Cantilevered Staircases in Stone

The tradition of self-supporting and cantilevered staircases has a remarkable architectural history. One of the earliest and most celebrated examples in Britain is the Tulip Stairs at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, designed by Inigo Jones and completed in the 17th century. Widely recognised as the first centrally unsupported spiral staircase in England, it marked an important moment in the development of elegant, structurally ambitious stair design.

The idea of the staircase as both structure and architectural expression can be traced even further back through Renaissance thinking. Andrea Palladio illustrated and discussed various forms of staircases in "I quattro libri dell’architettura" , first published in 1570, establishing principles of proportion, geometry and movement that continue to influence staircase design today.

At Carvero, we continue this lineage through bespoke cantilevered stone staircases, hand-carved from natural stone and developed with a close understanding of craft, geometry and structural engineering. Each staircase is carefully designed around the building, the stone and the desired architectural character.

Our aim is not simply to reproduce historic forms, but to evolve them. By combining traditional stonemasonry with modern engineering, precise setting-out and refined detailing, we create cantilevered stone staircases that feel light, elegant and technically resolved — while remaining rooted in one of architecture’s most beautiful traditions.