With this month’s edition of Flat Living focussing on Listed and Historic Buildings, we felt it was a good opportunity to revisit classic designs of lift through the ages, as many of the designs can still be seen in our major cities today.
Early Years
Whilst there are numerous ideas of the first lifts used by man, with hemp rope devices being pulled by oxen an image frequently conjured up, the modern passenger lift has its roots in more recent history.
The screw drive system was utilised for the first time in a lift system in 1793 by Ivan Kulibin at the Winter Palace, St Petersburg. More remarkable is that the principal of the drive system is still used in modern disabled access platform lifts, some 230 years later.
Elisha Otis is credited with developing the modern lift (elevator) with his invention of the safety gear, an automated braking system, which he first demonstrated at a New York exposition in 1854. The first of these passenger elevators was installed in 1857 at 488 Broadway. The provision of a safety device to stop the lift car if the ropes failed revolutionised the lift industry and in turn, paved the way to high rise construction so familiar in today’s skyline.
Modern lift equipment has improved upon the original design and fortunately with the safety factors of ropes/machines now far greater than before, it is a very rare occurrence to have the safety gear deployed in the event of emergency.
However, with the common ancestors of today’s lifts dating back over 200 years, it is no surprise to find lifts of all shapes and sizes in some of the most recognisable buildings of the world.
Classic Design
When thinking of older lift designs, both London and Paris come to mind, with the stairwell lift, within a mesh shaft structure and with open picket (lattice) gates. There are some pristine examples of these still found within mansion blocks in our major cities (though a great number have lost the originality of the lift cars, with 1960 Formica overlay).
Our article in Flat Living E45 (also seen in our case study) focussed on a particularly well-preserved example of this classic design within a West London property, with a glazed lift car adding to the Art Deco design. We were (and remain) very proud to be able to sympathetically refurbish that lift, with a client who understood the importance of retaining the character of the building, whilst letting us improve the health and safety of the system for future operatives.
The HSE (understandably) want to see the removal of these lattice gates due to the serious risk they can pose. However, English Heritage (equally understandably) would like to preserve the character of these lifts wherever possible, as they are key to the design of these buildings, often forming part of a lightwell to common areas.
We are well versed at finding a balance between these two opposing viewpoints to maximise safety whilst retaining character, an art we want to retain in the Lift Industry!
Unconventional – but Effective
The Paternoster is a now outmoded lift system from the late nineteenth century, where a ‘cyclic elevator’ provided service to a building. The system is in essence a chain of lift cars linked together, which slowly travel the length of the lift shaft (from bottom to top) only to move horizontally at the top of the building to then descend in the neighbouring shaft. All the while, dozens of identical lift cars make the same journey, meaning a continuous arrival of lift cars at each floor, permitting the public to hop into the nearest cabin in their direction of travel, getting out at their required floor (think of London’s Circle Line on a continuous loop).
Originally installed in Oriel Chambers in Liverpool (circa 1868), minor design alterations occurred before the Paternoster was adopted into public use and thereafter seen frequently installed throughout the first half of the 20th century. The design gained in popularity because despite the slow speed of each individual car (approximately 1 foot per second – enabling a step on/off to be achieved in travel), the collective number of cars per shaft enabled a faster flow of passengers in a public building (much like escalators).
The Arts Tower in Sheffield had a 22-storey version of the Paternoster installed (the highest in Europe), but simple calculations would indicate at an approximate height of 70m to the top floor of the building, it would take nearly 4 minutes in the lift car to travel from bottom to top floors!
However, the design suffered from a number of high-profile accidents and due to the constant movement of the cabins, they pose risk to anyone of limited mobility (children, elderly and disabled passengers being at most risk) when boarding/alighting the cabin. Subsequently, they are no longer permitted for installation and only very few now survive in operational service.
One notable exception to this was in the 2020 pandemic, where Northwick Park Hospital (London) reinstated their Paternoster for service after originally decommissioning the unit in 2013. The decision to reinstate the lift was undertaken to prevent crowding in the main lifts of the hospital, but the added benefit of no buttons to push and limited passengers per car would seem to play into further benefits obtained from the design. Paternoster lifts hospital’s spirits | Latest news | LNWH
One final point on these units; the term Paternoster was applied to the lift as they operate in the form of a loop (with the design resembling rosary beads on a string). Paternoster means ‘Our Father’ the first two words of the Lord’s Prayer in Latin – rather apt when considering the risks they have been deemed to pose.
Under Pressure
Within a number of UK cities, the installation of hydraulic power networks was established at the end of the nineteenth century. Hundreds of miles of high pressure cast iron hydraulic pipes pushed millions of gallons of water each week around the various networks.
It provided a cleaner source of power than the equivalent steam engines and in London alone it was utilised by approximately 8,000 lifts and cranes, using hydraulic pressures to drive pistons upwards, whilst releasing of the pressure would enable them to return to the lower floors.
Electric pumps began to replace the steam engines originally installed, but the system was finally decommissioned in 1977.
However, hydraulic lifts survive and operate using oil reservoirs (rather than mains water pressure), with self-contained pumps within lift motor rooms. The advent of the MRL (machine room less) lift has seen the decline in hydraulic lifts being installed, but there remains a time and place for their installation. Whilst slow in comparison to modern electric passenger lifts, hydraulic units are often found moving heavy loads over shorter distances, for example car park lifts are often hydraulic in design.
We are available to support you with any queries you may have relating to lifts of varying ages within your property.
You can contact the ARDENT team via their website or by emailing info@ardentlc.co.uk.
As independent lift consultants, ARDENT Lift Consultancy recognise the importance of offering unbiased and accurate advice to our clients. This has developed mutual respect between our team of lift consultants and those we work with. Whether working with architects looking to build practicality into their vision, or a property manager with time constraints seeking immediate solutions, we totally understand individual client requirements and provide timely, well considered and accurate advice.
