Incredible stuff. That swiss one would have me a bit worried. I’m not a fan of heights.

Just amazing elevator, I wish to try each one of these…

One time i was robbed on that lisbon elevator, by the main entrance! They had turned off the lights on that night and it happened… :O Okey it was more or less like 2 am in the morning ;D
Since then, and prly not because of that event, i’ve never witnessed any suspicious people around or even the lights off!
I guess it was bad luck !
Again, another nice post ;D

theres a paternoster in the arts tower at the university of sheffield, it was such a novelty when i was in first year. not so much in second year when it kept breaking down (because no-one makes them you can’t get parts!) and there was only 2 other lifts that could hold 10 people at a time. absolutely no fun if you need to get to the 12th floor!

I’ve ridden the hammetschwand elevator in Switzerland. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

Too bad they haven’t built that space elevator:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

That would make a great addition to the list.

Though this one may not have the height or speed, it ends with sea lions!
http://www.takemytrip.com/07orcal/07_39a.htm

Pity you left out the CN Tower elevators. It was the world’s tallest freestanding structure for many decades, and as such has one of the highest elevator rides on the planet.

Actually there is an elevator in the building where I work. And so there are probably 71 elevators in the world. And I am gay and secretly vote for John Howard because he is a legend.

That is an awesome collection of elevators! The elevators in the St. Louis Arch might be interesting here too–they are little pods that rotate to keep you upright as you go up and down the legs.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

i dont think i’d enjoy seeing the bottom of the elevator well …
but hey … thats just me …
byt the way … amazing pics …

The Dom Aquaree in Berlin is also pretty cool - an elevator that goes up through a huge indoor aquarium:

http://www.domaquaree.de/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrys/63665332/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkl94VKK48

“i’m no statistician but according to my rough calculations there are over 70 elevators in the world.”

No, you certainly aren’t.

There’s also an outdoor elevator in Bilbao that comes down from one of the neighborhoods on a hill, a km or two from the Guggenheim Bilbao.

wow this is amazing!

I believe there’s a Pasternoter still operating somewhere in Copenhagen. When I was there ten years ago, it was there, and still there five years after. Being seven when I first saw it, I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Ahh.. 70 elevators you think???

lol, maybe 70 million…

The one with the glass bottom seems very scary. Remind me not to take that one.

it’s amazing how many people have absolutely no sense of humor

joe - thankyou for noticing.

This isnt a very good list, as it missed the CN tower in Toronto.
Having gone up a few times, it is the fastest elevator ride i have ever been in.
Until recently The CN Tower was also the worlds tallest freestanding structure.
And at one point also the fastest elevator in the world.

I’m from Poland, and I work in a building, that has this paternoseter elevator. Nice stuff! Especially, when travelling full circle!!

Cheers!

lame - not a very good list because i didn’t include an elevator you’ve been in?

i never claimed it to be the definitive list of elevators.

thanks.

Tive uma dor de cabeça descendo no elevador Lacerda, imagine neste de 300m
Daqui a pouco a gente chega no céu…afe
O do banheiro é loucura…=)

I lived by the Santa Justa elevator, its nice too see a picture from home…

Thank you for the great article.

PS: a lot people get mugged in lisbon…

There is a pretty rad elevator that goes up to Kehlsteinhaus in Germany, or maybe it’s Austria, can’t remember, here’s the Wiki link anyhow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehlsteinhaus

You should try the Stratosphere elevator, It hauls butt to the 110 floor in under 30 seconds, your ears pop. After getting to the top get on the Big Shot, to be shot up to 1,148 feet in the air, it sounds crazy and it is.

There’s also a cool one in the New Rathaus in Hannover. It goes up in the dome of the tower, and leans slightly to the right as you travel.

That, and the one or many in the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas… they’re also cool.

The strangest elevator I ever rode was in the St. Louis (Missouri) arch. Cylindrical cabins rotate slowly as you ascend the arch to keep the floor level. They are just large enough to stand in the middle, and the windows in the door give a view of the inside of the arch. A very creepy ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70i0QZ_AnFU
http://www.truckerphoto.com/gatewayarch.htm

Unfortunately, Lacerda, the elevator in Salvador doesn’t provide any view at all. It is a completely closed structure.
If the windows at the “bridge” are clean (which they never are), you have a nice view over the beach, but I’d recommend the place where the picture was taken, just right to the elevator.
Best place to see the sunset, as well.

Ha ace, i love people who claim a list is shit because it doesn’t include the elevator with the piss stain in the corner thats in the local wal-mart. cool list though, gave me a reason not to do anything useful or constructive for a bit longer. lol.

