Stairs Visible From the Front Door (Atlanta, Washington: for sale, 2014, cheap house)

[LovelySummer]

So while we're talking about masters on the main, I wanted to see what people thought about the craze in Georgia to have the sprawling staircase visible to and ending fairly close to the front door or front foyer. I keep hearing about Gone With The Wind but have never seen the movie and understand there was a grand staircase in that movie. Personally, I hate seeing the stairs when I walk into a home. I think it unnecessary and prefer the stairs to go down the back of the house to the kitchen instead of the front door but those seem few and far between in Atlanta. Also, I am always worried that someone driving past my house will somehow see me in my pjs through the sidelights or transom at the front door. Too much to worry about.

Is the stairs thing associated more with Georgian/colonial/traditional styles we see so much of in Georgia? Is it southern? Do you like it? Would a house with stairs not visible from the front door or that come down in the kitchen instead of the front foyer have poor resale in Georgia/Atlanta?

[PKCorey]

It's nationwide. Most stairs come out in the main doorway/foyer.

I like it.

[lorilove]

You would hate my house which is more modern and has stairs right at the front door (which are double full glass doors).

[Newsboy]

I wouldn't call hundreds of years of architectural style a "craze." Nor would I call them "sprawling." Most two-story houses have practical staircases placed at the center to get people (and things) up and down easily. If you don't like a house with stairs, live in a flat.

The phrase "Gone With The Wind Stairs" is a joke BTW ... a sign of ridiculousness, extravagance and ego. Nobody lives in houses with stairs like this. Never did. Ever. Even during the plantation era, houses were simple and functional. This is what Hollywood wanted people to think the Old South looked like.

http://yankeeclassicfloors.files.wor...-staircase.jpg

http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content...downstairs.jpg

[AtlJan]

Well, Palladio did like his symmetry, I hear...George Washington called the foyer at Mt Vernon the central passage. It is apt. The stairs being at the center of the home creates a central hall above (rooms on each side) and a sense of space as you enter the home. Maybe you are reacting to the cheap 80s houses with the spindly curving stairs and the huge vaulted entryways? You may find a house with two sets of stairs or one like ours in which the stairs go up just off of the foyer...but no central stairs--that is a steep request and will eliminate some if not most well-built homes.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I wouldn't call hundreds of years of architectural style a "craze." Nor would I call them "sprawling." Most two-story houses have practical staircases placed at the center to get people (and things) up and down easily. If you don't like a house with stairs, live in a flat.

The phrase "Gone With The Wind Stairs" is a joke BTW ... a sign of ridiculousness, extravagance and ego. Nobody lives in houses with stairs like this. Never did. Ever. Even during the plantation era, houses were simple and functional. This is what Hollywood wanted people to think the Old South looked like.

http://yankeeclassicfloors.files.wor...-staircase.jpg

http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content...downstairs.jpg

I'm afraid that it isn't true to claim that no one ever lived in a house like that. There are plenty of plantation homes still standing and a lot of them had grand ballrooms and grand staircases pretty much just like that. I've seen one with my own eyes-Nottoway Plantation in LA. Many of these homes (and their staircases) are viewable on the internet. While it's true MOST southerners didn't live like this, the rich ones pretty much did live like the O'Hara's.

Here's a few sites to start with:
Eye For Design: Antebellum Interiors With Southern Charm ,Ya'll
Multiple Regions- Old South (Antebellum tour homes from LA-MS-AR) - Arkansas Group Travel
Sweet Southern Days: Mississippi River Road: The Myrtles and Rosedown Plantation

[LovelySummer]

Nope. Not reacting to cheap houses or those built in the 80's. My own home, built in 2008, has a beautiful staircase off the foyer. I just don't like the positioning. I prefer homes in which the stairs are not seen from the front door as soon as you walk in the house. I own a multilevel townhome in which the stairs are positioned around a corner and you walk almost the entire first floor before you even see them. My parents' single family home was built this way as well, up north - and there's was actually a split foyer with the up and down stairs off the foyer hall instead of being in front of you when you walk in. Many victorians and four-squares are like this also -you have to walk into the house and the stairs then sit in a hallway like structure that you do not see from the front door. To me, those styles are nicer. But these types of homes in which you do not walk down your stairs in front of everyone whom may be standing at your front door seem to be rare, or rare in Georgia. Not sure. I-ve been looking.

Originally Posted by AtlJan

Well, Palladio did like his symmetry, I hear...George Washington called the foyer at Mt Vernon the central passage. It is apt. The stairs being at the center of the home creates a central hall above (rooms on each side) and a sense of space as you enter the home. Maybe you are reacting to the cheap 80s houses with the spindly curving stairs and the huge vaulted entryways? You may find a house with two sets of stairs or one like ours in which the stairs go up just off of the foyer...but no central stairs--that is a steep request and will eliminate some if not most well-built homes.

[adventurernumber1]

If it was a two-story house (or bigger) it wouldn't look right to me if the stairs, at least one staircase, weren't in front of the front door. In my house, we have two staircases. One is towards the back of the house near the kitchen, and the main one is in front of the front door. Come to think of it it seems very usual to me for the stairs to be in the front.

[LovelySummer]

Nope. Not reacting to cheap houses or those built in the 80's. My own home, built in 2008, has a beautiful staircase off the foyer. I just don't like the positioning. I prefer homes in which the stairs are not seen from the front door as soon as you walk in the house. I own a multilevel townhome in which the stairs are positioned around a corner and you walk almost the entire first floor before you even see them. My parents' home was built this way as well, up north. Many victorians and four-squares are like this also -you have to walk into the house and the stairs then sit in a hallway like structure that you do not see from the front door. To me, those styles are nicer. But these types of homes in which you do not walk down your stairs in front of everyone whom may be standing at your front door seem to be rare, or rare in Georgia. Not sure. I-ve been looking. The Victorians and four squares for sale just seem rare, period, however. As I said before, I prefer the stairs coming into the kitchen or family room, not into the front foyer. Just wondering what others' viewpoints are and resale issues.

Originally Posted by AtlJan

Well, Palladio did like his symmetry, I hear...George Washington called the foyer at Mt Vernon the central passage. It is apt. The stairs being at the center of the home creates a central hall above (rooms on each side) and a sense of space as you enter the home. Maybe you are reacting to the cheap 80s houses with the spindly curving stairs and the huge vaulted entryways? You may find a house with two sets of stairs or one like ours in which the stairs go up just off of the foyer...but no central stairs--that is a steep request and will eliminate some if not most well-built homes.

[Iconographer]

I love a dramatic foyer with a prominent staircase just inside the front door. I certainly don't think of it as just a Southern thing. The most dramatic example of this that I've seen was my cousin's house in Lake Forest, IL.