Yet some academy members question why it took so long. The tweak, made ahead of the Castle's May 2021 reopening - it had closed when the pandemic began - obscured the view from below. 'Common sense.'Īcademy leadership eventually opted to install wooden pieces along the railing. 'If you're bright enough, and it's a problem to you, then you don't walk on that side of the staircase,' Gay Blackstone, chairwoman of the academy's board of trustees, told The Times in a recent interview.

There was pressure to renovate the venue's staircase to protect female members and visitors, but also skepticism from those who didn't think it was a major issue.