Cast-iron winding staircase

• Cast-iron
• 1845
• step width: approx. 95 cm

Installation of the cast-iron winding staircase in the central tower of the Granitz hunting lodge commenced in October 1845. The inscription 'October 1845' and signatures by a number of craftsmen are found on the back of the lowermost riser. The tower was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and the staircase was manufactured by the machinery factory and ironworks owned by Franz Anton Egell in Berlin. Two landings are mounted on the inner wall of the tower to provide stability for the self-supporting flights. Ornamental features interrupt the 154 steps, lending the staircase a lightness that contrasts effectively with the solid masonry. The material itself is what makes this particularly playful approach to the spatial dimension possible: 'The metal is used to manufacture a solid yet perfect lightness in all ornaments, open sections and apexes that rise freely from the architecture to produce transparent coronation pieces.' (report by Karl Friedrich Schinkel on the cast zinc, 1840. The material benefits of casting zinc quoted here by Schinkel apply equally to cast iron.)

The winding staircase is an important example of Prussian iron works and is evidence of the progressive approach by Wilhelm Malte I, Prince of Putbus, to construction.