Most Beautiful Spiral Staircases

Some of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the world have a spiral stair as the final flourish. The spiral stair is an architects favorite, from Gaudi to Corbusier to Foster, but some of the most interesting spiral stairs are accidental pieces of architecture, such as those inside lighthouses or on giant silos and storage tanks. Here is a deliberately diverse collection of some of our favorites.

Vatican Museum Spiral Staircase
The unusual feature of the beautiful staircase in the Vatican Museum is the risers stay the same but the going increases in length, with each step, allowing for a staircase which opens up conically.

Ross Lovegrove DNA Staircase
The most beautiful of all the modernist spiral stairs.


Double-Spiral Stair Case That Leads Nowhere
An interesting double spiral sculptural stair which sits outside KPMG in Munich.


Spiral Stairs on Silo
The spiral staircases that rise up silos are one of the best examples of accidental architectural greatness.


Legendary Loretto Chapel Stair - replica for sale
The Lorreta Chapel stair has become legendary, with people claiming it is somehow miraculous. The truth is that it is just very efficiently and elegantly made. Instead of featuring the stair itself, we are showing a replica that took 4 years to make in the 70's and can be yours for an undisclosed price.


The Mosque of al-Mutawakkil Ziggurat


Double intertwined spiral stair Graz


Spiral Stair City Hall London
City Hall is not the best of Fosters buildings, being one of the vogueish blob shaped jobbies that will look increasingly kitsch as they are built in abundance in oil rich states. And the stair is not as good as some similar forms such as the Reichstag ramp or the New York Guggenheim, for the matter. But they are ramps and this is a list of spiral stairs, and this is one of the best examples in recent architecture.


Spiral Stairs in Malaysia
While not the most beautiful in the strictest sense, these stairs are interesting because they are so unlike any traditional architectural style that they look out of time and place, science fiction without being futuristic.


Spiral stair on giant tree
The spiral stair at Cedar Creek Treehouse Observatory is actually cantilevered off the trunk of a huge tree.


Helicoid spiral staircase by Roger Tallon
Sentou, in France are distributing a re-issue of the classic Roger Tallon modular staircase. Impossible to tell from their website, however.


Chambord Castle Staircase
The staircase in the largest of the Loire Valley Chateaux, is possibly the worlds most famous spiral stair. It consists of two separate intertwined staircases that go up three floors without meeting.


St Pauls Spiral Stair
A cantilevered stair that is said to be the grandest in England


Casa Battlo Spiral Stair
Any number of Gaudis innovative spiral stairs could have been used for this list, but this shot of the organic shape of Casa Battlo in Barcelona is particularly inspiring.


Villa Savoye Spiral
The effortless spiral stair at Corbusiers Villa Savoye shows that you dont have to make a big deal of exposed structure for a spiral to be beautiful.


Stair At The Old Library at the Dutch House of Representatives
As with the lighthouse stair, we could have chosen from a wide array of libraries which often have stunning spiral stairs. This is from the Handelingenkamer.


Spiral staircase, Rideau canal, Ottawa
The overlaid pre-cast concrete slabs are rotated so that there is no obvious central support. Beautifully simple.


Killesberg Tower
Impossible Spiral Stair Sculpture


Lighthouse Spiral Stair

This stair happens to be in a lighthouse in Florida, however it is chosen to represent a type rather than an individual masterpiece. Architecturally, lighthouses are often like building which consist entirely of a spiral stair and a balcony, an extreme requirement which creates some stunning examples.