liits wrote:Are you sure that the "stairs" were actually stairs, and not just the way that the chimney stack was built to reduce it in width from double width [to include fireplace and oven at first floor [and possible at ground floor too] to single width as it passed through the second floor.
My supposition is this.
Full building.jpg
On the ground floor [had it originally been two rooms with a fireplace in each [as indicated by the red line] or did it have, as the room above had , a fireplace and an oven?] a double width chimney breast.
On the first floor, as you have illustrated, a double width chimney in a single room with a fireplace and oven, the alcoves to either side being enclosed in cupboards, one with a sink.
On the second floor, a single, full width room with a reduced width chimney breast and single fireplace.
Here is the guesswork part, I reckon that either;
the stair-head you have shown at the second floor level was not as the building was originally built and that it had been “let in” to the floor at a later date.
Or........ the stair-head you have shown at the second floor level was not as the building was originally built and that it had been “let in” to the floor at a later date as a result of the building being partitioned. i.e, the building had been divided into two buildings and that this was the only way of gaining access to a room whose original staircase was at the opposite end to the chimney but would now be behind a dividing wall.
hiddenstair 2.jpg
I've cheated with the pic and added the partition wall but removed the stair-head and sink.
I should have mentioned that I have been an architect for 40 years and am able to recognize original work and alterations.
The chimney had stairs - the top surfaces were clearly stair treads.
The brickwork was all constructed at the same time, there were no cut bricks or vertical joints - as you see when a wall is removed or a door is bricked up.
The opening in the floor was always there as shown.
Floor joists around a chimney, are trimmed so that no timber goes into the hot brickwork which is a fire risk.
The layout was more or less as I have indicated.
There was no evidence of another stair to the first floor- trust me I would have seen the clues.
So the only way to get to the first floor was by the method I have indicated, and that is how we got up to the first floors.
To avoid confusion ( sorry I failed
) I omitted some walls doors, windows, etc
I only drew the features relevant to the question, why were the stairs concealed?
The upper floors had cupboards walls windows and doors and there was a conventional stair up to the second floor.
''the stair-head you have shown at the second floor level was not as the building was originally built'' - yes it was, trust me as a qualified professional I would have seen the clues, even after a 'pub lunch'