10 Extreme and Unusual Elevators Around the Globe

Elevators. These vertical transport machines in buildings worldwide might seem mundane, but certain elevators cross the bounds into the extreme by their sheer exceptionality. In this account, discover the 10 most noteworthy elevators constructed worldwide, ranging from a lift inside a giant aquarium, an elevator that crawls up the world’s largest dome, and the fastest elevators in operation…
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Coming up:
10. AquaDom
9. Oregon City Municipal Elevator
8. Bailong Elevator
7. Hammetschwand
6. Andrew Walker’s Bottomless Elevator Illusion
5. Skyview Elevator
4. Shanghai Tower Elevator
3. Gateway Arch Elevator
2. Suur Munamägi Observation Tower
1. Japan’s Largest Passenger Elevator
Source/Further reading:
• The AquaDom
• The nation's only "ver...
• Video
• Hammetschwand Lift run...
www.designswan.com/archives/b...
• Stockholm Skyview Glob...
• Riding the World's Fas...
• Gateway Arch - Elevato...
• SUUR MUNAMÄGI | Highes...
• 住友不動産六本木グランドタワー Sumito...
www.maxpixel.net/static/photo...
www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonh...
• The AquaDom
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/glynlow...
ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A...
• The nation's only "ver...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/archite...
• Where We Live: The Ore...
pxhere.com/en/photo/968995
www.flickr.com/photos/kazuhit...
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%...
• Video
cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/08...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
• Hammetschwand Lift run...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:B...

[@Textile_Courtesan]

I'm ridiculously excited that you mentioned the Gateway to the West. One of my favorite places to visit. What isn't mentioned is the tram has windows and you can watch the different support structures pass by as you travel up and down. Fun fact, George Takei got special permission to climb the 633 foot structure to the observation deck in 2018.

[@CynBH]

No pictures of the Arch's cylindrical trams? No description of how they move through the curved structure? It's really quite impressive engineering, especially since it was designed in the 1960s.

[@katielancaster6376]

I was disappointed there was not a pic of the actual pods. How often do you see egg shaped elevators cars?!???

[@christineparis5607]

Your comment interested me, so I looked up the arch on wikipedia and read through all of it. Now I really want to go there! I had no idea it was that interesting! The idea for the arch was being considered in the 1930s! It's incredible how long it took and what it meant for the city. And the trams are incredible! The whole thing is amazing, and there was a beat photographer for a local paper who followed the entire construction and now has a museum exhibit. I never came across any of this before. It's on my list.

[@CynBH]

@@christineparis5607 Mathematical trivia: The Arch is an inverted caternary curve. 😊

[@CynBH]

Unfortunately, it's closed right now because of the government shutdown. 😒

[@chouseification]

agreed - they showed a single still from inside one of the pods - they didn't show the interesting platforms at the base and top of the towers. I'm not sure if they have upgraded the electronics for the elevators or not, but when I rode in it about 15 years ago the auto-leveling system was clearly using really low precision level switches (or whatever)... the pods would wait until you were actually leaning to one side before the leveling motors would kick in, and they would overcorrect, so the whole ride up and down was this odd seesawing wobble in the tiny cramped little cabs. They could do something much better for $50 a pod with Arduino or similar running the leveling controls - it could run the motors much more accurately than what they previously were using (I hope they fixed that by now). :P

[@MrSpankee02]

On the Death Star they have eleVaders....I'll show myself out.

[@MrKikip1992]

Simon, you have a magic ability to make me interested in things I didn't even know I cared about.

[@briangonigal3974]

I would have included the "Stretching Room" at the start of the Haunted Mansion rides at Disney Land/World. For one thing they've got to be just about the largest capacity passenger elevators in the United States, and the whole "stretching" illusion is really clever & trippy.

[@volksrod6926]

Technology connections does a whole video about it. It's pretty cool. If I remember correctly it's now the second in capacity.

[@HollywoodF1]

In the US parks, only the one at Disneyland is an elevator. The floor is fixed and the ceiling rises in Walt Disney World. The one at Disneyland Paris is also an elevator.

[@Mandiness]

Being an elevator repair person must really have its ups and downs.

[@nunyabizness9594]

Ba dum tss! 😉

[@ScotsLyon]

Yeah but it can open all sorts of doors for you

[@Mandiness]

You can really push some buttons if you want to.

[@christineparis5607]

It can be a downer at times...

[@Mandiness]

But also very uplifting.

