S&A Stairs: The Melbourne family shaping staircases into art for over 100 years

A staircase may serve a practical purpose, but when done well, it rises as sculpture in its own right. It frames daily moments, from guests pausing on the turn to sunlight catching a curve of timber.

For over a century, Melbourne-based S&A Stairs has been elevating this humble necessity into an art form.

The story begins in 1920, when Alec Acquroff and his friend Ted Slattery rented a horse stable in South Yarra and converted it into a workshop. From this makeshift shed, they hand-crafted stairs, carting them to site by wheelbarrow through the Great Depression.

Their resilience, paired with an obsession for quality, laid the foundation for a legacy that has since spanned four generations of the Acquroff family.

“We’ve survived so many generational challenges – the Depression, the Second World War, the post-war migration boom,” says Nick Acquroff, the general manager of marketing. “Each shaped us into the company we are today.

“Our grandfather, Jack, built some of the most iconic stairs in Australia – Parliament House in Melbourne and Canberra, Melbourne Airport and landmark projects with Robyn Boyd, Harry Seidler, Roy Grounds and others, often before they became icons.”

Under the leadership of Robert Acquroff in the 1980s, the business expanded again. The Beard family – partners for two generations since George Beard began as one of the company’s first apprentices – played a pivotal role in this growth.

His son, Rob, often described as the “engine room” of the brand, served as managing director between Acquroff generations and worked alongside Robert to forge relationships with emerging builders such as Henley, Simonds, Carlisle and Metricon.

“Our dad Robert was a master with people,” says managing director Tom Acquroff. “He was incredibly creative when it came to design, meticulous in what he expected in terms of quality, and brilliant at building relationships within the industry.”

Today, S&A Stairs is Australia’s only national stair builder. Behind each staircase is a team of artisans, many of whom have dedicated their entire careers to refining a single art form.

“We are truly a family business when it comes to craft,” says director Joel Acquroff. “Stair building is one of the most niche industries in the world.

“Our staff start as apprentices working by hand, then move through the business, and many of our artisans have been with us for decades.”

Training and mentorship are central to this ethos, with the company running its own TAFE program. Generations of knowledge, codified into an evolving rule book, ensure techniques for creating features like timber handrails and scrolls are never lost.

“We’ve invested heavily in technology like five-axis CNC woodworking machinery that can produce a curved handrail in 30 minutes – something our great-grandfather would have spent weeks carving,” Tom says. “But the finishing touches – the sanding, the polish, the way a handrail curves beneath your palm – still belong to the craftsman.”

S&A Stairs works with leading architects and builders nationwide, and recent projects include sculptural, spiralling forms in two homes in the prestigious Melbourne suburb of Toorak – one on Yarradale Road by Mazzei and another on Dunraven Avenue by Davies Henderson.

“Stairs have become one of the last true places in the home for locally made craft and experimentation,” Joel says. “Where other elements are becoming commoditised, stairs are going the other way – becoming more important as a form of expression.”

Next year marks another chapter for S&A Stairs, with the opening of a 10,000-square-metre Melbourne workshop, where Italian machinery will cut waste and push design boundaries – a leap that honours the past while shaping what comes next.

“The beautiful curved stair you see in a Malvern residence is now available in homes for everyone,” Nick says. “That’s our future – keeping the art of stair building alive so each generation can enjoy something made to last.”