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All the United States Washington, D.C. Historic Elevator at Potbelly

Historic Elevator at Potbelly

This sandwich shop has a century-old elevator behind a sheet of plexiglass.

Washington, D.C.

Added By
Elliot Carter
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  Elliot Carter
  Elliot Carter
Fred Litwin in 1978   Ray Lustig for the Washington Evening Star
Ye olde elevator!   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
  Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
  Elliot Carter
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
  Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Behind a sheet of plexiglass at this unassuming Potbelly Sandwich Shop in Washington, D.C., sits a very very old open cage elevator. Local lore has it that it is an Otis elevator installed in 1853, which would make it one of the oldest in the world. However, a well-researched investigation by the Otis Elevator Company archivist for Invention & Technology debunked this myth and showed that it's actually a Bates elevator, most likely dating to the 1870s or 1880s, so a historical oddity nonetheless. 

Before Potbelly moved into the space in recent years, the building was occupied by an antiques store run by several generations of the Litwin family. Now deceased, Fred Litwin was a locally beloved figure who didn’t miss an opportunity to tell any and all about his prized elevator. As a result, there was a surprising amount of coverage about the device in the local pages of the Washington Post and the Washington Star over the years. In one characteristic piece he describes the elevator as “a marvel of ingenious gears and levers and things,” that under his doting care “never, never breaks down.”

It is a miracle that the elevator and the Litwin building have survived to the present day. There was tremendous political and industry pressure to tear down the entire block in a 1970s urban renewal campaign. Luckily, local opposition spearheaded by Fred Litwin saved the building, as well as four adjoining addresses that were all given National Historic Landmark status.

Fred retired in 2003, and the fate of his shop and historic elevator were again thrown into peril. He described to a Washington Post reporter during this period how, "It's awful when you have a love affair with a machine and find that nobody wants it ... We've called a lot of people involved with elevators to try to make a home for this."

Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. Potbelly ended up buying the property, and because of the National Historic status, the shop is not allowed to remove the special elevator.

Related Tags

Elevators History Machines Mechanical Instruments Industrial

Know Before You Go

There used to be a plaque, but it has recently gone missing.

Community Contributors

Added By

Elliot Carter

Edited By

erjeffery, e1savage, blimpcaptain, Jason Michael Walker

  • erjeffery
  • e1savage
  • blimpcaptain
  • Jason Michael Walker

Published

May 15, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.inventionandtech.com/content/elevator-detective-1
  • https://books.google.com/books?id=CqYjCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT67&lpg=PT67&dq=litwin%27s+furniture+washington&source=bl&ots=itg_cJqOk5&sig=xIzasokkT_flUlGaKNz89eW71Ec&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwim1J-46e3TAhWpyoMKHbrRDswQ6AEIXjAI#v=onepage&q=litwin's%20furniture%20washington&f=false
  • https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/dc/dc0300/dc0382/data/dc0382data.pdf
  • Warehouse history turns to dreams, Washington Evening Star, 3/1/1974
  • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091802189.html
  • On Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington Post, 8/8/1976
  • Furnishers of Another Time Reach End of an Old Line, Washington Post, 9/1/2003
  • Touring The Mall And Beyond, Washington Post, 25/2/1988
  • Three Cheers For the Chairs, Washington Post, 5/12/1992
Historic Elevator at Potbelly
637 Indiana Avenue NW
Washington, District of Columbia
United States
38.894338, -77.021432
Get Directions

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