[@ComaDave]

"When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for 5 minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice." - Steven Wright.

[@not2busy]

An uplifting video.

[@danielpollard7893]

Danny loved this I bet.

[@rockclimbing3844]

45 mph in an elevator amazing and scary

[@waltercfrosenbaum]

rock climbing33 I rode that elevator before. It was not bad.

[@monicaheisz9797]

I've been to the St Louis Arch a few times. It can sway up to 4 feet, in both directions, on a windy day. And you can 100% feel it when you're at the top.

[@dahlilance6087]

Totally shocked the Oregon City elevator made this list! And you pronounced Willamette correctly! Believe me, people get it wrong.

[@ChrisKoch]

I was about to proclaim the same thing! (I myself live about half a mile from the Willamette River)

[@dahlilance6087]

@@ChrisKoch my old stomping grounds.

[@TyrellCrosby65]

Shocked he used it too, but always love hearing Oregon related things

[@dahlilance6087]

@@TyrellCrosby65 I really do miss it there. I grew up hiking and camping all over that area, up to Southern BC. I won't ever move back though. It's sad too because I have deep family history in Portland. I do love hearing cool Oregon related things.

[@feedle]

My "commute" every day consisted of riding the Oregon City Muni Elevator and walking to the 99 express bus to downtown Portland every day. I oddly miss that commute.

[@gojumpintothelake]

This and the history guy are the most researched and well presented channels. 👍 well done

[@Vinceras]

No Paternoster? Shame....was hoping that'd make your video of extreme lifts.

[@derpimusmaximus8815]

I remember there used to be one in the Pontecorvo Building at Glasgow University. I used to get drunk and play in it.

[@nickgov66]

I was feeling down but this gave me the lift that I needed.

[@andyc5612]

Great vid. Keep up the great work.

[@gorrillawarfair]

Ive seen pictures of the st Louis arch my whole life, i never knew you could go inside it! lol

[@proudamerican4050]

I rode the elevator to the top of the St Louis arch as a child, I don't think I want to do it again as an adult but the views were amazing!!

[@ctakitimu]

I often have dreams where I'm in an elevator in some huge building and the elevator doesn't just go up and down, it goes forward and backwards and can snake its way through the structure. It's unnerving.

[@merrigalebeddoes1921]

Amazing!!

[@thomlichtenberg6765]

Oregon thanks you for mentioning our elevator.

[@pmritzen2597]

Simon you did it again. Great episode. You could say it was very uplifting. You achieve New Heights on your countdown to number one. You never let us down.

[@Musicreach101]

I’m just curious what kind of person down votes Simon Whistler video, this guy is golden!

[@johnkerr4097]

You could add the glass floored lift in the Sky Tower in Auckland.

[@otaking3582]

I've been to the Gateway Arch multiple times while traveling between Texas and my dad's family in Wisconsin. It's pretty cool, although the fact that there's only a few feet of metal beneath you is a bit unnerving..... Also, the last time I was there, they were selling PSP memory cards in their gift shop because apparently they were also used in Sony digital cameras at the time. Yes, Sony seriously tried to make this their version of the SD card until they did the same thing again with Vita memory cards.

[@mikesullivanteexpat8712]

way kewl ! ! !

[@Max_Flashheart]

Uplifting video

[@plinkitee]

I didn't know you could go inside the Gateway Arch. Cool!

[@oldman975]

Very interesting video. Now how about a top 10 aerial lift/tramways video?

[@eddieking2976]

My great-grandfather was a elevator repairman at the Empire State Building. I guess you could say he got in on the ground floor😄

[@Hollylivengood]

I lived in Missouri, and couldn't make myself visit the arch. Claustrophobia is a thing. And I'm afraid of heights.

[@goneutt]

That's 90 Japanese subway riders, not normal people. And thanks for not missing the Arch, most people wouldn't believe it has a sight seeing ride, although St Louis isn't quite a sight to behold these days.

[@salvatornado]

My job regularly brings me to Oregon city. I'll check it it for sure. Thanks a bunch!

[@rayanthony6865]

You missed the Luxor " inclinators" elevators that go diagonally up and down the sides of the pyramid what a weird experience going up and sideways at the same time

[@SamIAm10262]

I love these. It's definitely an odd feeling!

