I wrote this piece for publication in The Sun.
What to do when you own the oldest elevator in Florida and it goes on the fritz? It’s not like you can find replacement parts on e-Bay.
So when the Hippodrome’s elegant, brass-trimmed, hand-operated elevator shut down in December, 2023, the quest to get it repaired turned into something of a detective story.
First the City of Gainesville had experts flown in from the Otis Elevator Company, which installed the elevator in the then-downtown Post Office in 1912. But restoration talks with Otis did not come to fruition.
That led to a months-long search for a company that was “even willing to touch a historic elevator,” said Betsy Waite, Gainesville director of Wild Spaces and Public Places.
“Usually contractors are calling, emailing and knocking on my door trying to sell me something,” she said. “This was a unique situation.”
Ultimately the search led to nearby Jacksonville, home of Eletech Elevator Co.
Eletech’s elevator repairs are expected to be completed this summer at a cost of just over $135,000.
“Our team includes guys who have decades of experience with Otis” equipment said Eletech President Wayne Hontz. “Individuals who specialize in retrofitting and upgrading.”
Dave Peck, facilities manager for the Hippodrome, said the work has already begun. “Their first step was to come in here and remove the motor. That was a process itself for something that hasn’t seen the light of day” in more than a century. “We had to go out in the stairwell, build a gantry, and hoist it up to the ground floor.”
Hontz, said the project was a challenge that seemed worth taking on. “Honestly, its a piece of history,” he said. “We have a photo of an old elevator from the early 1900s and it looks identical to the Hipp’s. It’s a cool thing just to be a part of.”
“We flew in experts from New Jersey because these elevators were much more common in cities like New York. Not many elevators of that age installed in Florida are still around.”
He added “a lot of what we are having done is being custom made. The motor is being rebuilt by hand by a company in New Jersey, and the coils are being made in Connecticut.”
He said “for its age the elevator is actually in immaculate condition. It’s been well treated and cared for over the years.”
All of the work is being done with historic preservation, not necessarily modernization, as the end goal. “Everything will be authentic to how the elevator originally functioned,” said Peck.
Gainesville’s multi-columned downtown landmark building is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Over the decades it has housed the post office, federal courthouse and U.S. land office. With the Hippodrome’s arrival, the building was designated a State Theater of Florida in 1981.
“This is a city building,” said Waite. “And we want to make sure that there is universal access to all our buildings.”
Indeed, when the elevator shut down it created immediate access problems for the Hippodrome. Its main stage is on the second floor and the elevator was the only way people with disabilities could attend performances.
Early last year the Hippodrome launched its “Alternate Access Theater” initiative, which involved staging at least one performance of every play in its smaller downstairs cinema theater.
“It’s been tough on everybody because, we’re moving things from the second floor down to the first floor,” Peck said. “Props and stage settings and such.”
Logistics aside, Hipp artistic director Stephanie Lynge said the downstairs stagings have worked well.
“We’ve done every show down there except ‘A Christmas Carol,’ which was too big to move,” she said. “Patrons who couldn’t make it up the stairs were able to come to those performances and the feedback was magnificent. People loved it.”
But she added: “But I’m sure they will love it even more when the elevator is up and running and they can join us on the main stage again.”
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