Rides on Modernized Otis Elevators & Observation Deck Views - Buffalo City Hall in Buffalo, NY
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2022
- Filmed on April 26th, 2022 with @geneseetrainselevators2448 and @danielmarreviews3947.
Completed in 1931, At nearly 30 floors, Buffalo City Hall is the 3rd tallest building in the city of Buffalo and is one of the tallest municipal buildings in the United States and is one of the most recognizable buildings in Buffalo's skyline. The architecture is absolutely STUNNING, and the Observation Deck here which is FREE to Access is one of the top Tourist Attractions in the City, and is absolutely worth the visit due to the views up top!
Most of the elevators here have been modernized, they were originally installed in 1931 as Otis Signal Control Elevators, and the High Rise bank was modernized in either the Late 1960s or Early to Mid 1970s into Otis Autotronic, while the low rise bank was modded around 2010 with Innovation fixtures.
Despite the mods though, one of the elevators in the bank of 4 high rise cars remained Otis Signal Control up until pretty recently and the Manual Freight Car still remains original to this day.
Sadly though, my visit confirmed rumors that have been floating around for years that the High Rise Elevator bank has been modernized AGAIN, INCLUDING the 1 remaining Signal Control in the bank, and according to @brandonmiller6629 and @JimLiElevators, the mod was done by D&B Elevator.
The elevators now have PTL Fixtures, New Controllers and the Touch Buttons are sadly no more. It's really unfortunate because even though the Touch Buttons weren't original, they were still vintage and fit into the building very well, not to mention the fact they had the VERY RARE Door Jam Mounted Digital Indicators and that 1 car still remained original and now it no longer is.
Despite how unfortunate this mod is though, it could've been way worse. The cabs still remain original and have been VERY NICELY Restored and look way cleaner than they did in previous videos, and judging by the noises these make when going up and down, the Motors are still original as well!
The Freight Elevator that only goes up to 18 is also still a fully original Manual Otis, but sadly we weren't allowed to ride it.
Even though the elevators may not be the same as they used to be however, the views from up top and the gorgeous and largely untouched architecture of the building made the visit here worth it! The experience with climbing up from 25 to 28 is a pretty unique one, and the architectural design of the Observation Level really just tops the place off!
While we are up top, we get great views of the city, and as me, Daniel and Alex are talking, you'll get a little sneak peak of what is to come from this city on my channel in the very near future! ;)
With that all being said though, I hope you enjoy the video and let me know what you think of the new elevator modernization as well as this building as a whole in the comments below!
As for the elevators, here is a little timeline for the High Rise bank that was featured in the video:
Installed in 1931. (Otis Signal Control with Pop Out button fixtures)
Modernized:
1st Modernization: Circa Late 1960s or Early to Mid 1970s. (Otis Autotronic with Circle Touch/Heat Sensitive buttons, New Indicators, New Lanterns and New Controllers. Motors and Cabs left as is, as well as 1 elevator in the bank of 4)
2nd Modernization: 2017-2018 (D&B Elevator with New PTL Fixtures, New lobby Annunciator and New Controllers. Lanterns, Cabs and Motors remain left as is.) - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Nice elevator content of the day.
I saw original elevator in Jim’s video
Lmao look at me in the thumbnail 😂
The first thing came to my mind when D&B modded these elevators is, "Dave and Busters are in the elevator business too?" lol. The mod is not bad but could've been worse.
LOL thanks for the laugh! The mod sucks, but it also could've been much worse at the exact same time. I'm glad the motors and the original cabs still remain, which that alone can't be said about many elevators in Historic buildings.
The Signal-Control car (possibly the highest rising remaining Signal-Control installation in the US) indeed got modded. I really hope the one in Pittsburgh doesn't get modded as it is the one and only known surviving Otis Signal-Control installation in the US, and they are probably near-extinct at least in the US/Canada.
I think at least some of the low rise cars were original and in passenger service (with operators running them) before the D & B mod with Innovation Universal.
I think all of the high rise cars are Otis, but from what I heard some of the low rise cars were Otis and some were actually Curtis I think? If so I am VERY curious what the Curtis cars looked like.
Did you see the manual Otis Micro-Drive freight car from the outside or get any photos of it? When I was here the doors to the freight elevator lobby were open on some/all floors I think. Is that one still completely original to your knowledge including the controller? I ask since I know of some manual elevators that still have some of the original fixtures including the car switch, but are on new controllers and have full self leveling (will stop at the next floor if you let go of the car switch).
Did you film the low rise cars or did you skip those?
I think some of the cars in the low rise bank are defunct, and one is sitting with it's doors open likely in the basement/lobby, did you see that?
From what I've been told by Northeast Elevators, there's apparently a 42 story Signal Control at The Terminal Tower in Cleveland. Nobody has since gone in there to get a video to confirm this, but supposedly there are a few Signal Controls as well as some Manual Freights remaining in that building.
I did in fact see the Manual Otis Elevator on the outside and I got a small video looking at it and trying to call it, but that's pretty much it, and when I asked to ride, I was denied access. I believe it is still fully original, but I'm not 100% positive.
And regarding the low rise elevators, yes I skipped them. I did check both the lobby and the basement to see if the Signal Control cars were open but the doors for all of the elevators were shut unfortunately.