Otis Elevator Company Collection

Elisha Graves Otis’s invention of the safe elevator in the 1850s greatly increased the practicality of constructing tall buildings and played a significant role in the evolution of the skyscraper. This collection contains elevator plans for forty-seven buildings, prepared by the Chicago office of Otis Elevator Company between 1903 and 1906 for such architectural firms as D.H. Burnham & Co., Holabird & Roche, and Richard Schmidt. <a href=""http://digital-libraries.artic.edu/cdm/search/collection/findingaids/searchterm/Otis%20Elevator%20Company%20Collection/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/1"">View finding aid. Collection access:Collections may be accessed in the Franke Reading Room of the Research Center at The Art Institute of Chicago, by appointment only. For further information, consult <a href=""https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/contact-usage-and-faq"">the FAQ. <a href=""https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/finding-aids"">Finding aids by subject<a href=""http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/findingaids"">Browse all finding aids<a href=""http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/mqc"">Browse images and media<a href=""https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/oral-histories"">Oral histories Contact the Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives:archives@artic.edu