Queen Margarita’s elevator is restored – History Blog

The elevator installed for Queen Margherita in 1905 has been restored, rather than its original function, but its original plank beauty. The elevator connects the first floor, where the Queen and her ladies live on the grounds of the di caccia di di stupinigi palace, the royal hunting hut in the outskirts of Turin. It has a wooden house with sliding doors with eight frosted glass windows. A Bakelite button panel was lost, leaving only tiny traces.

In the old elevators in Stupinigi, only the wooden house was kept, as if hanging in time, as the electrical and “hydraulic pump” instruments described in the document are no longer retained. The space that houses the wooden house has been separated from the basement where the system must be located and separated from the upper floor by partitions built in the second half of the 20th century. The interior parts of the cabin are not completely preserved, but the two doors that allow access to the cabin and historical glass are still maintained. The elevator is illuminated internally and has a button panel that is no longer retained.

Restoration involves the restoration of poplar structures and the restoration of walnut veneers with detachment and deformation due to humidity. The dome is decorated with a bald pattern with many filled blanks. Scientific analysis allows us to study protective varnishes and identify the most appropriate solutions to restore artifacts to a stable and durable state.

Elevators have a long history in Italy. Of course, the ancient Romans carried pulley elevators to the stage floor underground in the Colosseum and used similar installations to carry heavy materials to build the medieval cathedral. But Italy claims to be an important first in elevator history. The first elevator in the modern sense was permanently installed in a building to transport people between different floors, and was the elevator that brought people to the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, so they didn’t have to drag 320 stairs. It was installed in the 16th century.

Officials of Meccaniche Stigler created the first hydraulic lift, which was transported upstairs in 1870. Grand Hotel Costanzi in Rome. The first Stigler electric lift was produced in 1895. It has a rope system that controls rise and fall, but is quickly replaced by buttons. New electric push-button elevators became all the rage, and the Savoy royal family installed them in several palaces.

In the first few years of the 1900s, Princess Maria Clotilde Di Savoia installed a beautiful stigma elevator in her residence, Moncalieri Castle. The Moncalieri elevator also has a floor up and down, connecting the princess’s apartment with the apartment of her daughter Maria Letizia. Recently, it was also part of a larger restoration project after the 2008 fire destroyed the castle. Thankfully, almost all of its original elements survived. It is made of wood, glass and brass, its glass passage door and two sliding doors are intact and have glass panels to open inward the cabin. The original motor still exists, as does the elevator-operated brass lever system. Today, elevators are being actively used, which allows visitors with mobility issues to visit the first floor.