There is no mystery to Santa Fe’s famous spiral staircase

One of the biggest legends told in the Santa Fe area is that of the “miraculous spiral staircase” ascending to the choir loft at the Loretto Chapel. The legend that began in the early 20th century and is repeated ad nauseam over loud speakers inside the chapel today, goes like this.

The Legend

The small Gothic-style chapel was built for the adjacent girls school run by the Sisters of Loretto beginning in 1873. Either the architects forgot to include a staircase to the choir loft or the nuns could not afford it but the structure was built without one. It is more likely that, as was customary at the time, it was left out on purpose as most churches had simple ladders for choir boys to ascend to the loft. If you visit any of the many territorial churches built in this area you always learn that staircases to the choir lofts were later additions.

This being a school for girls, it was deemed unsuitable to use ladders and so the nuns said prayers to St. Joseph the Carpenter to send along a solution. On the last night of their novena a stranger appeared with tool chest in hand. Over the course of many weeks he built the amazing structure that visitors see today: A 33-step spiraling staircase that makes two complete 360-degree turns up to the choir loft and which has no central column for support. That is, it is attached at the base, the floor, and at the top where it meets the choir loft floor. (Later wall-supports were added in the 1950s as the staircase began to show signs of use.) And as mysteriously as the man had appeared, he had packed up his tools and left without so much as collecting payment.

The Real Story

Local historian Mary Jean Cook Straw has spent years researching archives starting in the 1980s and she uncovered the mystery behind the carpenter who built the staircase (built some time during the years 1877-1881). His name was Francois-Jean Rochas, a French transplant of the mid-1800s who had settled in New Mexico around 1846. He was an established carpenter and known to many. He was hired to build the spiral staircase for the St. Vincent sanitarium [later destroyed by fire] also in Santa Fe.

Among the evidence she uncovered were documents relating to the construction, including an 1881 entry in the Sister’s Day Book explaining an expenditure of money, “Paid for wood Mr Rochas, $150.00.”

Rochas was killed in a gun fight in Dog Canyon, near Alamogordo, in December 1894. His death notice in the 5 January 1895 Santa Fe New Mexican mentions that he was known as the builder of the spiral staircase.

A letter from Las Cruces to Mr. Quintus Monier, of date yesterday, states that Frank Rochas was found dead at his ranch house near La Luz, a few days ago. His friends believe that he was assassinated as previous attempts have been made. He was a Frenchman, and was favorably known in Santa Fe as an expert worker in wood. He build [sic] the handsome staircase in the Loretto Chapel and at St. Vincent sanitarium.

Santa Fe New Mexican, 5 January 1895, page 4.

Finally, among Rochas possessions upon his death was an unmailed letter addressed to the Quintus Monier mentioned above. Quintus Monier was a church leader in Santa Fe and was in charge of the building and construction of chapels and schools for the diocese under Bishop Lamy. It was he had had contracted Rochas to build the staircase. Two other unmailed letters were also found in his cabin, addressed to Lamy and dealt with other work Rochas had done for the Church.

Long after Rochas had died and long after anyone who knew him had died, the “miraculous” story sprang forth. It is very likely it was purposely done in order to increase the burgeoning tourist industry in Santa Fe. The Loretto Academy closed in 1968 and the chapel is now the property of the hotel Inn at Loretto which rents it out for weddings and similar events. Touring the chapel to see the staircase will set you back $5. The Sisters of Loretto maintain the religious gift store attached to the Chapel and inside the lobby of the hotel.

References

Cover Photo: By Camerafiend, CC BY-SA 3.0
Staircase photo ©2011 by David O. Gunter.
Mary Jean Straw Cook, Loretto: The Sisters and Their Santa Fe Chapel, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2002, ISBN 0890133980, 9780890133989.