the.com/newel
The unsung pillar holding up your grand staircase entrance and your hand at 2am.
means The central post at the foot or turn of a staircase that anchors the handrail and the structure around it.
from From Old French 'nual' or 'nouel,' meaning the pit or stone of a fruit — the kernel at the core — which itself traces back to Latin 'nucalis,' related to 'nux,' a nut. The newel was imagined as the solid central core around which a spiral stair winds, much as the stone sits at the heart of a fruit.
- hidden cap
- Many conceal a removable lid with deeds inside
- victorian flex
- Builders signaled a paid-off mortgage by capping it
- structural anchor
- It bears the load of the entire handrail
- name root
- From Latin nucalis, meaning a little nut
st paul's cathedral newel — the spiral staircase newel in wren's 1697 london cathedral, 528 steps with a central supporting column
windsor castle newel stairs — the grand newel staircase in the 11th-century castle, a prominent architectural feature with carved stone newels