Coffin corner (architectural myths)

A coffin corner is asserted by some people to be the explanation for a 3' × 3' × 3' niche found in the corner of the landings of stairwells in a Victorian house.

Prior to the widespread availability of hospitals and nursing homes, most people died in their own homes, in their own beds. Victorian houses were typically multistory dwellings that had the bedrooms upstairs accessible by stairs. This created a challenge of getting a coffin down the stairs and around the landings in the horizontal position to the downstairs rooms where the wake would be held. This problem was resolved with the development of the coffin corner. Now the pallbearers could make the turn in the landings by inserting one end of the casket into the coffin corner. When the niche was not used for its intended purpose it typically held a decorative statue.

The above is actually a very popular architectural myth that grows with every historic house tour. The reason for the indentations on the staircases is purely architecturaly decorative. Evidence does not exist which shows that people could not merely move the body downstairs where the coffin was being kept for showing.