Working as an engineer for Elisha Otis's company, Swedish-born and schooled David Lindquist developed the gearless-traction elevator that made the building of very tall buildings possible (and profitable). Lindquist made inventions that led to all in all 64 different patents. Not for nothing is Lindquist called the "father of the New York skyline".

In 1857 Otis's first passenger elevator was installed to the Haughwout Building at 488-492 Broadway; powered by steam, the elevator climbed four storeys per minute. That commission started the triumphant expansion of the Otis Elevator Company. After that, the previously less wanted upper floor offices became the most wanted and, consequently, the most expensive ones. The "vertical railroad" of the Fifth Avenue Hotel (1859, Fifth Ave. / W 23rd St.) introduced the same trend in accommodation as the first hotel elevator in the U.S.

In the 1870s the hydraulic elevator was introduced as the next step in technical development. It used water pressure to power the elevator cars' movement and offered better efficiency than the steam engine as well as an ability to carry loads higher. The first hydraulic passenger elevator was installed, again, in New York City, at 155 Broadway in 1878.

The elevators of the early propulsion types were, however, slow and unreliable -- the hydraulic ones used water pipes for the propulsion and these could leak water inside the elevator -- a better choice was needed. The turn of the century saw the birth of the electric-powered passenger elevator. Otis installed his direct-connected geared electric elevator in NYC in 1889 and the first Gearless Traction Electric Elevator in the Beaver Building in NYC in 1903. This innovation made the elevator an integral part of the new skyscrapers that were rising all over the country. (The escalator was another innovation of the era, one that has been since used extensively to cover relatively short vertical distances in public spaces like malls, airports or lobbies.)

The increasing height of skyscrapers, as well as the technological advances, led to revisions in the New York City elevator speed limit. The Woolworth Building (1913) and the Empire State Building (1931) increased the limit to 700 ft (213 m) and 1,200 ft (365 m) per minute, respectively.

The Rockefeller Center skyscrapers were the first ones designed from the outset for the full-scale use of express elevators (for rapid transportation) and air-conditioning (for pleasant working environment, together with the maximized use of natural light) to attract tenants. The RCA Building had the office tower built around the elevator shafts, as can be seen from the jagged form of the facade. The elevators are grouped according to the vertical "areas" they serve, passing the non-served floors altogether. There are also diagrams on steel plates on the elevator bank walls, with the current positions of each elevator marked by lights.

The World Trade Center towers were the first buildings that had the interior divided into several horizontal "zones" with two "sky lobbies" at 41st and 72nd floors serving as terminals for the 23 express elevators, and from where local elevators can be taken to the destination floor within the zone. The idea was derived from a somewhat similar method used by the NYC subway, with faster express trains stopping only at certain stations, enabling faster travel to a faraway station served by a slower local train. As the "feeding" express elevators all move rapidly to the sky lobbies, much of the vertical distance can be covered in a short time -- and most importantly, also the rest of the journey to the destination floor can be made fast, because almost all of the elevator shafts on that zone are then entirely for the local elevator use, reducing the amount of congestion and waiting time for the local elevators.

The need to find an optimum solution between building core size, number of elevators and their floor-area, elevator type, elevator speed vs. rate of acceleration etc. has led to a science of its own that studies these different factors and combines them with computer simulations into an elevator system that best suits the occupants' needs. For example, a suitable amount of elevators for a building is important as too large a system (from the general operations point-of-view) usually takes too much space and costs too much, whereas too few elevators cause a bottleneck especially in peak traffic times. In the commercial centers in the North America and Europe, an undersized system is generally the preferred one of the situations above, as the trend of flexible working hours, delayed transportation (big surprise for the MTA or London Underground users!) etc. makes peak traffic somewhat less than in the past. As for hotels and residential buildings, a somewhat oversized system is preferred.

The Petronas Towers in Malaysia have taken this development to its heights (indeed) with not only using the zone system with computer-controlled express and local elevators, but also using double-decked elevator cars (ie. ones serving two floors at the same time). The combination enables carrying of more passengers without enlarging the shafts or increasing their amount, with the zone system providing the needed speed (as well as respite from the air pressure change during a long travel at high speed). At the Sears Tower in Chicago the express elevators are double-decked, but the locals are single-decked.

The so-called super-speed elevators with speeds exceeding 2000 feet per minute, or 10 meters per second, provide designers a truly swift means to reach the upper floors or upper skylobbies, but speed is however not the whole truth about a system's effectiveness. In fact, slower elevators with swifter acceleration and deceleration can give the same overall performance in buildings of up to approx. 70 floors without the adverse effects of changes in air pressure that can be felt unpleasantly in ears. Fast acceleration also helps in gaining travel speed between stops to collect or drop off passengers.

