Everest for All

Kew Palace

Laing Touch Trail

Building of Bath

Wellcome Gallery

Tower of London

Staircase House

Weston Park Museum

Woodhorn Museum

Mobile Activity Module

Library

access and interpretation

Events & Talks

Baxter Park

Stoke Bruerne & Hatton Locks

Staircase House

This composite piece is a tactile model of Staircase House in
Stockport. It recreates 500 years of historical development of this
local heritage landmark, from its origins as a medieval house to
the present day.

The building detail is created using raised detail marquetry, the art of
inlaying wood veneer into a frame to create tonal images. The traditional
inlay technique has been reversed for this project by raising the profile of
the veneer to give the piece a beautiful, textured surface detail.

The model sections showing the additions and changes to the house
are positioned chronologically clockwise from the left on the oak base
plinth. The house is assembled In the centre of the oak base by
removing numbered sections of oak meadow and replacing
them with the relevant building piece. A ‘how to use’ booklet in large print
and Braille accompanies the installation to assist the assembly and to
give some detail of the periods of change.

“The Staircase House model has been very popular with all visitors
over the last year or so. A colleague from Disability Stockport who is
totally blind spent some time with it one day and he was particularly
impressed. Having been to Staircase House many times previously,
he said he had “never had an overview of this building before,
it’s fascinating!” He commented that the model “really is conveying
what happened to Staircase House better than any description”.
This opinion matched those expressed by a family of visually impaired
visitors who said the model gave them a perspective of the overall
building as it progressed through history.”

Sarah Cotton, Curator, Staircase House, June 2007

Copyright: Staircase House