3 Unique Staircase Features You’ll Find in Historic Homes You can learn a lot about history by looking around an older house. Charming features like phone niches reveal a lot about the people and technology of bygone days. If you’ve ever inspected an older staircase, you may have noticed details like brass corner protectors or metal stair rods. Read on to take a closer look at these features, discover their purpose and find staircase ideas for your next DIY project. Dust Corners Before vacuum cleaners were invented, sweeping dust out of stair corners was a major headache. Stair corner dust guards were created in the 1890s to help simplify sweeping. That’s not their only use, though—stair guards also add some charm to wooden staircases. Try adding them to awkward corners in your home, like the corners between a wall and fireplace molding. Stair Rods According to The Victorian Emporium, a renovation company specializing in period homes, stair rods were u...