In fact, in an example with eight double-decked, "normal" high-speed elevators rising to 400 meters, it would require 14 super-speed single-decker elevators to handle the same volume of passengers. Should the acceleration rate for the single-deckers be lowered to a more common value, a 15th elevator would be required to compensate for the increased travel time. Increasing single-deck elevator size also has its drawbacks as in large elevators people don't voluntarily fill the space as effectively as in smaller ones -- with observation deck etc. "ushered" elevators that can be overcome by elevator operators filling the whole elevator floor with people from the queue.

In addition to the air pressure problem, the super-speed elevator cars also have to be built to counter air resistance with streamlining, buffeting and noise with structural means, as well as improved safety control measures, increasing costs.

A decrease in the amount of elevators with double-decked or faster designs will usually lead to diminished core area within the internal plan, at the same time reducing the one portion of the building that helps supporting it against lateral loads with its concrete walls and trusswork. In these cases additional stiffening of the frame has to be performed to gain adequate support.

The Otis Elevator Company continues to introduce new schemes and technologies to elevator systems. The 1996 Odyssey Integrated Building Transit System featured elevators that could travel also in horizontal plane and transfer hoistways as a way to reduce elevator core area and speed up circulation. The 2000 Gen2 system replaced the steel cables with belts and featured a development of the gearless motor that doesn't require a separate machine room.

Although also cableless or non-counterweighted elevator systems are available, from the economic point of view they are less than optimum, using three to eight times more electricity than a counterweighted system. The elevators in a typical office tower use about four to eight percent of the total energy consumption -- multiplying that amount well and truly removes the effect of all the energy-conservation methods employed and adds even more strain on peak times. The possibility to use the potential energy of the counterweight takes off much of the strain and energy consumption that has to be otherwise compensated with lighter or smaller elevators, thus decreasing carrying capacity.

Rockefeller Center (as did the World Trade Center) uses the computerized SWIFT (Shorter Waiting Interval Faster Trips) Futura control system, which allows remote elevator control and troubleshooting via modem connection. (I only wait who will make the first movie about a hacker nerd "hijacking" an WTC elevator... And not to deter anyone using these elevators, but the system is using Windows 95 as the control OS -- don't know if that contributed to the August 2000 elevator clitch at the WTC, injuring people -- as the same OS is responsible for making of this site too, you can see its harmfulness...)
In general, the replacement of the old-day relay switch units with computer-controlled ones allows prioritizing of elevator calls (button presses) as well as better elevator car control in terms of acceleration, speed and positioning exactly on the floor level.

Also the regulations considering elevators are a facet that can affect elevator system performance: the US guideline for delayed door closing to accommodate possible disabled persons is one such. Also limits to elevator speeds in some countries can make the elevator system ineffective from traffic flow point-of-view.

The strongly tapering Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco (1972) is an example of the conflicts between environmental/legal aims and, on the other hand, economic needs. The graceful, 260 m tall pyramidal form was chosen to fulfil the regulations given on a skyscraper's floor-area ratio at various heights and also to let more light to the street level. On the other hand, as the building of skyscrapers gets notably more expensive the higher it rises, the amount of the expensively built office space served by each of the elevators lessens sharply on the upper floors. As one engineer noted that the building would make more sense functionally if it were turned upside down...

A vital and essential type of elevator in a skyscraper is of course the service elevator which provides freight and upkeeping to the whole building. In office buildings there is generally one service elevator for approx. every 4,000 m² of office space, whereas, due to their differing use, in hotels their amount is as much as half of that of passenger elevators. A (sometimes) separate access, large size and stops on every floor of the building make these elevators also more suitable for the use of firefighters.

Today, no less than two-thirds of all elevators in the USA are installed in Manhattan high-rises, with an appropriately vast amount of "car" rides per year. Here the innovation and improvement of elevator technology has been embraced with special fervour because effective "car" traffic in this hectic atmosphere is considered especially important -- although one wouldn't believe it judging by the car "traffic" (of gridlocks) on the streets of Manhattan...

Of the buildings presented in this study, some have observation facilities open to the public:

- Empire State Building, has two observation decks, the open-air main deck on 86th floor and the enclosed smaller 102nd floor deck, although the latter is currently off-limits to the public.

- GE Building, has the 65th floor Rainbow Room restaurant, offering views of cityscape -- the building's open air deck, closed in 1986, will be reopened during 2005.

- Marriott Marquis Hotel, has an enclosed revolving rooftop lounge.

- Beekman Tower, also a hotel tower, has a top floor restaurant.

(- 2 World Trade Center, had the 107th floor enclosed deck and the 110th floor open-air rooftop deck. 1 WTC also had the 107th floor restaurant Windows on the World.)

- Although not strictly a skyscraper, Riverside Church also has a viewing facility at the top of the belfry.

