Why Do We Call Building Floors “Stories”?

Why Do We Call Building Floors “Stories”?

In the market to buy a home? You may tell your realtor that you want Two-storey house. Headed to work downtown? Your office may be in a five-story commercial building.

story It has long been synonymous with “floor” or building level. We often seem to use story When outside (“This building must be 20 stories high”) and floor When you’re inside (“We’re on the fourth floor”). But why use? story instead of floor At all?

  1. Why are building floors called “stories”
  2. Story versus feet

Why are building floors called “stories”

according to Oxford English Dictionary, usage story In the context of the standard of living it dates back to the fourteenth century. probably Origin of the word Is that this story is taken from the Latin word datewhich previously meant “history” but later came to mean “image.” When medieval people began to decorate windows with paintings and illustrations, some of which may have told a story sequential across horizontal panes of glass, they collectively projected an image or story. This eventually gave way to referring to the ground itself as a story.

It should be noted that medieval householders were not a sufficient source of them Architectural abstract. Thatched huts with carved openings were the norm. Windows and their accompanying decorations were usually Found In churches or in the neighborhoods of wealthy royals. The stained-glass religious iconography of churches lends further credibility to this origin.

Another, less plausible explanation is that the story came from the Gaelic word stairsOr a “flight of stairs.” Or perhaps the story came from Old French estoree“, meaning “built thing.” Due to the ancient origins, it has been difficult for linguists to support any source with confidence.


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Story versus feet

story (Written In the United Kingdom as well floor) usually refers to one floor of a building, or what the Oxford English Dictionary describes as “each section of a building comprising all the rooms on the same level…the room or group of rooms forming one of these levels.”

Technically, the story does not need a specific size or composition. A building can be constructed very narrow, and as long as it has separate floors, each is considered one floor. The story does not have to be exclusive. An apartment building may contain several residences on one floor.

There is also no sort of mandatory elevation. Usually residential buildings He owns About 10 feet of vertical space per floor; Commercial buildings may be up to 15 feet tall to accommodate more functional components (HVAC systems, plumbing, etc.). No matter the ceiling height, every level is a story.


Record number of stories

Although there is no exact standard for story height, its size usually tracks standard building heights. Burj Khalifa in Dubai is He believes It is the tallest tower in the world at 2,716 feet (2,722 if you include its tower), and it also has a record number of floors (163). But the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, which is still several years away from completion, may deprive it of that title: it is Expected It reaches a height of 3,281 feet, or the height of 11 Statues of Liberty. It is estimated to eventually have at least 130 floors, although it is possible that it will not exceed 163, meaning that the tallest building in the world and the building with the most floors may no longer exist. one And the same.


while story and floor They are usually interchangeable They don’t always get tangled. A high-rise building may have a ground floor, but we don’t call it the “ground floor.” A hotel guest may request a room on the top floor, but not on the top floor. In the case of basements, any underground level is usually just that – underground, neither floor nor story. Real estate listings, for example, typically don’t do this number Basement square footage when referring to the size of the house. But a prefabricated attic? Well, that’s another story.

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