HDC was awarded a project to modernize five elevators in the City of Columbus Department of Public Health Building on Parsons Avenue. This building previously served as the Ohio State School for the Blind before they moved to their current campus with the Ohio School for the Deaf in 1953.
L: Front elevation of the Health Department. R: One of the elevator lobbies next to historic stone walls.
How did HDC end up getting this project? We previously worked on the team that prepared criteria documents to modernize nine elevators in the Ohio Statehouse and Senate Building with engineering firm Roger D. Fields & Associates and elevator consultant Lerch Bates’ Columbus office where a key component was modernizing the controls without impacting the design features from the 1990s rehabilitation.
L: Front elevation of the Ohio Senate Building. R: View of the top of one of the atrium elevators.
HDC subsequently supported the Bailey Edward design team, which included Lerch Bates’ Cincinnati office, to modernize nine elevators in the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Cincinnati for the GSA, where a key issue was preserving historic interior finishes and lobby finishes. Typically, elevators are modernized about every 30 years, when their components reach the end of their life cycle.
L: The first floor elevator lobby of the Peck U.S. Federal Courthouse features marble panels and green tile. R: The upper floor elevator lobbies feature a distinctive red floor tile.
Typically, the cab itself (a steel box), the hydraulic cylinder, and the shaft remain unchanged. Upgrades include new microprocessor-based controls (both inside the elevator and at every lobby level), new pump motors and valves, new closed-loop door operators, new lobby status panel at the security desk, new LED light fixtures, and new interior cab finishes.
