The staircase features square balusters and a square newel. A decorative cast-iron balustrade with lantern-style newel posts encases soapstone treads. Known as the "Crystal Staircase", it had a glass handrail and newel posts. Balustrades normally terminate in heavy newel posts, columns, and building walls for structural support. The newel in the east staircase is a wooden Griffin. The stair winds around a central newel and is lined with tongue-and-groove vertical boards. The newel stairs in the southwest tower have a gun loop. The newel post contains classically inspired ornamentation appropriate to the building style. Hollow newels are known more accurately as box newel posts. Knight was born in Nauvoo, Illinois to prominent Mormons Newel and Lydia Knight. He casually exclaims, "Fixed the newel post!" and carries on. They settled in Hot Springs, Virginia, and built a country house named Garth Newel. It may be used to include its supporting structures, such as a supporting newel post. Garth Newel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Raised by the widow of Newel Knight, Jesse's family was poor throughout his youth.