[@andyginterblues2961]

My dad worked tor Otis for 35 years, and supervised the construction of elevators in coal and salt mines, all over the northeastern U.S. I wonder how deep the deepest mine shaft elevator is? Anyone have any idea? I thought that the tallest building in the world would be on this list, the one that was recently completed in Bahrain. Otis installed the elevators, which had to be built in three stages, due to the building's immense height.

[@andrewthomas1261]

I remember the elevator at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I want to say it was 750 feet down to the main chamber.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

#9 looks like the Sky Trek Tower at Six Flags Great America. That looks so cool. :)

[@SpikerzZ406]

LMFAO @ quality computers for Toshiba lol

[@Belboz99]

Should add the Falkirk Wheel, it's a boat elevator. It raises and lowers passenger boats 79 feet in order to allow passage between two canals at significantly different altitudes. Also, was glad to see Gateway Arch, just wished there some photos from the inside... Could also highlight the windows from the larger exterior photo... they're the slim dark rectangles at the peak of the arch.

[@rodneykelly8768]

I once was driving through Moline IL, when I saw a rather tall mushroom shaped building. I pointing it out to people I was travelling with, saying “That company must sell elevators.” As it turned out, the building had been made by a company that did in fact sell elevators. At the time, the tower was owned by another company that used the sky high sales room as a storage area.

[@Zeldarw104]

oh, yeah I was waiting for the Gateway Arch to garner a high number on this list I've been in that structure twice. Wow the story I could tell about my experiences. 🤔😥😳

[@sarahhardy8649]

Some of those made my bladder twinge. From just seeing it on film.

[@Nightengale64]

Oregon City! I have been in that one a few times. I live in Oregon.

[@scottmolnar4132]

Hoboken NJ also has an outdoor elevator owned by the municipality (owned by the transportation department) connecting Hoboken to Jersey City Heights.

[@GamePlague]

I hated being at the top of the Arch. I already dislike being on really tall buildings and the bonus of having nothing but air underneath the floor didn't help. Plus they just happened to be doing maintenance in the floor when I was there

[@random_birb_qween]

I've been in the St Louis Arch elevator. In 1992, it was very claustrophobic: cramped, loud, and airless with fluorescent lights? That's what I remember...

[@todayonthebench]

Nice to see Globen featured in a video, since it is a fairly unknown structure. (Since multiple other structures claims to be "the world's largest sphere" while being tiny in comparison.) Though, the Oregon City Municipal Elevator doesn't sound all that special, considering multiple similar elevators in numerous other cities around the world. Stockholm for an example has Katarinahissen, that serves a similar purpose, it is also higher, and even has a restaurant on it (the restaurant were build as an addition when the elevator were renovated in 1935). Though, yes Katarinahissen is currently under renovation, due to the 80 year old elevator not passing modern safety standards.

[@csmith2306]

In wanganui, New Zealand there is a public elevator inside a hill. Accessed at the bottom by a tunnel

[@HadToChangeMyName_YoutubeSucks]

There's an outdoor municipal elevator in Savannah GA so people can get from the river level to the city level.

[@theUglyGypsy]

The museum below the arch is way more interesting than the arch view

[@VoidHalo]

That's good that they put earthquake sensors in that Chinese lift. At least now when an earthquake messes it up, the lift will be aware of it.

[@dmndsol]

No Wonkavator?

[@michaelellis2656]

Always gotta make sure I hit the like button every time I see a top tenz video, if I wasn't homeless lol I would definitely give some money on patreon, BTW I learned something new from this video, I didn't know there was such a thing as U.S gallons

[@ZechroTalks]

Oh yeah yeah

[@neilgoodman2885]

Yup, elevators are neat.

[@BE02Raziel]

Elevators. The bane of any Soulsborne player.

[@RabbitTalk]

I think there was some place I went to somewhere in the US which was like a hotel sort of skyscraper thing and it was connected to another skyscraper via a horizontal elevator...

[@SamIAm10262]

If it's horizontal, it's not an elevator. It's just a tram or people mover.

[@kingpin123rcs]

I have ridden two of these. The Gateway Arch and Oregon City.

[@DocHollidayGames]

The stretching room of the Disney haunted mansion in CA is a passenger elevator and is much larger than that Japanese elevator.

[@chriscostello117]

2021 to Simon, " Ya doing 👍".

[@yambamate8455]

Mate. One of the reasons I like your content is because you use metric system. Lowers the value of your videos a lot when you use only imperial. Even people that use metric I like when they include imperial in writing on the screen. No use watching a video when I don't know what you mean

[@yambamate8455]

First time I disliked a video of yours. That'll teach ya

[@riinareismaa]

Went to Suur Munamägi in elementary school. Don't remember the elevator tho. Hi from Estonia!

