How This Beautiful Old Hudson's Elevator Came Back To Life

[@JosephSmith-df9fj]

My mom used to operate the elevator in JL Hudson in Detroit

[@thomasalton1220]

This is a wonderful and fascinating story of an elevator that got a new life after decades of 'dormancy'. As a native New Englander, I never saw Hudson's of Detroit. But I did visit Marshall Field's of :Chicago, which had many elevator cars. I grew up near Hartford, Connecticut. It had a large department store called G. Fox & Company. It featured manned Otis elevators that had glass exterior doors and brass interior gates. They were modernized and automated in 1967. But the brass banded exterior doors remained, as did the beautiful marble work of the elevator banks. Although G. Fox could easily fit into half of J L Hudson, to a child's eyes like mine, G. Fox was gargantuan. It had eleven floors, plus a main floor mezzanine, a basement for the budget store, and another lower level in an addition that opened in 1961. For me and many other Hartford area kids, '11' was the magic number, much as '12' was the magic number for young Hudson shoppers. They were the floors that housed the toy departments of Fox's and Hudson's, respectively. The beautiful restoration of the Hudson elevator reminds me of the restored elevators of Harrod's store in London. I visited that store in 1978 and was enthralled by the elegant manned elevators there. They had inlaid floors and had the requisite interior gates and glass exterior doors. But Harrod's had already begun to modernize its elevators. However, in the case of the elevators located in a central hall (the hall had six cars), the interiors were meticulously restored. But, as in the case of the restored Hudson car, glass interior doors that replicated the exterior doors replaced the gates. The pull handle once used by the operator was kept but disabled; a panel of floor buttons typical of self-service cars was installed for each elevator. It's fun to see that this elevator still uses compressed air for opening and closing the doors. Although I lament the demise of department stores such as G. Fox of Hartford, J L Hudson of Detroit, and John Wanamaker of Philadelphia to Amazon and 'big box' (how ironic) stores, the restored Hudson elevator (and the still-operating and grand organ of the Wanamaker building's spectacular court) is a wonderful reminder that the spirit of Hudson is not completely gone.

[@joycepledger7779]

I Remember When Me And My Mom Would Get On the Eveltor In Hudson! I'm Now 65 Years Old! Very Very Beautiful!

[@jamesstevens2591]

What a great story. I loved hearing about your effort in salvaging the elevators from that once grand building. Upon closer scrutiny of the photo, I noticed the wired glass in the hoist-way doors. In place of the brass scissor gates, apparently you installed a duplicate set of glass doors on the cab beautifully replicating the hoist-way doors - brilliant solution. Would love to see more photos of the cab interior, the controls, ceiling detail, etc. Does the cab have its own heating/air conditioning unit? The wood paneled face is absolutely exquisite and even more so in what appears to be in the modern context of your new house. This could be an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. I remember in the manually operated elevators, the operators wore gloves - whether for style/elegance or to protect their hands from the gates (maybe both). What a treat it was to have your story pop up on KZbin this morning. Bravo for having such an innovative idea and executing it in such a meticulous manner.

[@benjamindenton]

One of Selfridges original elevators is in The Museum Of London and Harrods kept all their Otis fitments in their modernised cars.

[@deecarter5581]

Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@DieselDucy]

Thanks to the owner, I have a detailed video of this elevator on my channel.

[@sgk0013]

Hi, Carol King 😊

[@shortliner68]

Would love to do this with one of the old manual elevators in a now-closed department store in the city where I grew up, IF I had the money and a house it could fit in. That store also kept the gated elevators manually operated down to the last year of operation. The building has been vacant and vandalized for years now, unfortunately, and probably the cars have been stripped of all their brass components, including the gates.

[@joemyers2075]

Dc motors are not illegal! 9:09

[@millcity9711]

Alex needs an elevator in his vacation home...

[@JosephSmith-df9fj]

My mom used to operate the elevator in JL Hudson in Detroit