Mariahissen, Gothic Revival building in Södermalm, Sweden.
Mariahissen is a Gothic Revival building on the northern waterfront of Södermalm that originally served as a public elevator. The structure features brick arches, small spires, and Belle Epoque details that remain visible on its facade today.
Mariahissen was built between 1885 and 1887 to designs by architect Gustaf Dahl for auditor Alban Herlitz's company Maria Hiss och Magasins AB. The plot required blasting 22,500 m³ of rock from Mariaberget. The elevator carried up to 3,000 people daily around 1900, but ridership fell to about 50 a day and service ended on 8 August 1937.
The name Mariahissen means "Maria's lift", after the Maria Hiss och Magasins AB company founded by auditor Alban Herlitz, which built and ran the elevator. The building also housed a gymnastics institute and the artists' tavern Du Sûd. In the 1970s it hosted a music stage for the era's music movement; today its 26 premises are rented by festivity venues, architecture firms and agencies.
The building stands at Söder Mälarstrand 21 and is easily reached by public transportation along the waterfront. It now houses office spaces, so visitors can best experience it from outside while walking along the water.
The two passenger cars each held 15 people and moved at 0.5 metres per second, alongside two goods lifts rated at 1,275 and 640 kilos. The iron footbridge crossing Bastugatan was made at the Atlas works, and it is said to have been load-tested by inmates of the Dihlströmska workhouse.
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