how the detail on the landing edge is dealt with.

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The mid flight landings are interesting because they must act as if they were just a couple of extra treads in the flight. This landing is clearly made from two stones.

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