In the early days of the skyscraper, Downtown (then meaning indeed the "downtown", or center, of the city) towers like the Park Row Building and Woolworth Building offered vistas rather unsurpassed in their day, at least when it came to the height of the observation place -- maybe excepting structures like the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument. These, along with several other Downtown viewing platforms are now closed from mere mortals. Except for board members (Chase Manhattan Bank) and other executive crust (American International Building) (and an occasional member of cleaning staff!), the Downtown views are "restricted" to the WTC towers.

Failures of the later periods include the Gulf + Western Building's and 666 Fifth Avenue's rooftop restaurants.

Originally, in the mid-19th Century, the advertisement signs in NYC were painted works on building walls but differed from the brand and corporate signs of today by being mainly of small-scale or local products. By the end of the century, large signs were being posted on building walls as well as empty plots. A 1905 law restricting the placement of rooftop signs was overturned in court four years later and these, as well as signs lining Central Park or billboards inside the stations of the new subway continued to be used.

In 1912, there were 37,000 signs in the city -- hundreds of thousands of square meters -- and the next year the Billboard Advertising Commission could already state the nationwide brand products and their advertising as the reason for the overpowering presence of signage in the streetscape. Although the commission recommended removal of signs from specific, important public spaces and occupying whole widths of building facades, as well as banning ads of "improper" content or style, their efforts went largely unheeded, despite some enforced restrictions on sign construction.

The first successful means for major reduction and control of sign construction and placement was the 1916 zoning resolution. The differing zones of usage within the city led to banning of signage within residential neighbourhoods -- for example, 18 billboards were removed from areas bordering Central Park and Riverside Drive in 1918.

"But there were still giant signs in nonresidential districts, like one at the northeast corner of 42nd and Fifth, facing the elegant New York Public Library: Above a four-story high sign for Fatima cigarettes ("Nothing else will do") ran a 30-foot-long sign for Venus pencils covering the cornice; on top of that rose a double-decker for Brill Brothers Kuppenheimer, a clothes dealer, and Boyshform Brassiere." ⁽¹⁾ Hum, seems properly diverse to me, from undergarments to pencils and "Fatties"...

Moreover, as the zoning in areas like SoHo and the immediate Village dates back to 1961, as a manufacturing district, it is still legal to place advertisement signs on the buildings here, evident by the concentration of large billboards at the intersection of Broadway and Houston Street.

In Feb. 2000 the city issued new sign placement regulations that unified the guidelines of application review and increased penalties for violations (some signs can boost city finances with up to almost a million a year). Despite the tightened regulations, local civic groups continue to battle against existing or planned advertisement signs that are seen as detrimental to the immediate surroundings. The outdoor advertising companies try to counter the restrictions; the three largest companies own 80 percent of the city's outdoor sign space, with a value of hundreds of million of dollars. The selling of advertising space is also a means of income for the real estate owners, a billboard space can yield thousands of dollars additional income per month.

As an indication of the permanent impact that the signage has had on the area through decades, new developments in Times Square are today required to have compulsory signage on their facades, in order to retain the area's character as an entertainment district. And boy, have they succeeded...

GREAT WHITE WAY & TECHNOLOGY

The first large advertisements were painted straight onto the facades of buildings by sign painters, "wall dogs". A typical painting could take two months to complete and, of course, be laborous to remove or replace. Compare that to today's printed vinyl panels for still images that can be installed in a matter of hours.

The first electric sign in NYC appeared at Times Square as early as in 1905, coining the term "Great White Way" for the immediate section of Broadway. The combination of large theaters, success shows and lit-up crossroads created a phenomenon that gave Times Square world-wide fame and a pattern to follow in the future. Today, with 20 million tourists with their cameras swarming the crossroads every year, a sign at Times Square is also a guaranteed way to get visibility.

The large electrical signs were called modestly "spectaculars", a term that has survived to this day. The first spectaculars were made with incandescent bulbs, with a heyday in the inter-war era, followed by the large neon-tube signs from the late-1920s onward, the workhorses of the great expansion of Times Square signage until the 1960s. The largest of them all was the eight-storey-high, two-panelled Kleenex spectacular that stood at Broadway and 43rd St. in 1952-1965 and featured the comics character Little Lulu in an animated spectacular. Another famous (as well as bizarre) Times Square advertisement was Douglas Leigh's 1940s cigarette-advertising Camel billboard ("I'd walk a mile for a Camel") that blew smoke rings from the mouth of its painted figure. The "smoke" was steam blown at intervals as rings.

Although neon signs are still built, they were largely replaced by less arduous and more efficient choices, fluorescent lighting in the 1960s and later, in the late-1990s, computer-controlled fiber optic and panel designs. An extreme example of three-dimensional signage was the British Airways sign featuring a 34-meter fiberglass and steel Concorde model (link), replaced by the new Times Square Tower. The costs of modern electric Times Square signs can range from $1 to $20 million and take six to nine months to complete.

