The Burling spiral.
A three-story helical stair, hand-built to wrap a townhouse from cellar to crown.
Some stairs are a way to get upstairs. Others are the reason you bought the house. This one is a centerpiece — a single helical sweep that climbs three full floors of a Lincoln Park townhouse, wrapping a central well that doubles as the building's light shaft.
The brief was clean and the constraint was severe: thread a continuous, sculptural stair through an existing footprint without ever breaking the geometry. Every flight had to read as one gesture, every turn had to flow, and the handrail had to be a single line from the lowest tread to the top floor.
The hardest piece on a stair like this is not the wood — it's the iron. A continuous handrail that follows a true helix can't be bought; it has to be hand-formed in sections, welded, ground, and finished so the seams disappear. Run your hand from the entry tread to the top floor and you'll feel one piece.
Dark-stained hardwood treads sit on full-radius painted skirts. The balusters are slim round iron, spaced tight enough to read as a continuous veil from below. Look down the well from the third floor and the whole stair becomes a single drawn line — which is exactly what the architect asked for.
Look down the well from the third floor and the whole stair becomes a single drawn line — which is exactly what the architect asked for.
The view from the dining floor — Empire chandelier, Carrara fireplace, and the stair sweeping past.
Looking up the central well to the skylight crowning the third floor.
The entry — the stair grounds the formal floor plan and lifts the eye.
Living-room context, with the dining room and stair visible through the room.
The mudroom landing tucked under the spiral — a quieter end of the same gesture.
Tell us about the stair your house deserves.
The Burling spiral.
A three-story helical stair, hand-built to wrap a townhouse from cellar to crown.
Some stairs are a way to get upstairs. Others are the reason you bought the house. This one is a centerpiece — a single helical sweep that climbs three full floors of a Lincoln Park townhouse, wrapping a central well that doubles as the building's light shaft.
The brief was clean and the constraint was severe: thread a continuous, sculptural stair through an existing footprint without ever breaking the geometry. Every flight had to read as one gesture, every turn had to flow, and the handrail had to be a single line from the lowest tread to the top floor.
The hardest piece on a stair like this is not the wood — it's the iron. A continuous handrail that follows a true helix can't be bought; it has to be hand-formed in sections, welded, ground, and finished so the seams disappear. Run your hand from the entry tread to the top floor and you'll feel one piece.
Dark-stained hardwood treads sit on full-radius painted skirts. The balusters are slim round iron, spaced tight enough to read as a continuous veil from below. Look down the well from the third floor and the whole stair becomes a single drawn line — which is exactly what the architect asked for.
Look down the well from the third floor and the whole stair becomes a single drawn line — which is exactly what the architect asked for.
The view from the dining floor — Empire chandelier, Carrara fireplace, and the stair sweeping past.
Looking up the central well to the skylight crowning the third floor.
The entry — the stair grounds the formal floor plan and lifts the eye.
Living-room context, with the dining room and stair visible through the room.
The mudroom landing tucked under the spiral — a quieter end of the same gesture.