March 17, 2026

This Showstopping Staircase Doubles As A Work Of Art

2025 Best of Year Winner for Residential Staircase

Linking four floors of a town house with artistic flourish, the hand-built spiral by SheltonMindel is both practical and sculptural. Occupying a fluted shaft, strategically penetrated by the New York home’s exterior windows, the sunlit stair is enveloped by scalloped walls, their widths informing the size-matched stone treads. At the center, a ribbonlike plaster railing acts as the main structural column. Opposite is far more delicate: A metal handrail is strung with thin stainless steel cables as its balustrades. A unique balance between light and shadow, solid and permeable, geometric and natural, culminating in a vintage sunburst glass light fixture, the element’s inspirations range from the art deco of Radio City Music Hall to Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase painting to the golden spiral.