The glass house.
A modern multi-story switchback wrapped in frameless tempered glass and capped with white oak.
Frameless glass railings are the cleanest thing you can put next to a flight of stairs — and the hardest to make read as part of the architecture rather than an afterthought. This Lincoln Park new build was designed around the stair as a vertical light tower, and the glass had to disappear into that idea.
What makes the glass work isn't the glass — it's the oak that caps it. A slim, square-profile white oak rail runs along every panel, top-fixed and continuous, so the eye traces wood up the flight even though the actual handhold is floating on glass. The wall-mounted rail uses the same profile, so even the safety rail on the closed side speaks the same language.
The stair is a four-story switchback, oriented so the central well opens to a skylight at the roofline. From the entry, you look up and the building reveals itself in layers — wood treads, glass panels, oak top rails, more treads, and finally daylight.
The hardest shot in the photo set is the bird's-eye view from the top landing: nested glass-walled openings stacked four floors deep, each framed by a slim oak rail. That geometry only reads cleanly because every panel is sized to the millimetre and every rail terminates with a routed wood detail rather than a metal bracket.
From the entry, you look up and the building reveals itself in layers — wood, glass, oak, daylight.
Looking up the central light tower — four floors stacked, skylight at the top.
Mid-flight, with the central well opening to the loft.
Side elevation showing the glass-on-oak rhythm against tall windows.
The frameless glass continuing across the entry, doubling as a guardrail.
The flight from the upper landing — wood, glass, daylight.
Detail of the oak cap meeting glass — top-fixed, no visible hardware.
The same detail from above, looking down the well.
Wall-mounted oak rail in the matching profile — the language never breaks.
Glass wall in the entry, with the wall rail visible behind.
The full stair as a vertical light tower, ascending toward the roofline.
Tell us about the stair your house deserves.
The glass house.
A modern multi-story switchback wrapped in frameless tempered glass and capped with white oak.
Frameless glass railings are the cleanest thing you can put next to a flight of stairs — and the hardest to make read as part of the architecture rather than an afterthought. This Lincoln Park new build was designed around the stair as a vertical light tower, and the glass had to disappear into that idea.
What makes the glass work isn't the glass — it's the oak that caps it. A slim, square-profile white oak rail runs along every panel, top-fixed and continuous, so the eye traces wood up the flight even though the actual handhold is floating on glass. The wall-mounted rail uses the same profile, so even the safety rail on the closed side speaks the same language.
The stair is a four-story switchback, oriented so the central well opens to a skylight at the roofline. From the entry, you look up and the building reveals itself in layers — wood treads, glass panels, oak top rails, more treads, and finally daylight.
The hardest shot in the photo set is the bird's-eye view from the top landing: nested glass-walled openings stacked four floors deep, each framed by a slim oak rail. That geometry only reads cleanly because every panel is sized to the millimetre and every rail terminates with a routed wood detail rather than a metal bracket.
From the entry, you look up and the building reveals itself in layers — wood, glass, oak, daylight.
Looking up the central light tower — four floors stacked, skylight at the top.
Mid-flight, with the central well opening to the loft.
Side elevation showing the glass-on-oak rhythm against tall windows.
The frameless glass continuing across the entry, doubling as a guardrail.
The flight from the upper landing — wood, glass, daylight.
Detail of the oak cap meeting glass — top-fixed, no visible hardware.
The same detail from above, looking down the well.
Wall-mounted oak rail in the matching profile — the language never breaks.
Glass wall in the entry, with the wall rail visible behind.
The full stair as a vertical light tower, ascending toward the roofline.