Bubelis says Ockwell, Cox and Phil Warne of True Canadian Elevator Maintenance Co. Ltd. are all guys who just want to get in there and go to work on this kind of project. Bubelis confesses that he loves working with senior executives who still love getting their hands dirty.

That kind of passion, which seems to have infected everyone involved in the job, did make life a little difficult at times. At one point, a gang of husky young men had to transport the 1,200-lb., irreplaceable elevator controller from one floor to another via the stairs. Ockwell says he knew they’d make it — but what if they dropped it? “I had to walk away,” he says with a rueful smile. “I couldn’t stand it.”

Bubelis says the heritage community is intensely interested in the project. He’s delighted to be able to demonstrate that an elevator of this age really can be brought back to life and that it should be. “The point of the working artifact is that it is living heritage. . . reminding us of how everyday people like us lived in an era so different than ours,” he wrote in a “meditation” circulated to staff.

His meditations on the project’s progress were devoured by the people who work at 10 Adelaide. Yes, they were interested in the project as a restoration, but what they really wanted to know was when it would be finished so they could stop using the four flights of stairs in their historic office. The project started in January 2017, and all the major pieces were in place by the end of March this year. “We’ve had a lot of very fit people,” Bubelis says wryly.

Bubelis has installed glass doors on the machine room so people can safely study the mechanical heart of his working artifact. “Nobody else wants anyone to see their equipment room, but we do,” he says. This project, he says, will make it easier for others to recreate pieces of history like this. He can now offer the chance to examine working machinery as it operated in 1908, parts specifications developed from scratch and a new pool of experienced people to draw on for re-creation, restoration and repair.

“This project will be a touchstone for a lot of elevator guys,” Ockwell says. “I anticipate that they’ll come from all over North America to see it in operation.” The scope of work included refurbishing the machine, controller, cab, fixtures, entrance equipment, safeties, governor and all ancillary equipment, bringing the system back to original condition.

Credits

Elevator contractor: True Canadian Elevator (Phil Warne)

Project management: KJA Consultants (Ian Hambly and Mark Ockwell)

Cab design: JNKM Design (Josh Nelson)

Cab manufacturing and flooring: K Elevator/AVT Beckett Elevator

Cab copper ceiling fabrication: Heather + Little

Hall station and capacity plate engraving, and hall station jewel fabrication: Imperial Engravers

Custom wood turning: The Postman

Bostwick gate restoration: Tyler Williams

Fixtures: Vertex Industries (Ernie Cox)

3D modeling and casting molds: Agile Industries

Brass castings: Gamma Foundries