A Split in the Stairs

It had been a while since I took the stairs going up to the Morris Park subway station.


Sometimes you notice something new when you revisit a place you used to frequent often. This time, the split in the stairs caught my attention.

Even with its basic, undecorated design, I suspect there was still a Beaux Arts sensibility with a desire for symmetry. I am not so sure the double stairs with a shared landing were based on a functional program.

If there were a functional consideration, it was most likely the convenience of providing the most direct route for all paths of travel. It is possible the designers may also have recognized some benefits for long-term maintenance. The redundancy does provide the ability to keep one side open while while repairing or replacing the steps on the other side. Such long-term considerations do not seem to have been common in that era.

However, it wasn't the idea of keeping the stairs functional while keeping them in good repair that caught my attention. It was the ability to choose a different side if you didn't like the looks of somebody on the stairs. It probably makes little real difference if there is a determined mugger, but the greater feeling of openness and escape routes relieves the feeling of being trapped that typically makes stairs like these feel so sketchy.

Whether intended as anything more than attractive symmetry, there are some clear benefits to this split double stair. It is likely to be a more expensive solution; it requires more space and additional construction, but these are tradeoffs worth weighing for future projects.