Due to mud and dust prevalent on the streets of Bucharest and other towns of Romania of the La Belle Epoque period (the last quarter of the c19th, until the Great War), people, especially those from the richer strata of the population had to find ways to keep their clothes clean and look smart. One of those devices was the stair spur, helping ladies in elaborate long skirts , and also some gentlemen with expensive shoes, to step down from horse drawn carriages straight onto the stairs of a house and then enter it without having any contact with the dirt on the street or courtyard. This video shows some of those still surviving stair spurs of central Bucharest.
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian 
What a sensible idea. I think stairs and steps have become very stuck in their ways and there should be some innovation again
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Thank you. The women’s dresses were so uncomfortable and tight that they limited the women’s movement and endangered their health. So at least a simple response like the spur offered some convenience when women alighted from their carriages.
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