Apparatus for holding and retaining a ladder

An apparatus which is mounted on a surface such as a wall and is used to safely and efficiently hold and retain a ladder when not in use. The apparatus is affixed to a wall and includes an arcuate surface with a stopping block at its outwardmost portion such that a conventional step ladder which contains a cylindrical handle can be mounted and held on the arcuate surface and supported thereby. The stopping block serves to assure that the handle will not roll off the arcuate surface. In an alternative embodiment included within the same apparatus, thre is a sloped surface with a downward slope relative to the wall and offset from the wall by a lateral surface which is affixed to a wall. With this alternative embodiment, a conventional ladder can be held on the sloped surface by its top in a manner which will prevent the ladder from touching and scratching the wall to which the apparatus is affixed. With either embodiment, if the apparatus is mounted sufficiently high on the wall, the body of the ladder will rest off the floor and generally parallel to and against the wall, thereby assuring that the ladder is out of the way and that no person or animal walking adjacent the area where the ladder is stored will accidentally kick into the ladder.