There are some funny ones. Good collection.

Nice list.
Not so high, but interesting because of the view on the low mountain range:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Bad_schandau_aufzug.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Schandau_Elevator

I think the elevators at the Empire State Building should get an honorable mention along with the ones at Taipei 101. The ESB was the first building to have banks of elevators to take you to different sections of the building, so if you are on the 75th floor, you don’t have to stop at all 75 floors before you get where you’re going….

Add Baiyoke Sky Hotel (Bangkok)
http://www.thaihotels.com/ hotels/hotel-2754.aspx

they have got outside transparent elevator

watch http://www.dbasixx.com/player.php?video=dbxtopspin - a short music video playing in an elevator. its only 43 sec. or something

the “theme building” located in los angeles international airport, has an elevator in the middle that ascends to the restaurant. it has archetypal ‘elevator music’ that begins when the elevator starts moving up, and ends on tune and on time right as the elvator stops.

An interesting fact: the «Elevador de Santa Justa» in Lisbon, Portugal, was buil by Gustav Eiffel, the very same engineer that built the famous tower in Paris.

Thank you for posting it.

All of these elevators pale in comparison to ride up the CN Tower (current world’s tallest freestanding structure) in Toronto Canada. Breathtaking views of the skyline and Lake Ontario are in the cards as you rush up the outside of the tower to the top….looks like whoever put this list together should have done a little bit more homework…

An other interseting elevator is the office elevator of Jan Bata in Zlin.
Wikipedia has a link to it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlín

Wow, that Arcade Fire video is lovely stuff.

The Long Blondes did an elevator music video, too, on a slightly smaller scale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ywBMF27VkA

i stumbled over this page and found it very interesting about elevators. i was recently in lisbon for just a day, on a cruise. we came across the elevador de santa justa totally by accident. it was a delight because we knew nothing about it but decided it would give a quick view of the city and it did, but at the top, discovered that it was an entrance to a new level of the city, not just an up-down view tower. i love discovering things about a city this way without a guidebook telling me to go there.
a note to Lame and JeffCanada - your criticism leaves a bad taste in a great blog on a very interesting page. all you need to do is leave a link to the cn tower in toronto canada and shut up. you didn’t put up a page about some of the interesting elevators in the world did you? it’s very easy to be critical. thanks for your blog deputydog - I will check it our regularly.
http://www.cntower.ca/portal/
the cn tower has a great restaurant in the pod near the top, the viewing level has a glass floor, the elevator goes up the outside, and the new lighting system on the outside is beautiful. the lights are microprocessor controlled to create an infinite variety of lighting effects. to see what it’s like look up “cn tower lighting” in youtube.
please people, come and discover my city toronto - the cn tower is just one of the many good things about visiting here.
http://www.toronto.ca/

At Poatina, in Tasmania, a 500 foot plus elevator spans 32 floors, but will not stop an any of them. The view from the top is nothing special since the elevator begins at ground level. At the end of a sixty second ride straight down, the doors open onto a vast underground cavern as long as a city block. It houses six large hydro-electric turbine generators. The elevator ride ends at a viewing gallery and gives access to the power station for staff and visitors. (There is also a 4.5km long tunnel giving vehicle access to the station.)

I’m surprised the elevator at The Luxor in Las Vegas didn’t make your list. Like the Eiffel Tower elevator, it’s a product of engineering genius, and I believe, the first, and possibly only, one of its kind.

Awesome, I would like that. ; )

… try this youtube video featuring a crazy music programme called ‘behind closed doors’ where a band plays their songs in a lift. in this case it’s the brilliant german band wir sind helden (we are heros)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sdDYtrTMpHU

interesting but so high

OMG!!! the glass elevator is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an off the wall subject but very interesting regardless

profesionales de la elevacion

Just a correction!

Lacerda Elevator is located in Salvador city, capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador%2C_Bahia

Bye!

it was soo nice to find the essex paternoster here. as soon as i read ‘paternoster’ i was planning to write abt it.
i too have a video of the paternoster. i had shot the entire uni and paternoster could not be forgotten.
you could check it out here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCVx-48M2g
it comes around the 4th minute of the video.

Its great and wonderful. I love to watch such things in real. Great Great i have no words to explain.

I did the zhangjiajie one about 2 weeks ago; I’d walked up a bastard steep path for the best part of 2 hours and was knackered. I discovered the top wasn’t a tiny little pillar I’d have to walk back down from; it was a plateau, with bus stops and everything. Absolutely shattered, I decided to catch the bus to see where it went. It dropped me off at the top of that elevator. The view from it is amazing, and all for the equivalent of $0.75 USD.