We looked at the first elevator in the Capitol last week. It was, of course, not the last. The Architect of the Capitol is responsible for some 330 elevators these days. What is a little surprising here is the location of the second elevator. Not, as one might expect, on the House side, but instead exactly where the old one was.
It turned out that the screw-type elevator ––although safe, as even if it lost power, it would not come crashing down–– was not terribly pleasant to be in or near. It was “old, noisy, [and] shaky” as an article of the time described it. Once again, the Senate showed they could move quickly when it was in their personal interest. The first indication in the papers that this change was to happen came on August 29, 1876, and some three months later, the Daily National Republican announced that a “new elevator of noiseless and easy movement, which is run by hydraulic power, has been put in the Senate wing of the Capitol.”
While the article did not indicate whose invention it was, an ad in the same paper three years later for Otis Brothers & Co stated that they were responsible for elevators in a dozen buildings throughout D.C., including at least one in the Capitol.
In the meantime, there was, unsurprisingly, a push for a similar conveyance on the House side. However, when the bill to do this passed, it had the proviso that the installation of the elevator would have no effect on the ventilation system, nor would the committee rooms be in any way encroached upon. Unfortunately for the legs of the House members, the Architect of the Capitol, Edward Clark, could find no solution to this problem, and so the elevator remained unbuilt. It was not until 1881 that work began there, and the following year, members of both chambers could ride up and down in style.
Over the years, the location of this first elevator became lost, especially as other elevators were installed in the Capitol. Only by looking at old documents could it be placed. In fact, the first time that the elevator is mentioned is in the Congressional Directory for the 43rd Congress, first session, third edition, which was published on February 25, 1874. The previous edition, published two months earlier, had a slightly different map of the Capitol, without exact indications of what the specific spaces were used for.
In the new floor plan, there is, tucked at the end of a hallway at in the northwest corner of the building, the number “31” and, on the following page, the indication that this is, indeed, the elevator. Intriguingly, the elevator is on the outside of the building, and there is even a window that looks out over the Mall. While the elevator has been replaced since then, there still is one right there, and still with a magnificent view to the west.