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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
75
Wooden
staircases
with
carved
wooden
balustrades
were
used
oftenest
in
England,
while
in
the
French
châteaux
marble
stairs
with
wrought-iron
stair-rails
are
generally
found.
The
perfection
to
which
the
art
of
iron
work
may
be
carried
is
familiar
to
everyone
who
knows
the
fairy-like
iron
work
of
Jean
L'Amour
in
the
Stanislas
Palace
at
Nancy.
This
staircase
in
the
Hôtel
de
Ville
is
supreme.
If
you
are
ever
in
France
you
should
see
it.
It
has
been
copied
often
by
American
architects.
Infinite
thought
and
skill
were
brought
to
bear
on
all
the
iron
work
door-handles,
lanterns,
and
so
forth.
The
artistic
excellence
of
this
work
has
not
been
equaled
since
this
period
of
the
Eighteenth
Century.
The
greatest
artists
of
that
day
did
not
think
it
in
the
least
beneath
their
dignity
and
talent
to
devote
themselves
to
designing
the
knobs
of
doors,
the
handles
of
commodes,
the
bronzes
for
the
decorations
of
fireplaces,
the
shaping
of
hinges
and
locks.
They
were
careful
of
details,
and
that
is
the
secret
of
their
supremacy.
Nowadays,
we
may
find
a
house
with
a
beautiful
hall,
but
the
chances
are
it
is
spoiled
by
crudely
designed
fittings.
I
have
written
somewhat
at
length
of
the
magnificent
staircases
of
older
countries
and
older
times
than
our
own,
because
somehow
the
subject
is
one
that
cannot
be
considered
apart
from
its
beginnings.
All
our
halls
and
stairs,
pretentious
or
not,
have
come
to
us
from
these
superb
efforts
of
masterly
workmen,
and
perhaps
that
is
why
we
feel
instinctively
that
they
must
suggest
a
certain
formality,
and
restraint.
This
feeling
is
indirectly
a
tribute
to
the
architects
who
gave
us
such
notable
examples.
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