Why do so many stairwells end at the front door?

[Noah930]

I've been perusing Redfin and Zillow recently for the next Noah home. And one thing I've noticed is that so many stairs to the second floor seem to empty out at the front door. As in, it's actually hard to find a house (in New England where I'm looking) which doesn't have this feature. Why is this so popular?

Why is this even an issue? Because I'm Chinese, so in the spirit of Feng Shui, this is a major no-no. This is a deal-killer type of feature. The superstition is that like water, all your fortune/prosperity will flow out of your house unimpeded just like water down the staircase and out the front door.

Well, don't be so superstitious, says the Pelican brain trust. But even if I tempt the fates and buy a house like this, for the rest of my life I will hear about it from any relatives that come to visit. Well, at least until those old relatives with their superstitions all die off.

Anyway, why are stairs designed like this? While it can be found in some homes, it's certainly not the norm here in SoCal.

[A930Rocket]

Probably because when the house is on fire and you run down the stairs, you can go out the door instead of searching for the door.

That was a totally WAG.

[aigel]

I would say that it is common to have a stairway next to the front door because in shared living quarters, i.e. a maid living upstairs, or separate flats, you'll want those people on their way upstairs without walking through all of your house.

Fengshui BS aside, I think you got your AARP materials recently as well, so I'd recommend a single story instead, to keep you mobile. Problem solved!

[john70t]

Fengshui might have point...
Enter a friendly place and be confronted with the A/B choice of stairs/bedrooms/sleep vs. kitchen/entertainment/relaxation.

[stomachmonkey]

Because it's logical and makes sense?

[craigster59]

So your youngest can ride his toboggan down the stairs and out the front door like Kevin in "Home Alone".

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by craigster59

So your youngest can ride his toboggan down the stairs and out the front door like Kevin in "Home Alone".

That's one of his favorite movies, you know. I could see him thinking up the idea, but he might be too smart to actually try it. Or not. He high-fived a cactus once, when he was about 3.

[jyl]

I speculate it reflects the popularity of the “center hall colonial” style in New England and much of the East Coast: see below.

“The simple, center hall Colonial is a style that originated when early colonists arrived in North America and became popular because it could be built quickly to protect settlers from outside elements. Typically, the building is rectangular and symmetrical, with a central front door and a gabled roof – the primary line of support for the house.”

“A traditional Colonial — the basis for so many homes in the Washington area — is commonly defined by a center hall with stairs with two rooms to the left and two rooms to the right. These four rooms are usually similar in size, compartmentalized and include some variation of a formal dining room and a kitchen on one side and a formal living room and family room on the other side.”

Putting the staircase in the central core of the “center hall” is the obvious choice, since putting it anywhere else has it in the space used for the rooms, and for the shortest route to the upstairs.

https://patrickahearn.com/blog/upgrading-a-center-hall-colonial/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2015/12/14/how-to-upgrade-your-80s-era-colonial/

It reminds me of another traditional style common where I live, the “foursquare”, which is also an efficient way to enclose a habitable volume with minimum exterior surface. The foursquare always has the frontdoor and foyer as one quarter of the ground floor, with the staircase between the foyer and the room to the rear of the foyer which is typically the kitchen. These staircases don’t point directly at the front door, they are folded on the side of the house the foursquare does not have a distinct center hall on the ground floor. Foursquares are built from wood, while traditional colonials were often brick, which might explain some of the different design choices though I haven’t figured that out.

[Rtrorkt]

from a planning standpoint, the ideal is not to walk through a room to get to a room, or a stair. Nothing worse that having a stair entrance that requires traversing other areas. Collection of circulation in one area is efficient

[masraum]

I suspect it's a lot easier to make a hall/stairs central to a roughly square home. Lots of folks like symmetry as well. If the home was big enough, it might be possible to have a large foyer/entry area where the stairs didn't run right to the door, but that takes a lot more space, and that space would probably be considered "wasted" by a lot of folks.

[SCadaddle]

Short of self-identifying as an Italian, changing your name to "Guido" and keeping your cash in the basement, I got nothing.

A typical feature of historic Acadian style homes in Louisiana is a wide front door. As in wide so that one day the casket containing the (former) owner can be hauled in and out of the house for the funeral visitation. Don't you know that would be a hassle with a set of stairs inside the front door.

[sc_rufctr]

Three-legged Feng Shui Money Frog.

https://fengshuitricks.com/feng-shui-money-frog-placement/

[SCadaddle]

Well there you go. Put that money frog on the end post of the stair railing facing up the stairs. Money stays put!

[svandamme]

fire escape
moving furniture is easier
and often in the old days houses had boarders, rooms to let in tough economic times so you'de want them out the door via the path of least intrusion

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Noah930

But even if I tempt the fates and buy a house like this, for the rest of my life I will hear about it from any relatives that come to visit. Well, at least until those old relatives with their superstitions all die off.

But to be fair, with distance Chinese relatives...

Either you will hear bout this for the rest of their days.. or they'll find something else to talk smack about.. From my understanding that's a bit how it works in Chinese families? (good friend of mine is Chinese).

insert uncle Roger voice : What you make egg fried rice on induction stove
HAyaaaa Where's your fii iiya ? is not right!

[Noah930]

Jyl's colonial style house theory makes a lot of geographical sense. There are certainly a lot more colonial style homes in New England than there are in California. So for those boxes, I can see why tradition dictates central staircase placement. My B-I-L had one such home, so I understand the concept.

But there are also a lot of homes that may have colonial styling elements to them, but do not have the traditional symmetric rectangular box layout of a true colonial. So in those homes, why the need to have the stairwell empty out the front door? There's no architectural need to have the layout as such. The local historical society may dictate what your house looks like on the outside from the street, but they have no jurisdiction over anything inside your home. Other than "well, that's just how we do things," I can't think of any modern practical need for this feature. It's a minority of homes in Los Angeles that have it, after all.

Like sc_rufctr pointed out, there are ways around the Feng Shui aspect. I didn't know about the money frog. I'll have to see if I can pick one up in Chinatown (or AliExpress). You can also put a plant at the bottom of the stairs to try to "block" the flow of water/prosperity down the stairs and out the front door. I've actually looked at online listings and tried to imagine where I could put a potted ficus in the entryway, for example.

[Crowbob]

I put three 90° turns to stop the flow:

[Alan A]

Buy a bigger house. It’ll have two staircases - one either side of the front door.

Center hall colonials are built that way. Above 2000 sf they seem to be the majority of the houses in New England. Suspect the people that originally built them weren’t worried about feng shui, but more about practicality.

You could always buy a ranch…

[svandamme]

twice the flow of fortune out the door

[GH85Carrera]

As a kid, two story houses were no big deal. No way no how would I have a two story house now.

The USAF did not care any more than we did about Feng Shui and Chinese superstitions. In Hawaii, on base at Hickam AFB the front door led right to the staircase. It was great for my brother and I, just get in the front door and up the stairs to our rooms. Of course somehow we usually turned right, and and went to the kitchen for a snack.

I would have to agree with the other posts, I think that design is just to maximize floor space. That also allows for a closet under the staircase. It was all against the outside wall of the house, so as out of the way as possible.