It depicts the interior of a tall structure crisscrossed with stairs and doorways.

A total of 46 wentelteefje (imaginary creatures created by Escher) are crawling on the stairs.

The wentelteefje has a long, armored body with six legs, humanoid feet, a parrot-like beak and eyes on stalks.

The wentelteefje first appeared earlier the same month in the lithograph Curl-up.

Later that month, House of Stairs was extended to a vertical length of 141 cm (55+1⁄2 in) in a print titled House of Stairs II by repeating and mirroring some of the architecture and creatures.