In the seedier days of Times Square from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, the lights on the Great White Way were largely kept shining by Japanese capital. Such companies as Canon, Panasonic, Aiwa etc. showed off their large neon signs to a perhaps less affluent or middle-class clientele as today, but as the finances of these electronic giants began to falter, the US companies made a return in force and now dominate as part of an international electronic display case.

Coca-Cola has been present at Times Square since 1920 and will be present also in the future as the lease for the neon sign on the 2 Times Square (occupied since 1932) was renewed until 2011. Having undergone several designs, in its current form the sign is a 20 m high and 12,5 m wide fiber optic spectacular and weighs 55 tons, featuring an animated 14-meter fiberglass Coke bottle. The neon signs above this, for Suntory Whisky and Samsung, also face near-future changes, with the former being removed and the latter upgraded into an electric sign. An indication of the steep sign space prices at Times Square is the annual $2.5 million for Suntory's space at the 2 Times Square.
29 October 2002: The Coca-Cola spectacular will be removed and replaced by a newer design on the same location after 11 years in operation.
11 September 2004: The new Coke sign was unveiled in July, a 12.5 by 20 meter spectacular on a 3D-shaped base, incorporating 2,646,336 leds for a pixel density of 16.5 millimeters. The sign weighs 27 metric tons and cost $6.5 million to design and build.

The building bordering the crossroads to the south, the 1 Times Square, the old Times Tower -- which, along with the theater companies brought the character to the old Longacre Square -- also sports an array of signs that are, along with the ones on 2 TSQ, perhaps the best-known in the world. The building now makes its revenue almost totally through renting space for signs ranging from the bottom "zipper" (the first electronic "running" text sign was installed here as early as in 1928) to a 12 x 9 m Panasonic-NBC screen (the successor of the 1970s incandescent bulb Spectacolor Board) and a steaming Cup O'Noodles, something that the original architects hardly could have foreseen.

Next to the 1 Times Square, the eight storeys high, curving Nasdaq screen on the corner of the Condé Nast Building, facing the crossroads, is the largest, most advanced -- and expensive -- spectacular brought to Times Square so far. The total cost of the screen and the Nasdaq Marketsite facility inside the building was $37 million, providing a rounded 1,000 m², 16.7 million-colour video screen. The 8,200 video panels that consist of 18 million light-emitting diodes (LED) can be used to work as up to eight different screens. A LED screen gives unprecedented resolution and can last 100,000 hours of operation. The lease for the screen space is $2 million a year. The ABC News' Sony Jumbotron to the north also uses LED technology in its multi-zipper display.

LED signage of the new Millennium has been incorporated to the facades in unprecendented ways. The ex-Paramount Building opened its WWF marquee with its complex LED signage right after 9/11 and the Reuters Building at 3 Times Square not only exceeded the amount of signage required by the state regulation (1,300 m², with no less than 3,150 m² actually installed) but also featured new techniques. The three-level Reuters/Instinet LED sign on the north-eastern corner comprises of 11 screens with integrated data input. Four of the screens are located inside the lobby and seven outside, and the complete matrix reaches the height of 92.5 m. The 9,107,500 LEDs can create different advertisement patterns as well as display transparent panels to create a clear glass wall. The computerized sign is used, similarly to the Nasdaq sign across Broadway, to display a wealth of different moving imagery as well as news bulletins.

With the crossroads itself saturated, also the nearby 42nd Street is gaining its share in the form of new signage, the "cacophony of signage", as the co-ordinating 42d Street Development Project has put it. In the future, with new high-rise projects along Eighth Ave., Times Square-type signage will be more evident also here, with the signage on the catty-corner "Ewalk" and Port Authority Terminal as a starting point.

Another way forward are the skyscraper top signs as exemplified by the Condé Nast and the W hotel at 47th that allow the signs to be seen from farther away than with a traditional placement. The W hotel also features a free-standing sign tower, the 90-meter Times Square Spire that will feature a fake building facade in the form of panels that can be replaced one by one by advertisement panels.

The future of the massive light displays like experienced in and around Times Square may be in jeopardy if the proposed new "light pollution" legislation gets implemented. It would regulate the amount of light-intensive signage and its effect across plot lines as "light trespassing" as well as facade lighting of buildings and street lights, leading to more directed fixtures to reduce omnidirectional spill of light. The bill's advocates hope to curb the use of electricity as well as reduce the amount of light spilling to the sky, for example blanketing the night sky. As of January 2002, the bill hasn't been yet signed by the NY Governor, with worries about its effect on the signage (and economy) of New York City causing concern, not least due to the amount of street fixtures that would have to be replaced with new ones compliant with the regulations.

The new applicants to the profession of installing (and removing) the signs go through a five-year course given by the Sheet Metal Work Sign Hangers union. They have to be able to work fastening sheets or elements of animated signs while being suspended high above the street.