Those who said “steps” win!
The “box” was just a wood box. I don’t know what its purpose was, other than to cover up the stairs.
They are typical old house steep stairs for going down to a basement / side door. Tread 9.5” deep, a hair over 7.0” tall. I hope I’m not required to rebuild them. There’s no room at the bottom of the stairs for a larger run, the landing is small as it is and the inswing side door barely clears the bottom tread. I’ll install handrails on both side.
These stairs won’t be used by customers. The basement is just storage. Maybe the city will let it slide.