Staircase

The staircase at the Terminus Hotel rises from the ground-floor hallway in a single timber flight to the upstairs landing, turning once on the way up. The treads are hardwood, varnished, with the centre line worn lighter where decades of foot traffic passed. The handrail is polished timber, the spindles beneath it cast-iron in a simple turned pattern. The wall along the stair is wallpapered in a faded floral print that climbs the full height of the wall. A sash window on the upper landing admits the southern light. The carpet runner has been removed; the timber underneath shows the darker pattern where the runner protected it.

The staircase was the spine of the upstairs accommodation, used by long-term guests, casual workers, and the publican's family across the working life of the pub. The visible building is the 1917 Tooth and Co. demolition and rebuild, undertaken in response to NSW licensing reform that required hotels to provide accommodation upstairs. The staircase dates from that rebuild. The pub closed in 1983 and the stair stopped carrying its usual foot traffic. The 2018 restoration kept the staircase as part of the heritage fit-out of the reopened building.