Historic Hotel Renovation Reveals Antique Elevator

The Detroit Hotel in St Petersburg, Florida, was built between 1888 and 1889 and is the oldest hotel in the city. The oldest parts of the building were made from wood, and brick sections were added at a later date. Over the years, the building was converted into apartments and businesses.

However, when workmen were conducting demolition work to build a new restaurant in the property, they discovered a forgotten piece of history from the hotel, an elegant, gold-trimmed antique elevator, reports Fox 13 News in Florida.

As the crews tore out a section of wall they discovered the fancy elevator, and removal of part of the flooring revealed the lifting machinery and even some of the remaining cables.

A metal plate on the floor of the elevator revealed it was made by the Warner Elevator Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, who produced elevators in the late 1800s, coinciding with the original construction of the Detroit Hotel.

Unlike modern lifts, it had no buttons as it would have been operated by an operator, and a small door on the rear of the carriage was where bellmen could load luggage.

Pete Mortellaro of G&M Construction said: “From what we’re told, it’s the second elevator in the state of Florida. It’s the first one in our area.”

They also found a hand-wired, and hand-numbered electrical switching system that at one time would have connected to every room in the hotel, which maybe would have been used to alert guests of messages waiting for them at the reception.

The owners of the new restaurant are keen to preserve the unexpected discovery, adding a historic enhancement to the premises.

“When you walk in and see something like this and you can actually put a time period into your head when this thing was in operation, that’s amazing,” Mortellaro added. 

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