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Identifying feature

Monumental stairway

A wide outdoor staircase leading up to a building's main entrance, often spanning much of the front. It is common on classical temples, government buildings and museums.

a sign of these styles

Palais Garnier, Paris, France: an example of Baroque Revival Baroque Revival c. 1860–1915 The 1800s turning the volume up: domes, paired columns, sculpture crowding the roofline, and staircases built for grand entrances. Brooklyn Heights Historic District, New York City, New York: an example of Brownstone Brownstone c. 1840–1900 Row houses with brown sandstone fronts, a high stoop to the main floor over a raised basement, and a cornice. El Castillo, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico: an example of Mesoamerican Mesoamerican c. 1000 BCE–1500 CE Stepped stone pyramids with steep ceremonial staircases and carved friezes. Gate of All Nations, Persepolis, Iran: an example of Persian (Achaemenid) Persian (Achaemenid) c. 550–330 BCE Vast halls of tall columns with bull and lion capitals, reached by wide stairways lined with carved processions. Palace "Ukraine", Kyiv, Ukraine: an example of Soviet Modernism Soviet Modernism c. 1955–1991 Large concrete public buildings with sculptural volumes such as inverted pyramids and trapezoids, often with mosaics or relief panels.

also seen on

BaroqueDravidianEgyptian RevivalNeoclassicalPahlaviStalinist ClassicismStripped Classicism

often seen with

Carved stone relief Figures or patterns carved into stone so they project from a flat background, called low relief when shallow… Colonnade A row of evenly spaced columns carrying a horizontal beam, called an entablature, or a roof. Symmetrical facade A facade, or main front, whose left and right halves mirror each other, usually with the main door at the… Balustrade A railing made of a row of short, shaped posts called balusters, topped by a rail. Battered wall A wall built with a batter, meaning it slopes inward as it rises and is thicker at the base. Cornice A deep, overhanging ledge that caps the top of a facade. Dome A rounded roof shaped as half a sphere, often raised on a drum (a circular wall). Flat roof A roof that is level or nearly level, often edged by a low wall called a parapet.