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Spiral Staircase.
The Court building includes two self-supporting, elliptical spiral staircases. They were designed for the building by Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), who had incorporated similar staircases into one of his first major projects, the Minnesota State House (1902). It is unclear whether Gilbert chose to use this rare form in the Supreme Court for practical reasons or simply for its exceptional visual beauty.
The Moretti-Harrah Marble Company quarried the marble for the staircases in Alabama. The blocks were transported to Knoxville, Tennessee, where the Gray-Knox Marble Company finished the rough stone in its mill. The steps were cut and the staircase assembled upside down at the mill to assure that each step was cut to an exact fit with the one above and below. In a few places, a run of several steps is cut from one piece of marble. After numbering each piece, the staircases were disassembled and shipped to the site for installation.
Each of the staircases has 136 steps that complete seven spirals while ascending five stories from the basement. The cantilevered design of the staircases alleviated the need for a central support. Each step is anchored into the marble wall on one end and rests upon the step below it. The steps, therefore, are held in place by fit and pressure.
The entrance doorframe and staircase railings are made of bronze and decorated with neoclassical motifs including leaves, urns, anthemions and swags. The design of the left doorframe contains an oil lamp representing knowledge and a book inscribed with the Latin word "LEX" (law). The right doorjamb, an owl symbolizing wisdom and the scales of justice indicating impartiality are incorporated. Some of the supports for the handrail are adorned with oval medallions containing an eagle, one of the symbols of the United States of America. |