It is reported that the staircase took 6 months to build by one craftsman, which I think is impressive. Being a part of the trades, I am pretty certain that even with today's technology, if you hired a custom shop to build that staircase, you would have the same amount of man hours in layout, construction, installation, and finishing. The hours would be added up over several workers involved with the project instead of just one man.
The staircase is a real engineering masterpiece and display for mastery of the craft. Especially when considering the time it was built and the minimum tools that were used. Seeing it in person is impressive and it left me in awe.
There is an intriguing backstory to how the stairs came to be built. But I will let you read that over at the official website for the Loretto Chapel.
At the time we visited, and I took the pictures, the staircase was decorated for the holidays. As the vertical ribbon hung down the middle of the staircase adorned with Christmas lights, it appears to have a pole in the middle, so it is difficult to get the full effect of the double helix being the only structure.
I hope you all have focused on enjoying the holidays with the ones you love. I look forward to the new year and starting a new journey as I create the online school to provide education and inspiration to the woodworking community.
Your friend in the shop,
Todd A. Clippinger
Share the Love - Share the Knowledge