Historic Restoration of a Curved Stair & Curved Stair Railing

Designed Stairs was called in to assess and restore a 1874 black walnut curved stair and curved stair rail. Abraham J. Hoffman built the stately River Forest Young Ladies Seminary in River Forest, IL in 1874. The building had many uses before it fell into disrepair prior to the eventual restoration in 1994. Many parts of the 180 degree curved staircase had deteriorated beyond repair and we determined that a combination of reconstruction and restoration would be the best course of action.

The existing staircase and hand rail system were carefully measured, drawn and photographed before being disassembled and transported to Designed Stairs shop. The stair stringers, treads and risers had to be completely rebuilt due to water and animal damage, while the large walnut starting newel was able to be repaired. The handrail had been carved from solid black walnut stock and consisted of four sections bolted together end to end. The horizontal rail from the second floor was missing, along with many of the balusters. We carefully disassembled the four sections of rail. Each section was then scraped and sanded to remove the old varnish and prep the wood for a new finish.

It was noted that the original craftsman had written the job name as "Abraham Hoffman" on the rail ends that had been bolted together. The inscription was documented and noted to the Museum staff.

New bolts were placed and the rail reassembled and finish sanded. Several new black walnut balusters were made to match the existing originals and the horizontal 2nd floor rail and fitting were hand made to match the original stair rail. The new staircase was installed at the site and the rail system replaced in the exact position that it was originally set in 1874.

The Trail Side Museum in Forest Park is open to the public — stop in and take a look. [Map]