Antique elevators

I'm working in the Puck building this summer. When I told a friend that, he said it was cool. That he would consider working for a company based on the building. He said I'll have worked in two landmark buildings in New York: this and the Flatiron.

When I first started working in the Flatiron building, the elevators were still being run using the original hydraulic system. A few months later a pipe burst and flooded the lobby. The elevators had been slow; for a day or two they stopped working entirely. They've since been replaced with electric elevators, but I can't help but think back on the old elevators.

The Puck building has an antique elevator of its own, with an attendant who runs the small lift. A bank of modern (though slow) elevators can be found around the corner, past the main lobby.

Most of the time, I bypass the antique elevator. But if I hear its rattling chains as I enter the building, I'll wait for it to stop on the ground floor, and then pause as the attendant opens the door. I'll say hello and squeeze my way in, and watch as he closes first the steel outer door, then the inner mesh door before sitting down and pushing the lever forward, lifting us up.
Posted by eku at August 14, 2006 1:33 PM