Biltmore Stairs

I was in the Biltmore Estate a couple of years ago with my family. We were on vacation for the summer. We went there because it is a very historical building and is a French Renaissance inspired chateau near Asheville, North Carolina, built by George Washington Vanderbilt between 1888 and 1895. It is the largest privately owned home in the United States at 175,000 square feet and featuring 255 rooms. Still owned by Vanderbilt's descendants, it stands today as one of the most prominent remaining examples of the Gilded Age. In 2007, it was ranked eighth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. One specific feature of the house that I remember very well is the grand marble staircase. This entire staircase is a spiral staircase made of huge marble slabs that are held together just by the force of the stairs pushing together. The force is so great that the stairs can hold thousands of pounds on them and they don't need anything to hold them up, except for the points at which it is fastened to the floors above and below.