Step street

Step street at West 229th Street, Bronx, New York

A step street is a thoroughfare fitted with steps for pedestrian traffic rather than paved or tracked for motor vehicles. It is a practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for automobiles. Step streets consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas. Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities. In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City.^[1][2]

Examples

• In New York City, there are 102 step streets across the city's five boroughs. Of these, the majority (64) are in the Bronx.^[3] Others are scattered through hilly areas of Upper Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.^[4] Some of the more notable step streets in New York City include Bushman Steps, which led to the Polo Grounds stadium in Upper Manhattan,^[5] as well as the Joker Stairs in the Bronx, one of the filming locations for the 2019 movie Joker.^[6][7]
• The city of Pittsburgh maintains over 700 sets of steps, some of which are classified as streets.^[8]
• Rue Foyatier in Montmartre, Paris, is said to be the most photographed staircase in Paris, with over 250 steps.^[9]
• There are also several step streets in San Francisco, California.^[10][11] One of these is the Lyon Street Steps between Broadway and Green Street in Pacific Heights, with 332 steps.^[12] Another, the Filbert Street Steps, descend the east slope of Telegraph Hill and run through the Grace Marchant Garden, tended by the residents who live along these steps.^[13] In total, there are 600 public stairs in San Francisco, not all of which are step streets.^[14]
• The town of Gurabo, Puerto Rico, is popularly known as Pueblo de las Escaleras ("town of the stairs") due to the number of step streets in the district of El Cerro near the center of town.^[15][16]
• In Montreal, Rue Saint-Christophe contains both stairs and a small slide, and is part of Parc Simonne-Monet-Chartrand.^[17]

See also

• Ladder streets
• Perron (staircase)

References

1. Feiden, Douglas (2015-07-08). "Step by Step, Rebuilding New York City's Open-Air Staircases". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
2. Wachs, Audrey (2016-02-02). "WXY steps up design on one of New York's long-neglected stair paths". Archpaper.com. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
3. Clark, Roger (2018-11-12). "NYC's 'Step Streets' Have Their Ups and Downs". www.ny1.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
4. Walsh, Kevin (1999-06-06). "STEP STREETS". Forgotten New York. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
5. "Bushman Steps Highlights : NYC Parks". www.nycgovparks.org. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
6. Asmelash, Leah (2019-10-20). "The 'Joker' stairs might be New York's latest tourist attraction". CNN. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
7. Jacobs, Julia (2019-10-31). "'Joker' Stairs Become a Bronx Tourist Draw. Hope You're in Shape". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
8. "Pittsburgh Citywide Step Assessment". www.pittsburghpa.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
9. Haight, Mary Ellen Jordan (1991). Paris Portraits, Renoir to Chanel: Walks on the Right Bank. Peregrine Smith Books. ISBN 978-0-87905-361-1. Rue Foyatier stairs.
10. "Stairways of San Francisco". www.sisterbetty.org. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
11. Keeling, Brock (2019-08-20). "The coolest urban staircases in San Francisco". Curbed SF. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
12. DK Eyewitness San Francisco and the Bay Area. Travel Guide. DK Publishing. 2019. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-4654-8840-4. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
13. Habegger, Larry (Spring 2016). "Saving Grace's Garden: 30 Years Since the Battle of Filbert Steps". www.foundsf.org. The Semaphore. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
14. Bakalinsky, A. (2011). Stairway Walks in San Francisco (Large Print 16pt). ReadHowYouWant.com, Limited. ISBN 978-1-4596-1900-5. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
15. "Gurabo". Discover Puerto Rico. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
16. "El pueblo de las escaleras - kooltouractiva.com". www.kooltouractiva.com. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
17. Ville de Montréal. "Parc Simonne-Monet-Chartrand". montreal.ca. Retrieved 2023-01-08.