[@owenfitzgerald8944]

Lori Bell "City Of Oregon City". They were making sure you knew it was a city 🤣

[@Mystickneon]

You missed the Falkirk Wheel... The Anderton Boat Lift...

[@ziggy8253]

That was...elevating.

[@Wysiwyg43]

The strangest elevator I've been in was an elevator of a two story clothing store. The building was completed in 1914 and so was the elevator (I think) with a manual steel accordion-type door and a freaking lever for up and down. Since I'm disabled, there was no way I could use the stairs. I took one look at that thing and was like, Oh, hell naw! The place was so decrepit, but had modern clothes and shoes. School uniforms were on the second floor; that's the only reason I was there... for my kid. This was their first time using the elevator to take a person upstairs. Apparently, the elevator was only used for moving merchandise; before me, of course. An employee had to work the elevator for safety reasons, I guess, and the two person car made concerning noises going up. All the things we take for granted in a modern elevator, totally nonexistent in that one. I got what I came for and slowly, carefully walked down the stairs because I didn't want to tempt fate riding in that elevator. Yikes! Btw, that store's STILL there and in business.

[@coolnegative]

not sure what country, I think somewhere in Scandinavia, there is an elevator for ships in a canal Portage. it really is an amazing piece of engineering.

[@fheedpexx9267]

They have them in lots of countries and have been around for hundreds of years :)

[@coolnegative]

@@fheedpexx9267 these are mechanical and vertical. they take ferries and cargo straight up 100s of feet. one channel dead ends, then the ships are lifted straight up with mechanical advantage and I believe hydraulic preassure. then begin on a new channel higher in elevation. I wish I could remember the name of the engineering documentary I saw it on, but was first designed, built, and tried, i believe, in the mid to late 1980s.

[@christelheadington1136]

Top 10 list of possible disaster movie scenarios.

[@Barrenge]

... Involving lifts.

[@RangedPaladin]

Been to the top of the arch and my brother freaked out it was so funny

[@tncorgi92]

The elevator in the Gateway Arch is freakin' scary.

[@ThatSoddingGamer]

Largest passenger elevator featured in the video, but we don't actually get a proper view of the interior so we can't appreciate its defining feature....

[@eyechartny]

What about the "inclinator" at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas? That's another engineering feat considering the angle of the hotel sides.

[@HollywoodF1]

Meh... the Eiffel Tower did it first, and their angle changes. Much more impressive.

[@Justin.Franks]

Why no mention of the inclined elevators at Luxor Casino in Las Vegas?

[@christineparis5607]

In San Antonio, Texas, there is a Tower of the Americas (kind of like Seattle's Space Needle) with a revolving restaurant on top. The elevator was put in in 1969, or earlier, and is very creaky, slow and filthy. It's also usually filled with people who drank their dinner in the restaurant. The elevator shakes, groans and occasionally gets stuck for several hours while the fire dept. stands below waiting for it to fall. I rode it twice....I never get seasick and I almost lost it on the trip. Also the restaurant was the only one I've ever been to that apparently serves reheated TV dinners instead of actual food. The amount of people getting completely wasted was completely understandable...

[@Textile_Courtesan]

I'll be sure to avoid it when I visit San Marcos! I plan to go to the area for the mermaid festival one year.

[@christineparis5607]

@@Textile_Courtesan San Antonio is a beautiful city, I just hated that tower! San Marcus is a blast!! Every summer we go tubing on the Guadalupe River from there, its unbelievable, so beautiful.

[@robbicu]

It seems odd that you use imperial measurements.

[@dernvader6876]

One problem not mentioned about the cylindrical fish tank, is it promotes the fish to swim in one direction... so they never swim the other way, this is unnatural for them to do and can cause numerous health problems, because they never move in the opposite way...

[@JosephFuller]

I understand that your homeland uses feet, gallons and such and that you, as a content creator are free to use whichever system you feel most comfortable with. However, some of us really don't understand them and I think more than a few would really appreciate it if you could at least annotate the video with the Standard International units for those of us that do not know the other system.

[@susandebruin8648]

What about the Mponeng Gold Mine lift in South Africa?!

[@willsmith2027]

Dannys dream Job seems slightly less strange after watching this Simon, not that that means you should stop mocking him when you Blaze it if course!

