History lost. Modernity won.
Homeowners at the 95-year-old Commodore Condominiums voted Wednesday to replace the 11-story building’s vintage manual passenger elevator – thought to be the only one of its kind left in Kentucky − with a glitzy new automated one.
Joyce Lichtenstein, a resident who has been fighting to keep the old elevator, said owners of 36 of the building’s 59 owners voted to scrap the old lift.
“So sad,” she wrote.
It’s unclear exactly what wrote the old elevator’s obituary – whether it was the cost of paying a company to man the elevator 24 hours a day, the difficulty of finding parts for a machine that hasn’t been built for three generations, or fear of a lawsuit if the old thing caused an accident.
It’s unclear how long the old elevator will continue to run. Dennis Conniff, president of the condo’s homeowners’ association didn’t immediately return an email Wednesday after the vote.
What is clear is that the elevator will be missed – even among some of those who never rode it, or at least haven’t ridden it for years.
After I wrote a column on the elevator earlier this week, Jon Fleischaker, The Courier Journal’s longtime lawyer, called to tell me his mother lived in the building for more than 20 years and he loved having the elevator operators around in case something happened to her in the middle of the night.
He said having the elevator operators there overnight was especially comforting in his mother’s later years when she would have occasional medical issues and needed help.
Another lawyer, Phillip Grossman, wrote that reading about the old elevator brought back memories from the Commodore and the manual elevator he used to drive at the old Loevenhart’s clothing store, which his family owned at Third and Market.
“I wish I had a vote. My grandmother lived in the Commodore for over 30 years. I used to go up and visit. I have fond memories of the lobby, the unique smell, and, of course, the elevator and its operator. I will never forget it,” he wrote.
(In fairness, one friend wrote that he and his wife lived in the building for a while about 40 years ago and hated the elevator because it often took a long time for it to arrive. “The elevator was by far the worst experience,” he said. But that was 40 years ago.)
I, like Grossman, would have loved the residents to have kept the old elevator, which is thought to be the last manually operated passenger elevator in the state.
That’s easy for me to say.
I’m not footing the bill to keep the old thing up and running.
According to the Commodore’s homeowners’ association, upkeep and staffing for the elevator is the largest single expense it has, and it pays Ready Valet $190,000 a year to staff the elevator and perform other services at the building.
The average condominium owner pays $3,220 a year for the valet company to operate the elevator and perform other services. The actual cost is based on square footage of each of the 59 units, meaning those who own larger units pay more and those who own smaller units pay less.
The association will continue to use Ready Valet to perform services at the building – just not to operate the elevator. Conniff said earlier he didn’t know how much the condominium association would save.
One thing it won’t save is what looks to be the last elevator of its type in Kentucky.
As Lichtenstein said, “so sad.”
Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Highlands residents vote to replace Kentucky’s last manual elevator
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
