I grew up in a 2-story house built in 1927. The stairs did not start at the front door. FWIW

In this part of Maryland, center stairwell colonials are everywhere. Here is a picture of our farm house. Garage is on the right and a second entrance and "mud room" next to the garage with a separate bath and shower.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1654522313.jpg

The stairs do indeed end at the front door, which you can see in the picture. The stairwell also includes stairs to the basement.

The design, I have been told, was to separate the working part of the house from the entertainment side. This house dates from the early 70's and was a series of individual rooms on the first floor. We opened up the entire down stairs for better flow. That is when I asked the architect about the rationale for the center stairwell.

The other thing I like about the center stairwell is that, on the second floor, the stairwell separates the master suite from the other bedrooms, at least in our design.

As always, I could be wrong:cool:

I agree w/o.p. this design looks cheap on smaller homes. Making turns in stairs is expensive and takes know-how. I don't know much about Feng Shui, the energy-thing, but just about every time I experience something which is said to have ' good Feng Shui' it makes total sense. Design is important, people often overlook the power and effect of good design.
A lot of New England homes kept certain design elements, carried them over for traditions sake, echoing the more elegant Center center stairwell colonials, etc. but for no other good reason. This doesn't really work on tiny houses like it did on grand-scale-homes. Some design features were repeated over and over because they had limited tools materials and know how, they were not wealthy : puritan spirit etc. I would say, if you find a perfect house, despite the stairs, in a great town/location, just move the front door and entrance walk.

Space is associated with luxury.
Having a tall entryway gives the impression of space, and therefore tends to give the home a bigger and more luxurious feel when one first enters.