[@Heatherbob201]

The aquadome burst.. did they rebuild it?

[@heronimousbrapson863]

For those afraid of heights, the "Hammetschwand" should be renamed the "Vomitschwand".

[@bigniper]

I'm a believer in Terra Firma, The Firma the ground the less the terror.

[@pandorasbox4238]

The arch is crazy. People look no bigger than ants. You can see for miles and miles. Downside: it's in St. Louis.

[@iRoundHouseURNan]

Londons Duck and Waffle anyone? Not quite up to par but still a fun ride nonetheless.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Sounds like it should be called the "Chuck and Barfle".

[@therugburnz]

It's not the claustrophobic size of the Gateway Arch cars, it it the upsetting swinging and clunk sound as th car literally jumps "track" to move from one lifting apparatus to the next. One cannot tell if the swing causes jump or the reverse. Imagine a Ferris wheel where the the car has to move to another Ferris wheel above it. That being a accomplished buy using the inertia of the swinging that if not timed perfectly will certainly not continue in the tangent it needs to. Come to America we have unsettling elevators !

[@brucemckay6937]

That was a very "uplifting" video Simon. Regards Bruce McKay 🇦🇺🙃🏄‍♂️.

[@monaliizi]

i been to Estonias suur munamägi

[@Chuckknotts2000]

4:05

[@migueljuarez503]

Update: The AquaDom broke and killed the fish.

[@Goatcha_M]

Space Age my foot. Looks like a historic lighthouse which some ghastly person decided to ruin by building a 1950s looking glass and concrete tower right behind it.

[@michaelburns4414]

I think it might be a dialect thing, but in the last segment when you said behemoths It came to my ears as bear-moths ( Not complaining just observing)

[@taylorgabrielle6403]

The tank dudes lost a client.....

[@lucas4736]

I have been to Berlin 5 times and every time I am there I look for the AquaDom and can never find it

[@Musikverkaeufer]

It´s not hard to find. It is in the eastern part, near Alexanderplatz, at Karl-Liebknecht-Straße. From the outside, the building doesn´t look quite spectacular, but once you step in you will change your opinion.

[@Bombiedude.]

One goofy thing I've built on Roblox that I wish was real was an elevator to Narnia attraction and yes you heard me correct it actually opens into the wardrobe room and a mini Narnia room in the basement

[@LeeDaKine89]

Is it me or Simon Whistler is the Snarky/Snide version of Watchmojo or Nicki Swift or whatever top 10 vids

[@jantschierschky3461]

Why in imperial only ? Is only one country in the world using it. (Liberia and Myanmar are metric in practice). Please use metric or both. There are many more impressive elevators like the one in Salvador de bahia brazil. Paternosters etx

[@fheedpexx9267]

Yeah, weird. Only explanation would be that a majority of the viewers are from the US. But that seems highly unlikely. So yeah, weird. Might as well explain the height in numbers of beer cans. Feet? What is this, 200 years ago (or whatever it is in something arbitrary like the lifespan of a seahorse, that I'm sure the Americans use to measure time...)?

[@francesconicoletti2547]

Fheed Pexx feet would not make sense 200 years ago. Which feet ? Every part of Europe has its own size of foot. Except France which is already using meters. The rest of the world is either using their own native units or whatever the imperial power that conquered them imposed on them.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Simon seems to be English-born, and now likely a US citizen. He knows too much about our country to be an outsider, lol. And yes, I would venture to say that indeed, most of the viewers are American. This said, usually he does give both measurements so interesting he didn't this time.

[@jantschierschky3461]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley he is English and lives in Czech republic

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

@@jantschierschky3461 I'm going to take that second part with a dose of doubt. He's been doing a few videos every now and then about locations in the US and is actually on-site. It's possible he's traveling here but I highly doubt that. His ease of using dollars when talking about money, his choice of measurement units, his subjects for the Today I Found Out videos and how a massive amount are about American things...all of it says he's likely become a US citizen. If not, color me extremely surprised.

[@NotQuiteFirst]

Elavator? Bro, do you even LIFT?

[@Dranka5]

Did I miss something? Why is Suur Munamägi impressive? If the heights he said r correct it’s a 9-10 story building?

[@MrThaddeusRex]

Elevators give me motion sickness, watching this video gave me motion sickness and anxiety. Why brain, why?

[@luvz2spluug3]

pffft...these have nothing on the Wonkavator