

{"id":27665,"date":"2025-05-30T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?p=27665"},"modified":"2025-05-30T11:59:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:59:36","slug":"what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/","title":{"rendered":"What Goes Up: Playing with Elevators"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"740\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\" alt=\"Fisher-Price parking ramp service center, 1970. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York. \" class=\"wp-image-27666\" style=\"width:307px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator-300x217.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator-768x555.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fisher-Price parking ramp service center, 1970. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Ding. Ding. Ding. People of a certain age may remember the sound of cranking the elevator on the Fisher-Price parking garage, or the way the stop sign at each floor lowered when the lift reached that level. This ingenious plastic contrivance raised cars up and down the three-level garage, tipping them out when they reached the floor. I still recall not only the auditory experience, but also the tactile hitch as the wheel turned a gear and the momentary stutter as it completed a rotation. For a little kid, there was something deeply satisfying about raising and lowering cars in this elevator.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"377\" height=\"479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/The-Elevator-Man.jpg\" alt=\" \u201cThe Elevator Man\u201d sheet music, 1912. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.\" class=\"wp-image-27667\" style=\"width:307px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/The-Elevator-Man.jpg 377w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/The-Elevator-Man-236x300.jpg 236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> \u201cThe Elevator Man\u201d sheet music, 1912. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Elevators have been one of the great engineering accomplishments of the modern age. Since Otis introduced the safety elevator for people in 1857, the device has enabled builders to construct higher and higher buildings, in the process revolutionizing architecture and facilitating the growth of dense cities. It even became a commonplace reference in popular culture, including the 1912 song \u201cElevator Man\u201d by Irving Berlin about Andy, a lift operator, who won the heart of his passenger Mandy, a cook in the building (alas, Andy couldn\u2019t stay on the level after he started giving rides to a gal named Sal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cHow to Make Models and Toys with Meccano,\u201d 1915. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.\" class=\"wp-image-27668\" style=\"width:307px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Meccano-Elevator-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cHow to Make Models and Toys with Meccano,\u201d 1915. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The design of the elevator itself has not changed radically\u2014elevators are still largely mechanical contraptions, the product of pulleys, cables, winches, gears, and engines\u2014and perhaps their simple elements explain why they have become so popular as toys. Our collection certainly holds plenty of examples. Early Meccano construction sets offered numerous opportunities for kids to make functioning, if miniature, elevators (Meccano toys were basically the European equivalent of the American Erector set, though they were invented earlier and tended to be more complex). Meccano\u2019s 1915 guide for \u201cHow to Make Models and Toys with Meccano\u201d includes plans for structures with elevators, including a \u201cWarehouse with Elevator\u201d that functioned in many ways like the real thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Construction toys are not the only ones that have included play elevators, for some doll houses have featured them as well. In The Strong\u2019s collection is a magnificent dollhouse, made in Germany, from around 1900, simply titled \u201cElevator House\u201d in our internal records because its most dramatic feature is a lift in the center that can bring guests up three stories.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"462\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-462x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Elevator House dollhouse, about 1900. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.\" class=\"wp-image-27669\" style=\"width:307px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-462x1024.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-135x300.jpg 135w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-768x1704.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-692x1536.jpg 692w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-923x2048.jpg 923w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Elevator-House-scaled.jpg 1154w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elevator House dollhouse, about 1900. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"739\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-739x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Elevator Action, 1988. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.\" class=\"wp-image-27671\" style=\"width:307px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-739x1024.jpeg 739w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-216x300.jpeg 216w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-768x1064.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-1108x1536.jpeg 1108w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-1478x2048.jpeg 1478w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Eleavator-Action-scaled.jpeg 1847w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elevator Action, 1988. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most well-known doll house to feature an elevator is Barbie\u2019s Dream House. When first introduced in 1962, Barbie\u2019s fabulous digs didn\u2019t come with an elevator, but as her living quarters got larger and more elaborate one was added in 1974, when Barbie moved into a townhouse. Of course, sometimes the elevator needed adapting. Barbie\u2019s friend Share a Smile Becky, introduced in 1996, used a wheelchair that wouldn\u2019t fit into the elevator in the existing Barbie Dream House, a problem Mattel later corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elevators are not the exclusive property of pretend play sets, for they are also a common feature in video games. In the arcade classic <em>Donkey Kong <\/em>(1982), they were a physical challenge\u2014can you jump on the moving elevator without falling? The next year, Taito\u2019s <em>Elevator Action<\/em> challenged players to assume the role of a spy using stairs and elevators to outmaneuver the guards.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"836\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police-Quest-elevator.jpg\" alt=\"Hand-painted still image, Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, 1992. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York\" class=\"wp-image-27673\" style=\"width:307px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police-Quest-elevator.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police-Quest-elevator-300x245.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police-Quest-elevator-768x627.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hand-painted still image, Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, 1992. The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>In most video games, however, elevators are used mostly as scene shifters. When you get on the elevator you leave one room and enter someplace completely different, allowing for an easy change of setting. The early procedurally generated dungeon crawler <em>Telengard<\/em> (1982), for example, used elevators to move players up, unexpectedly, to higher levels. In graphical adventures like Sierra\u2019s<em> Police Quest<\/em> or the puzzle game <em>Myst<\/em>, elevators allowed easy scene swaps. The surprise that always ensues when the door opens adds to the fun. In some games like <em>Mass Effect <\/em>(2007), elevator rides had the primary purpose of disguising the amount of time it was taking the game to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given their ubiquity in everyday life, the power they bestow to move us up and down, and the surprise they produce when the door opens, it\u2019s likely elevators will continue to be a common element of many playthings. And why not? They are fun little devices that can give us a lift when we play with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ding. Ding. Ding. People of a certain age may remember the sound of cranking the elevator on the Fisher-Price parking garage, or the way the stop sign at each floor lowered when the lift reached that level. This ingenious plastic contrivance raised cars up and down the three-level garage, tipping them out when they reached the floor. I still recall not only the auditory experience, but also the tactile hitch as the wheel turned a gear and the momentary stutter [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"16919,11623,7352,17478,9306,8787","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-people-at-play","category-toys","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Goes Up: Playing with Elevators - The Strong National Museum of Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Goes Up: Playing with Elevators - The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ding. Ding. Ding. People of a certain age may remember the sound of cranking the elevator on the Fisher-Price parking garage, or the way the stop sign at each floor lowered when the lift reached that level. This ingenious plastic contrivance raised cars up and down the three-level garage, tipping them out when they reached the floor. I still recall not only the auditory experience, but also the tactile hitch as the wheel turned a gear and the momentary stutter [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStrongMuseum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-30T13:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-30T15:59:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon-Paul Dyson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@museumofplay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@museumofplay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon-Paul Dyson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jon-Paul Dyson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#\/schema\/person\/115339e366e889fe3c053304b496d901\"},\"headline\":\"What Goes Up: Playing with Elevators\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-30T13:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-30T15:59:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\"},\"wordCount\":789,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"People at Play\",\"Toys\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\",\"name\":\"What Goes Up: Playing with Elevators - The Strong National Museum of Play\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-30T13:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-30T15:59:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/what-goes-up-playing-with-elevators\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fisher-Price-Elevator.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":740,\"caption\":\"Fisher-Price parking ramp service center, 1970. 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