Like doorways and windows, stairs convey messages about the status and function of the environments that they are part of.
- James Campbell
Students of architecture visiting Dr James Campbell’s rooms in Queens’ College, Cambridge, tramp up a steep winding flight of wooden stairs constructed in the 18th century and arrive on a narrow landing where they knock on the door marked with his name. The staircase they ascend and descend is typical of many in the older colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, uncarpeted and scuffed smooth by generations of undergraduate feet. Its timber treads and risers were made over two centuries ago by skilled carpenters or joiners specialising in the art. Repaired countless times over the centuries, how much original timber remains is anyone’s guess.
Campbell is passionate about the history of architecture and teaches courses on building construction, conservation and architectural history. He is a prolific writer and champion of increasing the understanding of the buildings around us. With historic building expert Michael Tutton, he is co-editor of Staircases: History, Repair and Conservation (Routledge 2014). Its editors describe the book as a practical companion to a curiously-neglected aspect of building design. In a single volume comprising contributions by ten experts in a range of fields, it covers the story of staircases, ways to describe and date them, the ergonomics of their design, the construction of their component parts today and in the past, as well as methods of conserving them as a vital part of the narrative of a building.
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Image: Cathedral Stair at Wells
Credit: James Campbell
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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