Neil Hopcroft

I had to know whether paternoster elevators were a figment of my imagination:

Escalators and lifts
Elevator museum timeline

…are there are still in use?

(shame the elevator museum is purely online, that would be worth a trip…hmmm, I wonder if the Northampton Lighthouse is still up for sale?)

Categories: Memories.

/ 13 Comments

13 comments

jarkman

2004-03-14 at 01:48

The Oxford engineering building had one in the mid-eighties, and for all I know it’s there still.

The first trip was a bit disconcerting, but it worked really well. Much slicker than a regular lift.

Reply
- neilh
  
  2004-03-14 at 01:59
  
  Whereabouts is that? I’ll have to have a go at finding it if it is still there – somehow I can’t imagine it in this age of litigation, they’d be too scared of people getting their limbs caught.
  
  Reply
  - jarkman
    
    2004-03-14 at 02:25
    
    In the triangle between Parks Road and Banbury Road:
    http://multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=451000&Y=207000&width=700&height=400
    
    There’s a tall square building. Entrance is on the west, as I recall.
    
    Hm. Further Googlage suggests the Paternoster is gone:
    http://www.soue.org.uk/souenews/issue2/jottings.html
    
    Bum!
    
    Reply
    - neilh
      
      2004-03-14 at 02:36
      
      Dammit
      
      Reply
sushidog

2004-03-14 at 02:23

There was one at Leicester Uni when I was there, and I only left a little more than 2 years ago, so i assume it’s still there!

Reply
- neilh
  
  2004-03-14 at 02:34
  
  Is it easy to find? Where is it? I don’t know Leicester very well, apart from being able to find the Princess Charlotte even when I’m not looking for it.
  
  Reply
  - sushidog
    
    2004-03-14 at 02:38
    
    It’s in the Attenborough Tower, on Campus. Shouldn’t be too hard to find if you can get to campus, and that’s fairly easy to find. Let me know if/when you’re planning a trip, and I’ll try and give you some directions!
    
    Reply
    - neilh
      
      2004-03-14 at 06:14
      
      OK, the trip (obviously) won’t be until I’m back in the country…but will let you know, we could make it a grand day out with picnic baskets and everything….
      
      Reply
dan_lane

2004-03-14 at 03:41

Someone tried to to tell me that they had one of these in a Uni in Birmingham about 5 years ago, I never believed them as it sounded far too dangerous!!!

Can’t find any horrifying reports of accidents so perhaps they aren’t as dangerous as they say.

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/10709

Reply
- neilh
  
  2004-03-14 at 06:23
  
  Perhaps accidents in lifts just aren’t newsworthy? They certainly sound fun, and I vaguely remember going on one, but that was quite a long time ago.
  
  Maybe its time to visit the Czech republic, while they still have an installed base?
  
  Or maybe I should aim to become an eccentric millionaire and install one in my mansion….
  
  Reply
- Anonymous
  
  2004-03-14 at 14:35
  
  Yeah, Birmingham Uni used to have at least two of them, one in the library and one in the Muirhead Tower (a building that really didn’t need to rely on constantly moving lifts in order to represent a hazard to humanity!) The one in the library was way more efficient (and fun!) than the standard lift they eventually replaced it with. We were always warned against going over the top or under the bottom (if you get my drift), although I’m not entirely sure what dire fate was supposed to ensue if you were reckless enough to try. I was never that daring, but I did have a fantastic dream once in which I went all the way down and found myself in an amazing subterranean world with gondolas sailing along a river, and everything glowing with a greenish light, which sounds eerie but was actually quite beautiful.
  
  Karen
  
  Reply
neilh

2004-03-14 at 06:19

I must’ve UCCA toured a different set of Unis…the only place I can think of that might have had one mentioned was Aston, and if they did it was a poor second to the newly installed glass elevators in the main entrancehall.

Reply
godgirl

2004-03-14 at 15:05

there was one in the librabry at sheffield uni.

i took the stairs!!!

Reply

Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

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