Wender·Vista
Joker stairs
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in the Bronx, just below the Grand Concourse

Joker stairs

— — a public staircase a film turned into a stage.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A concrete staircase on a Bronx hillside, connecting West 167th Street at the top to Shakespeare Avenue at the base. Until 2019 it was a neighborhood shortcut between Highbridge and the long ridge of the Grand Concourse. The closing dance sequence of Todd Phillips's Joker was filmed on its 132 steps, and within months the stairs had a name. Residents still take them home. Visitors take them photographed.

from the studio
Joker stairs
— bring it home

Joker stairs, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Joker stairs

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The staircase climbs the western face of the Bronx between West 167th Street at its top and Shakespeare Avenue at its base, in the Highbridge neighborhood, just below the long ridge of the Grand Concourse. It is one of dozens of public step-streets that New York City built where the terrain refuses a regular grid — concrete treads, iron railings, no name on the official map. Its 132 steps had served the surrounding apartment buildings as a daily shortcut for decades before the staircase appeared in a film.

— the year

Todd Phillips's Joker was released in October 2019, with Joaquin Phoenix's character dancing down the staircase in the film's third act. Within weeks visitors began arriving for photographs. By 2020 local residents had begun posting signs asking tourists to be respectful of the surrounding apartments, and the stairs had appeared on major travel itineraries of New York. Five years on, the staircase has become a fixture of Bronx film-location tours alongside Yankee Stadium, twelve blocks north.

— the visit

The base of the staircase is at the corner of Shakespeare Avenue and West 167th Street; the top opens onto Anderson Avenue and the slope of the Grand Concourse ridge. The closest subway is the 167th Street station on the B and D lines, two blocks east of the upper landing. The stairs are a public right-of-way and free to climb. The buildings on either side are private homes; the surrounding hours belong to the residents, not to a film set.

— where
United States · Highbridge, The Bronx, New York City
— position
40.8348° N · 73.9268° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km N
Yankee Stadium
ballpark
0.3 km E
Grand Concourse
historic boulevard
1 km W
High Bridge
historic aqueduct bridge
1 km N
Bronx County Courthouse
civic landmark
N
Joker stairs
Yankee Stadium
Grand Concourse
High Bridge
Bronx County Courthouse
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Joker stairs — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The staircase runs between West 167th Street at its top and Shakespeare Avenue at its base, in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx, just west of the Grand Concourse and a short walk from Yankee Stadium.

Todd Phillips's Joker, released in October 2019. Joaquin Phoenix's character dances down the staircase in the film's third act, in a sequence that became one of the most-recognised shots from the film.

The staircase has 132 concrete steps split across two flights, with an iron railing down the middle. It is a public step-street, one of dozens the city built where the Bronx terrain breaks the regular grid.

The 167th Street station on the B and D lines, two blocks east of the upper landing. The 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station on the same lines is also within easy walking distance for visitors arriving by train.

The stairs are a public right-of-way and free to climb. The buildings on either side are private homes, and residents have asked visitors to be quiet, brief, and respectful of the surrounding apartments.

A residential Bronx neighborhood named for the High Bridge over the Harlem River, the oldest standing bridge in New York City. It sits west of the Grand Concourse and just south of the Yankee Stadium district.

— about the piece in your home

Many of our customers have given the Joker stairs tile to film fans and to family who grew up in the Bronx. The composition reads as that specific staircase rather than as a generic city scene.

The piece sits naturally in industrial-modern, dark-academia, and urban-loft rooms. The brick-and-concrete palette also reads well against blackened steel, oxblood leather, vintage posters, and exposed-brick walls.

Yes. The film-noir palette and concrete-and-iron staircase pair with the dark wood, oxblood, brass, and brick surfaces that have anchored dark-academia and industrial-modern interiors over the last several seasons.

A single Large covers a standard console or narrow sofa wall. A four-tile Mural fills a longer sofa wall with room around it, and a nine-tile Mural anchors a feature wall in a media room or stairwell.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and stable in steam, so a Medium or Mural will hold in a bathroom, a kitchen splash, or a covered patio.

A microfibre cloth and clean water are enough. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and lives beneath a thin glossy finish, so it will not lift with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Reid Wender curates the atlas and the work is hand-finished in-house. There is no licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

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